[0:00] Good evening, commissioners. My name is Daisy Aldama. I will be assisting in today's meeting. Today, I welcome you to the September 16, 20, 26 meeting of the Community Services Commission. It is now 6 o' 6 p.m. And the meeting is now in session. The next, the next section on the agenda is roll call, please.

[0:24] Chair Aldama, present. Vice Chair Depe.

[0:27] Okay.

[0:29] Senate Commissioner for Duce.

[0:32] President.

[0:33] Commissioner Suniga.

[0:34] President.

[0:35] Commissioner Gorminal.

[0:43] At this time, I ask someone from the Commissioner

[0:44] or staff to lead us in the pledge of allegiance.

[0:51] Everyone please stand.

[0:53] And

[0:56] over your heart.

[0:58] I pledge allegiance to the blood of the United States of America.

[1:03] And to the Republic for which it stands,

[1:19] The next section on the agenda is communications from the public.

[1:22] This is a time for members of the public to address the commission on matters that are listed

[1:27] on the agenda and non agenda items that are under the subject manager's diction of

[1:32] the Community Services Commission.

[1:34] Each speaker is limited to three minutes.

[1:38] Ms. Commission Secretary, are there any communications from the public?

[1:43] No comments.

[1:48] Since there are no comments, we are moving forward to the next item on the agenda, which is

[1:55] the Community Services Department employee of the month by interim community services deputy

[2:00] director Alvin Tamala.

[2:11] Hello commissioners, honorable chair, and anybody that's viewing online with us tonight.

[2:17] right. I do want to make this presentation for our employee at the month for the month

[2:22] of August. Normally this is an award that we don't normally present at commission meetings,

[2:28] but we are looking to go into a different direction and to really place a lot of emphasis

[2:33] and appreciation for our staff here in the department. So we do have a very special person with

[2:39] us here today, but before I formally introduce her to come up, I would like to say a couple

[2:44] words about her. So this individual was actually onboarded with a community services department

[2:49] back in March of this year. And ever since she was onboarded, her feet hit the floor and

[2:56] she went right away to sprinting. I know one of the things that I wanted to have her initiate

[3:02] when she got here was an expansion of classes. And I am going to be talking about that a little

[3:07] bit more in my presentation right after this. But she started doing our senior size program.

[3:12] It was once a week, it was actually out here, and we also held a couple of classes out there in the patio.

[3:18] It started off as a really small class. It was 10 people, our 55-in-up population, and then

[3:26] miraculously throughout the weeks, we started getting more and more and more, and it got to the point where we maxed out

[3:33] of our class capacity at 30.

[3:35] So this was already just a month of her being within the department.

[3:39] So we did make a decision to expand the demand and the actual classes that Connie was offering on a more consistent basis.

[3:48] So we made a decision as a department to reallocate her class over to Veterans Memorial Park.

[3:54] And now as of this date, we are so happy to report that we're doing classes five days out of the week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

[4:05] And we've also expanded programs to not just have them service 55 and over, but also

[4:12] our adults now too, you know, with adults in the community, Gina and I both see it as

[4:19] a underserved population, right?

[4:21] We service our kids and then we service our 55 and over.

[4:25] And in between that, there's a population that doesn't get as much love, right?

[4:31] And also for me, I fall within that population as well.

[4:35] So with that, we are doing our senior size classes.

[4:39] We are doing Tai Chi for the first time here in the city.

[4:42] And we also have adult fitness classes

[4:44] in which Connie is going through resistance type of training

[4:47] with them as well.

[4:49] And then lastly, she is one of the other staff

[4:52] that's responsible for our Adaptive Recreation Club,

[4:56] which is a new program that we initiated this summer.

[4:59] So, it's to service those that are developmentally delayed or families that have individuals that are experiencing, you know, mental delays and things like that as well.

[5:11] It has been something that I have been wanting to incorporate in the department for a long time now.

