[0:01] Good afternoon and welcome to the fee shop agenda

[0:05] for this afternoon for the city of chino hills. Cheryl,

[0:10] all members are present for the special meeting workshop. Okay.

[0:15] alright. The first item is a public

[0:20] comments. I have not received any public comment. Speaker cards, so we have no

[0:24] public comments. Alright. And then we can move on to the proposed amendment

[0:29] to fiscal year 20 24, 25, master schedule of fees, fines, and

[0:33] penalties to be presented by finance director baier.

[0:37] alright. All right, krista. All right, it's all yours. Thank

[0:41] you. Good afternoon, mayor. Council members, staff and

[0:46] members of the public. Uh, we are here to discuss the proposed amendments

[0:50] to the master schedule of fees, fines, and penalties originally adopted april 23rd, 2024.

[0:56] please feel free to stop me at any time during the presentation with questions.

[1:04] user fees are designed to fund programs and services that provide a direct benefit

[1:08] to the individual paying the fee with little or no benefit to the broader community.

[1:12] these fees are based on a cost recovery model, meaning the revenue generated cannot

[1:16] exceed the estimated reasonable cost of providing the service.

[1:21] normally, we update our fee schedule in april of each year. However, this year we're conducting

[1:26] a more extensive fee study, so we're shifting the annual update to october.

[1:30] this change allows us to separate it from the budget process and give staff more

[1:34] time to accurately forecast revenues for the following year, knowing

[1:38] what the updated fees will be. That said, there are some changes that need to

[1:42] be addressed before october, which is why we're presenting an amendment to the current fee

[1:46] schedule today. The finance and community services fees are

[1:51] proposed to take effect on february 1st, 2025, and the building development

[1:56] services and public works fees are proposed to take effect on april 1st, 2025.

[2:01] real quick question as we get going on this. Are these fee proposed

[2:06] fee, uh, rates in that, that are going into effect? Uh, have they been

[2:10] reflected in any of our budget? Our current year's budget? Obviously

[2:14] it goes in through june 30th, but are they any impact

[2:19] to the 2020 4 25 budget? I wouldn't,

[2:23] I wouldn't say, I would say no. Negligible, maybe having them

[2:27] adopted will allow them to plan them into the next fiscal year budget. Okay. So

[2:31] it'll clearly be projected in next year's fiscal budget? Yes. Okay,

[2:36] thank you. The

[2:40] building services division in community development is proposing four new fees. The

[2:44] first fee of $267 covers the installation of up

[2:48] to three residential plumbing fixtures, such as a kitchen sink or water softener

[2:53] with a 50% surcharge for each additional fixture. It's based on

[2:57] one to two inspections. The second fee of $535

[3:02] covers the installation of commercial fixtures like dishwashers, laundry equipment,

[3:06] or broilers boilers. It is based on two to

[3:10] three inspections. The after hours inspection fee, which is based on

[3:15] the overtime rate of $802, applies when developers

[3:19] request inspections outside of regular business hours. The

[3:23] last fee of $267 is assessed when work has proceeded

[3:27] without a required inspection. This fee represents the additional time needed to

[3:31] investigate and resolve the inspection.

[3:37] building services is also proposing some changes to four existing fees.

[3:42] the two existing geotechnical report review fees are being

[3:46] combined with the two precise grading fees, thereby reducing costs through process efficiencies.

[3:51] the address change fee is expanded to include new address assignments

[3:55] and reduced to $401 due to updated staff time estimates.

[4:00] and the reinspection fee is reduced by $201 to reflect

[4:05] the current process

[4:10] development services is proposing a new entitlement review

[4:15] fee of $25,000, which covers land development application reviews,

[4:19] now assigned to consultants due to staffing changes. They're also proposing

[4:24] to combine the business license processing fee with the land use clearance fee,

[4:28] resulting in a combined fee of $267.

[4:32] the initial deposit for a post entitlement review utilizing engineering

[4:36] consultant services is proposed to increase from $10,702

[4:42] to $50,000. It's important to note that the overall costs are not

[4:46] increasing. The deposit is simply being, just being adjusted to

[4:50] reflect the actual costs that are currently being incurred

[4:59] in the public works. In public works, the engineering division

[5:03] is proposing a new initial deposit for the inspection of mechanically

[5:07] stabilized earth walls of 5.5% of the engineering cost

[5:12] estimate. This new fee addresses the inspection requirements for newer development

[5:16] designs. The initial deposit for a subdivision

[5:21] encroachment permit is proposed to be updated to match the current engineering

[5:25] cost estimate worksheets, which reference 11%.