[5:16] But with Connie's help and in addition, one of our other staff that we just onboarded Miss Crystal Rowfluck, we are now able to do that.

[5:23] So we just had our third meeting yesterday, actually at Venerance Park, and then we are also happy to announce that we're actively doing our Adaptive Recreation Club every single Wednesday around 530-630, so actually right after this, Ms. Connie is going to go back to Venerance Memorial Park to finish off that class.

[5:47] So, with that in mind, I would like to bring up her recreation leader one, Miss Connie Perez, to accept her employee of the month award for the month of August.

[6:01] I'll actually have her say a couple words along with Gina as well.

[6:08] Good evening, Chair Aldama and commissioners.

[6:11] I just want to say a few things about Miss Connie.

[6:14] When I first met Connie, she made me show her my Zoom moves, which let me tell you, I had none.

[6:22] But her passion for Zumba health and fitness was so contagious that she actually made me want to try.

[6:27] So there was learning a few moves, and it was right here at the Bell Community Center.

[6:32] We were so excited to bring Connie on board and give her bell seniors more opportunities to stay active.

[6:37] We advertised her class it almost immediately, there was a waiting list.

[6:41] Today Connie teaches nine classes including adult fitness for adults with special needs, Tai Chi Zumba.

[6:47] She serves more than 100 participants and continues to bring us great ideas.

[6:51] What makes Connie special is her heart.

[6:53] She puts into her work.

[6:55] She loves the community and judging by the turnout,

[6:57] the community loves her back.

[7:00] Connie, you are awesome.

[7:01] We are so grateful to have you part of our team.

[7:04] It is a pleasure to recognize you as a community services employee of the month.

[7:09] Please come on up.

[7:19] Thank you, everyone.

[7:20] I didn't expect this.

[7:22] I, yes, I have my job and I've worked with the community.

[7:25] I've been doing this ever since I was little.

[7:28] It's been one amazing journey after another.

[7:31] I went out and found this because of the support that I have with this amazing team.

[7:38] And I want to cry and nothing like this has ever happened to me, and I'm sorry, I'm

[7:45] not like, I love my classes, I love working with the seniors.

[7:50] I'm here to motivate more people to stay healthy, that's my method, that's my goal.

[7:55] And moving forward with this program, and I know yesterday we had our 15th and I'm

[8:03] finally to report. I had over 33 students yesterday that was packed. Everybody had a

[8:09] good time. They were having wonderful. And today also as well we have 21 students for

[8:16] the sumo doll, and for the Tai Chi we have 27. And this, one of the first month, and I know

[8:22] that we're not going to be growing this program. And hopefully, you know, everyone is welcome

[8:28] to come and check me out. And I hope to see you guys in one of my super classes.

[9:04] Ladies

[9:51] and gentlemen, Connie is actually going to go back to veterans right now to finish off

[9:55] the rest of her adaptive recreation class.

[9:57] So thank you again, Ms. Connie.

[10:00] We wish you nothing to have you in our department.

[10:03] So thank you.

[10:07] Thank you, Connie.

[10:10] No, it's okay.

[10:11] Thank you.

[10:22] Congratulations again to Connie for the employee of the month.

[10:27] The next item on the agenda is the Community Services Update by Interim Community Services

[10:31] Deputy Director, Alan Tumala.

[10:39] Terrible chair and commissioners.

[10:40] Once again, my name is Alvin Tumala.

[10:42] Interim Deputy Director of the Community Services Department and today I will be giving a overview of

[10:49] said community services department. As I mentioned in our employee of the month, you know,

[10:56] recognition for Connie, you know, Gina and I are essentially putting a jetpack on this department

[11:03] and coming up with innovative ideas and proceedings of our community members and to improve the quality

[11:09] of life for all of our Bell residents.

[11:11] So as I go through our presentation,

[11:14] I'll be keeping that message at the forefront.

[11:17] And as Ms. Presentation was also presented

[11:19] at one of the previous council meetings

[11:22] by our interim director, Ms. Gina Skiwar.

[11:25] So with our first slide here, Bell is in the game.

[11:30] So over the past year, we've been focused

[11:32] on creating more opportunities for our residents

[11:35] to participate, connect, and experience

[11:37] in something new right here in Bell.

[11:40] And as you'll see here in this presentation,

[11:42] Bell is definitely in the game.

[11:44] So with that being said, we're already building

[11:47] quite a bit of momentum here in the city.

[11:49] So I'll go ahead and change the slide here.

[11:52] Mr. Michael, okay, there we go.

[11:55] So as I mentioned with momentum,

[11:57] we're talking a lot more than just sports, right?

[12:02] You know, sports, they occur all throughout the year,

[12:05] but we want to really expand and diversify our programming.

[12:09] So, we've expanded programming across generations.

[12:12] For the first time, we've actually offered a youth softball,

[12:15] something that we were actually really trying hard to bring last year

[12:20] and we ended up falling short on that.

[12:22] So, I'm really happy to see that we were able to bring in youth softball

[12:27] for the first time.

[12:29] We brought in SIP and Paint with one of our community partners

[12:33] in order to bring adult programming, and of course, with that SIFT those are for non-ocaholic

[12:39] beverages. We do have adaptive programs in this area of supervision, and also shout out to

[12:45] Commissioner Ferdous for the Student Civic Academy. We've given out more than 200 free laptops as

[12:52] well. We've had Earth Day in conjunction with Republic Services, who was our waste management

[12:58] and vendor, our senior prom, and I am happy to announce with our senior promders typically

[13:04] a committee that's comprised of 13 Southeast Los Angeles cities.

[13:09] Our recreation supervisor who's actually not here today, she's actually sitting as the

[13:14] vice chair of that committee.

[13:16] So we are having a good amount of our staff fall into leadership positions that extend out

[13:22] farther than just the city of Bell.

[13:25] We do have our senior and Tai Chi programs, as I mentioned before, so our focus has really been on expanding access and giving residents more reasons to participate.

[13:35] But programs themselves only tell one portion of the story.

[13:40] So Michael, please, if you can please advance the slide.

[13:46] So Bell in action.

[13:48] So we talk about connection, participation, and belonging.

[13:52] one of the things that we really want to drive home is having our programs be

[13:56] inclusive, right? It's not just adults, it's not just kids, it's not just our

[14:01] older senior population, but it's everybody encompassing the same community. So

[14:06] this is what community services really is all about. As I said, it's connection,

[14:12] participation and belong. When you come to one of our events or a

[14:15] picture, one of our programs, you see all of us together. It's our staff, it's our

[14:20] our dignitaries, its families all coming together, neighbors meaning one another and residents

[14:25] getting involved too.

[14:27] And that's the impact that we want to create moving forward.

[14:30] So we want to make people feel like there's a place for them in Bell and to feel the impact

[14:34] of those actions that they're doing every day.

[14:38] And we're also taking that very same approach and expanding our recreational opportunities

[14:43] as well.

[14:44] So go ahead and move to the next slide please.

[14:47] As I mentioned, we are a very sports oriented city, but I do want to

[15:00] Let's cover that portion as well. Hold on here. If you could go back, one slide, Michael. So one area that you're going to see significant growth in is sports, right? We've already initiated our partnership with CalSALF for the first time. Vasa City staff letting go of our youth sports program that we've had for many years was a very hard decision to do, but we did have to make that move in an interest of fiscal responsibility. We're also bringing flag football.

[15:29] volleyball, with our organization called Best Sports, and I am excited to announce

[15:36] that tumbling and palm dancing are coming back to the City of Bell. Starting on

[15:41] Monday and Tuesday of next week, we do have a partnership with CNG studios that

[15:46] are going to be providing intro to tumbling and palm dancing. It's pretty much like

[15:51] an intro to cheer class that we're offering to ages 6 through 12. We also have

[15:57] a basketball that's coming to the city, track and field, and pretty much the idea is very simple.