[5:33] the initial deposit for a rough grading permit was transferred from

[5:37] building services to engineering. Because they issue the grading permits and provide inspection

[5:42] oversight, the deposit is proposed to increase by $200

[5:46] because the fully burdened hourly rate for engineering is higher than building services.

[5:51] in addition, the cost oh, yes. Before, before we move forward, just

[5:55] I'm looking at this, is this for like a development or is this single family residence

[6:01] on all these issues? I have to defer to nick to, sorry, this is that nick or

[6:05] maybe daniel? I'm not sure. , yes, sir. Um, this is, this is

[6:09] for, um, large scale development, like track development projects. Um, because typically

[6:13] a, a single family residents, um, wouldn't

[6:18] use, uh, this volume of grading or, um, having

[6:22] the, um, mechanically stabilized earth walls or other types

[6:26] of things. So this is more what we're seeing in, um, newer tract developments.

[6:30] okay. Thank you. And since we took that break, let let

[6:34] go back to page four. That big increase, that $39,000 increase,

[6:39] who, who's gonna pay for that? Is that a developer cost or is that yes,

[6:43] this is a developer cost. So, um, for the, uh,

[6:47] land development engineering review services on

[6:51] a track, um, they will typically be, um,

[6:57] sometimes, uh, in advance of 60,000 up to a hundred

[7:01] thousand dollars. And the, that is all cost reimbursement, um,

[7:05] by the developer. And so what we would like to do is

[7:10] increase the amount of the initial deposit, which

[7:14] will allow us to get started with a consultant engineer

[7:18] sooner in the process so they don't have to wait around while,

[7:23] um, the city, uh, does a request for proposal and then,

[7:27] and then gets a cost from the contractor and

[7:31] then executes an agreement all that time. The developer's kind

[7:35] of dead in the water waiting. They, their preference is that

[7:39] if we go off somebody that's off of our pre-qualified list and they've

[7:44] already put up a, a larger deposit, we can start

[7:48] working with that consulting engineer to start processing

[7:52] their, um, application sooner. Okay. So is this truly

[7:56] a deposit or is it a fee that will be, we're just basically collecting upfront?

[8:01] it, um, it is, uh, the cost

[8:05] for the service that we're collecting up front, and we're estimating that's

[8:09] gonna be about $50,000 per project. So if it exceeds that the developer

[8:13] has to put more money into the trust deposit account, if it does

[8:17] not exceed, then we will reimburse the developer for the difference at the

[8:21] end of the project. Okay. Is this a one size fits all for

[8:26] all size developments? I mean, what, what's the criteria on this as far as how many

[8:30] units are going to build or how many square feet? What, what's the

[8:34] basis of that? Just, just general? So, um, this is applicable

[8:38] to, to any development that will require, uh, consultant

[8:43] services for engineering review. So this is gonna be your, uh, commercial

[8:48] projects or, um, tracked developments. Okay.

[8:52] but it wouldn't necessarily be like a one, a single custom lot.

[8:57] um, sometimes it, it is, um, sometimes

[9:01] it is, it is for that and, and we do have a, a little bit of flexibility

[9:05] on what we would collect in, in terms of those

[9:10] small projects. Okay. Um, but, but usually it's for larger

[9:14] development projects. Okay. Alright. I'm just trying to get some understanding because,

[9:18] you know, we, we don't want to impede development by making onerous, you

[9:22] know, charges on them, so, okay. Correct. I think that's correct. Yeah. This is, this is really based

[9:26] on feedback from the development community where, um, they were having to

[9:30] wait for the city to obtain these services. And so

[9:34] at that time, their project doesn't really move. They would like us to be,

[9:38] um, a little bit more flexible. And so in order for us to have that

[9:43] flexibility, we need them to deposit more money up front to get the

[9:47] services started soon. So this is kind of a meet meeting of the minds to expedite the

[9:51] process, which helps them. Yes. So it's a mutually convenient type of thing. Yes. Okay.

[9:55] I think that was my question r was why there was such a difference in what we've been charging and what we proposed.

[9:59] so that makes sense that yeah, that makes sense. Any other questions on that one? Okay,

[10:03] sorry, krista, next. Okay.