[16:04] Giving our kids more choices and letting them discover what they enjoy.

[16:09] Previously, it's been basketball, it's been baseball, it's been T-ball, and it's been soccer.

[16:15] Although those sports have provided a lot of success here in the community,

[16:20] we're understanding kids want more choices now, they just don't want to fall into any one sport.

[16:26] and even potentially, even bringing in more niche classes as well.

[16:30] So we're talking about Gijitsu, we're talking about boxing,

[16:33] classes like that that we plan to bring to Bel in the near future.

[16:38] And with this, there's a very important reason behind the expansion that I keep talking about here.

[16:44] So Michael, go ahead and move up.

[16:48] So this is more than just sports.

[16:51] For us, sports is much more than just winning a game.

[16:56] It's about building confidence, teamwork, friendships,

[16:59] healthy habits, and belonging and inclusion, as I mentioned before.

[17:03] We also want these opportunities to remain accessible and

[17:06] affordable for bell families.

[17:09] As we continue to go into uncertain times,

[17:13] we want one thing to remain consistent and constant.

[17:16] Is whenever you come to any one of our city of bell facilities,

[17:20] or programs or meet any one of our staff, it's going to be a positive experience and a

[17:25] form of escape for our members of the community.

[17:29] Ultimately, sports give our young people another positive place to connect with their community

[17:34] as well.

[17:35] And with that, that philosophy extends well beyond just our youth participants.

[17:46] So we want to provide something for everybody.

[17:48] Our goal is exactly what this slide says, something for everyone.

[17:53] Whether you're a child trying a sport for the first time, a teenager you're preparing

[17:58] for college or wanting volunteer opportunities or an adult looking for wellness opportunities,

[18:04] or a senior wanting to stay active or a family wanting to make memories together.

[18:10] We want community services to have something for you and for all of us.

[18:15] An inclusion remains a priority so that residents of all abilities have continued opportunities

[18:21] to participate. And when we look at the numbers, you can really see how far that reach has grown.

[18:29] So the numbers, I know there's a lot of numbers that are presented to you in this slide here,

[18:35] but I will attempt to make them make sense, but it is definitely a significant growth within the

[18:42] department. So these numbers really put the work into perspective. We've had more than 8,600

[18:49] registrations and participants have reached approximately more than 16,100 residents and community members.

[18:57] More than 1200 youth participated in sports, so that includes our soccer and our baseball program.

[19:04] And we've distributed more than 275 laptops, launched 15 new programs and initiatives,

[19:11] and delivered about more than 40 community events, and work with over 16 community partners.

[19:18] What this tells us is residents are really responding to and showing up to the things that we're offering.

[19:26] And we are not slowing down at all.

[19:33] So as I mentioned before, us as a department, us as a city with our rise campaign, the momentum continues.

[19:41] So this is where we're heading next.

[19:43] Beginning this fall, residents will start seeing even more programming from inclusive exercise, senior walking club,

[19:51] and Girls Club to flag football, volleyball, tumbling, and also our multi-sports program.

[19:59] And in addition, we are launching our Girl Scouts program here in the city of Bell at Camp Little Bear, very appropriately named.

[20:07] Winter will potentially bring Jiu-Jitsu and additional recreation and enrichment opportunities.

[20:13] and we'll continue building into spring and summer with wellness, family programming, sports, and community events.

[20:21] So this isn't a one-season expansion.

[20:24] We're building a year-round community services program.

[20:33] And there's even more reasons to love living here in Bell.

[20:37] At the end of the day, this is what we're trying to accomplish.

[20:40] We're not just creating programs or just putting events all in on a calendar.

[20:44] where we're moving with intention and removing with momentum.

[20:48] We're creating experiences, relationships and memories, and ultimately more reasons

[20:54] for our residents to love living in Bell.

[20:57] And that, to me, and to the rest of the department, this is what Bell on the rise looks like.

[21:07] So when we say Bell is in the game, we truly mean it.

[21:11] More sports, more opportunities, and more ways to participate.

[21:15] and something for every generation we built nothing but momentum and we're

[21:21] really just getting started. One of the things that I'm really excited to

[21:25] bring to the city is on Friday October 16th here in this very room we will be

[21:31] launching a murder mystery dinner and in conjunction with that as well to remove

[21:37] more barriers for our community we're going to be offering a childcare option as

[21:42] Well, so it'll allow an adult or a couple with kids or even just a member of the community.

[21:48] They don't even need to have kids.

[21:50] We're giving them a space to experience something for the first time here in Southeast

[21:54] Los Angeles and I'm nothing but excited to offer that to the community.

[21:58] So with that being said, we're excited about where community services is going and

[22:04] even more excited about what it means for the bell community.

[22:07] Thank you so much.

[22:10] So ladies and gentlemen, with that presentation concluding, I'll open it up for any questions

[22:15] for myself or even for Ms. Gina here.

[22:21] Any questions?

[22:22] Comments?

[22:23] Yes.

[22:25] No questions?

[22:26] Or more of a comment?

[22:27] No, I'm really excited.

[22:28] And I really appreciate all the hard work that you've all been doing so far.

[22:32] And I'm really excited to have, you know, a timeline, too, that, you know, we'll be able

[22:38] to see what's coming in the next year.

[22:40] here. As for the, what was it? For the kids to try different sports at one time, I

[22:49] thought it was called, it was called the, I'm sorry, trying to find it again for the sports

[22:58] sampler. Is that like a one day thing, or is that like a weekly thing where yeah, we're

[23:05] actually developing that right now as I mentioned with best sports. So we're going to be having

[23:09] a multitude of classes but they'll be taking care of that multi-sport kind of

[23:13] sampler. We're still kind of workshopping the name right now but we're gonna be

[23:18] calling it just for the time being just a multi-sport sampler. But in

[23:21] addition they'll be taking care of our volleyball program and then also our

[23:25] basketball and flag football as well. So one of the things that we plan on bringing

[23:30] with this contractor is expanded programming just so we can start taking the

[23:33] load off of our staff that historically were used to doing programs in house.

[23:39] Yeah, great. And then our warmer question concerning it has been any updates about the potential

[23:46] youth center on gauge having you. Yeah, I'm going to pass it off to our director Ms.

[23:50] Gina. Okay, so we're in the process of doing the design. So nothing has been so we're in the

[23:57] process of actually getting a contractor to you know start designing the whole center. So it's

[24:03] going to be a while, the design may be six months, and then maybe see some progress and

[24:09] maybe want to log probably two to three years.

[24:12] Okay.

[24:12] Yeah.

[24:13] So in terms of the timeline given, any of these, we shouldn't expect it to be in the youth

[24:18] center yet, right?

[24:19] This is all planned out for not including the youth center.

[24:24] Correct.

[24:25] Yeah.

[24:25] So what we're going to try to do is just, you know, for the team center, just because we

[24:29] We have a senior center, right?

[24:31] But to incorporate more teen programs,

[24:33] and we'll just have them here or wherever we can,

[24:35] either camp little bear or bets

[24:36] to try to get stuff for our teens as well.

[24:38] I know that camp little bear,

[24:39] we're currently working on a school program,

[24:43] like after school program,

[24:44] so people can come and kids can come and use the computer,

[24:47] or if they need help with their homework,

[24:49] there's gonna be someone there to assist them.

[24:51] Yes, yeah, thank you guys so much for your technology,

[24:53] like how important third spaces are.

[24:56] And yeah, great work, thank you.

[24:58] But just to go back on the sports that you've asked, oh, and then PEWI soccer, the signups are starting September 23rd, I believe.

[25:07] So that's going to start, we're going to start advertising that.

[25:11] But to go back to this best program, it's a skill sampler is what it is.

[25:16] So actually soccer for the sampler program, it goes from 18 months to 4 years old, and then from PEWI soccer goes 5 years old to, I believe it's, do you know the age 5 to 8?

[25:26] That's about five to eight, that's right, yeah.

[25:29] And then our flag football is six years old to 12 years old.

[25:32] Again, it's a skill training.

[25:35] And then from there, okay, then I got basketball, that's going to be at Vets Park.

[25:39] And then we have the four sample for two years old to five years old.

[25:42] So that sample's track and field, soccer, basketball.

[25:48] And there's one other track and field soccer basketball, I believe, maybe volleyball for that.

[25:54] So it's basically will gauge where the participation and see if we can actually like for Flag Pope

[26:00] all we'd like to start a league. The issue is we're trying to get an organization to start

[26:05] that league but also to see how the community responds to it. So we'll keep and these are six

[26:10] weeks long. It starts October 31 and goes to December 12. So we'll see what we can do. But there

[26:20] will be a sampler like demo day, sometimes next week as well, but we'll have that advertised.

[26:27] Sounds good.

[26:28] But stuff for, I mean, we keep, then there's going to be story time at Camp Little Bear as well.

[26:34] So we're starting that too. So there's a lot of things going on.

[26:37] I mean, it's pretty exciting from, you know, we're just busy now.

[26:42] I think this is great.

[26:44] And did you mention something about, was it for the soccer, for the youngest age group?

[26:50] which was it again? Eighteen months. Eighteen months ago. Is that like Japanese? I think it was

[26:54] okay. But that's even because Japanese was two years old. So this is going even younger to 18

[26:59] months. That's great. Yeah. That's great. So you said starting next week. That'll... That's like a

[27:06] demo class but the actual program starts October 31st. Okay. And it goes for six weeks and then we're

[27:12] just trying to see like you know the what kind of participation we have or what the community responds to.

[27:17] How

[27:22] interesting. I miss when meeting and then all these good things come to

[27:26] great. It's been a while yeah. Well I'm excited for all these new programs

[27:34] coming to the city of Bell. I want to think the staff are putting all this

[27:40] together. I think the community comes closer and you know we have more we see

[27:47] more people united in you know different cultures and different sports and you

[27:51] know we get to know our neighbors, people we don't even know that live there and this

[27:55] is a good way of bringing everyone together.

[27:59] As far as flag football, is that going to be, or any sport, are we going to be using

[28:06] bell high school as a field or?

[28:10] No, I know that bell high schools, actually, we think we're currently giving, they're using

[28:16] our fields because they know they're going under construction, they're doing their field.

[28:19] So, no, so camp little bear we're using and that's park.

[28:23] Okay, yeah, it's not that high school.

[28:25] Okay, okay, that would be good.

[28:30] Yeah, well, there's all exciting.

[28:32] It's all new and exciting and I'm pretty sure there's

[28:35] a lot of people excited to see this.

[28:40] No, thank you.

[28:41] Thank you.

[28:45] Any,

[28:51] okay.

[28:52] Moving on to business session.

[28:55] Seeing there are no items we can move forward to the next section.

[28:59] The next item, the agenda, is the consent calendar.

[29:03] Approval of Community Services Department update for June, July and August, 2026.

[29:09] Approval of Commission meeting minutes for June, July and August, 2026, what any commissioner like to remove any items before there is a motion.

[29:22] It is recommended that the Community Services Commission approve items AMV of the consent calendar.

[29:26] Chair, do I hear a motion?

[29:30] Motion.

[29:32] Is there a second?

[29:39] Second.

[29:40] Aye motion.

[29:45] Commissioned Secretary, roll call please.

[29:50] Chair Aldama?

[29:52] Yes.

[29:53] Vice Chair Lepe?

[29:55] I've sent a commissioner for Duce.

[29:58] Yes.

[30:00] Commissioner Suniga? Yes. Commissioner Gorminal? Absent. Item passes. Thank you. The next section on the agenda is the Community Services Commissioner announcements, requests for future agenda items, conference meeting reports during this time. Can any commissioners speak on any events that they have participated in or any request for the future that they would like to see be discussed? Commissioners? Yes.

[30:29] Yes, just we can have an update on the pressure field, the construction, I know it's in progress, and what's the timeline looking like, is it, are they within, you know, the project scope, or are there any possible delays, any updates on that?

[30:47] I know there was a few delays, but I believe it's supposed to just be open in December.

[30:52] December. Okay.

[30:58] Any other announcements or any items that you'd like to be

[31:02] discussed? I'm sorry, one more thing. And the Halleuchel Park, any updates on

[31:08] that one so far?

[31:11] They would discuss the designs. They had three designs. It was

[31:15] presented a council, but you want I can leave this slide of the designs that they

[31:18] were discussing that they wanted to do. But I can I can send you guys the email of

[31:23] of the slide.

[31:25] Yeah, sounds good.

[31:26] Yes.

[31:27] And then has there been any discussion?

[31:29] I remember the last meeting we had to talk about

[31:31] possible career, was it in career fair,

[31:34] or a possible having to get an e-waste trash can available

[31:40] as it been any moving on that one so far?

[31:45] There's no movement on, I know we had a college fair

[31:49] back in two months ago with the Dodger Foundation,

[31:52] But we're trying to get that same, those same people to come out and do it again.

[31:58] So hopefully we can bring them out.

[32:00] It would be good probably around, would you say when they start up paying for colleges?

[32:05] Well, sooner the better, right?

[32:08] But we'll get back to on that.

[32:14] That was it, right?

[32:15] Okay.

[32:18] Was it E-waste?

[32:19] Oh, the E-waste.

[32:20] Like batteries, people.

[32:21] You know what?

[32:21] I'll get you a status update on that too.

[32:24] Thank you.

[32:31] We are moving to the next item, if there's no more announcements or requests.

[32:37] The next section on the agenda is community services director comments.

[32:41] Ms. Skibar, you have the floor now.

[32:44] Thank you, Chair O'Zama.

[32:46] Alvin, I believe we have some special items or something we would like to discuss.

[32:52] If you can assist with that, please.

[32:54] So commissioners you're probably asking why does Alvin have three bouquets of flowers behind him.

[33:04] So we have been on kind of a hiatus with our commission, right?

[33:10] We haven't met for about three months.

[33:12] So actually for all three of you, all of your terms, I don't know if you guys had reapplied

[33:19] for the position.

[33:20] I'm not too aware as to application status is, but City Council will be working on five

[33:28] new appointments and hopefully one of your applications or all three of your applications

[33:33] are in that applicant pool.

[33:38] But we do kind of have an outgoing kind of ceremony for all three of you, so I've actually worked

[33:44] with one of our local florists, her name is Leticia, and she had created three very special

[33:51] arrangements for all three of you, Haralo. I hope you like receiving flowers. I myself love

[33:56] receiving flowers. So we do have three special arrangements for you. So I'll have Gina go

[34:03] ahead and present all of those to you, and we'll get actually do a brief photo. I do apologize

[34:08] about kind of the out of left field, this kind of, this is kind of coming from. Normally our

[34:15] commissioners do have a set term limit, but we've had a good amount of turnover for many of our

[34:22] commissioners. So for Heraldor and Zainab, you were actually finishing those individuals term limits.

[34:30] So with that in mind, I'll go ahead and have Gina present those flowers to you.

[34:46] Thank you.

[34:47] Thank you.

[34:48] Thank you.

[34:48] Thank you very much.

[34:53] And maybe we can get a photo after the event.

[34:56] Yeah, we'll get a photo.

[34:57] So, Rado Daisy is a knob.

[35:01] Thank you so much for participating in our community services commission.

[35:05] With all three of you serving within this commission, you guys serve as a mouthpiece for the community.

[35:11] and it's a very valuable insight for us as recreation professionals to have that voice of the community for those voices that aren't able to come to these meetings, that aren't able to come to these council meetings, and to provide insight on how we want to move forward as a department.

[35:27] As I keep mentioning, we are going to be moving forward with nothing but momentum.

[35:33] And you guys have been instrumental in that, because they know I'm doing our civic engagement

[35:38] event.

[35:39] You know, that event still has so much meaning and so many memories for me.

[35:45] I saw your students at our summer concerts and we were just hanging out with the mayor,

[35:50] like Mayor Bottice Ice Cream, and that's the result of our programs, right?

[35:55] But although, you know, we still have a lot that we need to do, you know, with you increasing your civic engagement, showing up at the council meetings, it serves as an example for our young leaders and how should, how they should be interacting with local government, and then Daisy, you've been with me since day one.

[36:13] I remember it was my second week as a temporary recreation coordinator and you as a commission tasked me in doing a 20-minute report on the Southeast Los Angeles Vaccination Center and you guys assigned it to me and inside I was panicking.

[36:33] You know, fast forward to now, five years later, I now stand here in front of all of you as the Interim Deputy Director.

[36:41] You know, for me, standing in this position, I hope it inspires everybody in the community,

[36:46] especially in my department, to see our young recreation leaders, such as Vincent here.

[36:52] You know, giving them that perspective that you could be here, you could sit in this chair, you have a seat at the table,

[36:58] And knowing your impact within the community spans a lot more than your four hour shift that you have at your facility.

[37:05] So thank you so much again for all of your hard work and all the communications that we've had.

[37:11] I appreciate it and I'll go ahead and pass it off to Miss Gina for any last remarks.

[37:27] Gerald, Donna, commissioners, I just want to thank you guys also for all your support.

[37:31] Coming from HR to community services is night and day.

[37:36] I've enjoyed the opportunity to serve as interim director and I appreciate your

[37:42] guys' support. Walking into this, I didn't know what I was walking into, but

[37:46] actually, I'm enjoying it. I'm loving what we're doing for the community, so I

[37:52] just wanted to thank each of them for accepting me and allowing me to do the work

[37:59] that we're doing. Thank you.

[38:06] Thank you. This is so unexpected. But, Alvin, thank you for your words.

[38:12] I know you're a person that transmits so much positivity to the community, to everybody, I think,

[38:19] with just seeing you, you're you're you're bright up the room, you know, you're always positive, you're

[38:24] always with the smile Ms. Skibar I thank you as well for taking the row you know

[38:32] and how familiar and how you know you answer every question we have and you know

[38:38] thank you so much for everything so thank you guys and thank you for the

[38:41] flowers they're beautiful.

[38:45] Thank you so much for always you guys put in you know

[38:50] like it's this job it's from what I see you guys are always here you know

[38:56] working hard and always at the events and you know we really appreciate you

[39:00] guys putting in the time to show up for the community you know you guys

[39:03] you're here a lot out of the week right well a lot of the days out of the week

[39:08] even if you know some people don't live here you're here all the time you're

[39:13] going home you go to sleep and then you come back to belly you know you are at

[39:21] I appreciate it a lot, I appreciate it with you guys, the kind words and your guys' work, thank you so much.

[39:26] So

[39:30] much for everything, my voice is gone, but I appreciate your hard work and commitment, I appreciate everything.

[39:35] Thank you.

[39:36] Seeing

[39:41] no further items, the regular meeting is adjourned at 6.46 p.m., the next regular community

[39:48] services commission meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 21, 2026 at 6 p.m.

[39:55] Thank you.

Sep 16, 2026 Community Services Commission

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