[10:11] um, the second lineup there, the cost per 10,000 cubic yard

[10:15] is based on one hour of staff time. So this additional cost is also

[10:20] proposed to increase by $20, uh, due to the fully board and hourly rate

[10:28] finance is proposing a new electronic check fee, which ranges

[10:33] from 50 cents to a dollar 95 per transaction, depending

[10:37] on the vendor, this fee will be passed through to cover costs associated

[10:41] with online echeck payments. Will that apply to

[10:45] our residents that pay their water bill or city water charges

[10:50] on? No, no, this would not apply to water bill. We cover those costs.

[10:54] this is for, um, business license, um,

[10:58] the new land management software and we're looking

[11:02] into community services as well. Okay. Well, yeah, that's pretty nominal for those types

[11:06] of, of payments. Okay. Yeah, this gives them a cheaper option to pay online as

[11:11] opposed to credit card because a dollar 95 would be upsetting to

[11:15] somebody on their water bill. I mean, they're not happy with it anyhow. For sure. So, okay. Alright.

[11:22] community services is proposing a five year fee adjustment

[11:26] for facility rentals. Uh, the key changes include a 5%

[11:31] annual increase from 2026 to 2029

[11:35] to account for inflation market trends and rising operational costs.

[11:39] and rental rates are determined by calendar year of the event rather

[11:44] than the booking date. These rates were last updated in april, 2023.

[11:48] so these increases are necessary to maintain financial sustainability and

[11:53] competitive pricing. Anybody, any questions on that that

[11:57] I know we've questioned costs to rent our facilities? No issues?

[12:01] no. Okay. Alright.

[12:06] uh, community development recently implemented the new building

[12:10] software and it requires the project size

[12:14] area thresholds to be rounded to the nearest a hundred. Therefore, staff

[12:18] recommends updating the thresholds in the building permit fees table,

[12:22] which will result in some small associated fee adjustments.

[12:31] and that concludes my presentation. We can all take any questions you may have.

[12:35] alright. Any questions? Is that the,

[12:40] go ahead. Just a, this is just a pet peeve for me. Sidewalk vendors,

[12:44] this has nothing to do with that, correct? Correct. Okay. We'll

[12:48] make sure. Okay. Thank you. Any questions at all? I just had a

[12:52] couple questions. Anything. There's, um, a new fee implemented. I'm curious as to the

[12:56] history of how we got to, um, having this new fee come about. So on page five

[13:01] of 17 on the packet that we got, the larger packet that counsel got,

[13:06] um, I was just curious, so the after hours inspection fee is a new fee.

[13:10] so I don't know who this question is for, but what would, what would constitute the necessity

[13:14] for an after hours inspection? Is it because of safety and emergency? Or if someone is

[13:18] rushing to get their project done, can they basically put up the money to have an after hours inspection? I,

[13:22] I'm just curious how this came about. Yes. Uh, sometimes

[13:27] with the track developments, the, in order for

[13:31] the developer to make certain timeframes, they have requested inspections on

[13:36] like a saturday. Um, that has not been an option.

[13:41] and so we would like to have the flexibility if we do have

[13:45] staff available and the developer is willing to pay the

[13:49] overtime that's associated, that we could potentially provide,

[13:53] uh, that service. Okay. And then on

[13:57] the same page where, um, on item 79, it says investigation fee

[14:01] for missed inspection steps. So is that on the

[14:06] customer side, it it was their negligence that they missed a step or who missed the

[14:10] step and then if it's a new fee, so has that been a problem? So, um,

[14:14] it does come up from time to time where, uh, we may write

[14:18] corrections on an inspection and not pass a particular

[14:22] inspection and then, uh, we go out to the job site again

[14:27] and the, um, owner or contractor is taken upon themselves to

[14:31] move forward, um, without showing us that they have corrected the

[14:35] previous steps. And so, um, we wanted a mechanism

[14:40] to make sure that they knew that, hey, you know, you really can't

[14:44] just do this. You, you do need to check in with us. You do need

[14:48] to request a reinspection and get clearance before you move forward.

[14:52] so they may have, uh, we may look at rough plumbing, for example, and there may be some

[14:56] corrections. And then the next thing we know, we get a, a request for

[15:01] a drywall inspection and, and everything's covered up well. There's no way of us

[15:05] knowing that they haven't corrected those issues. And

[15:09] so it takes time away from staff to say, okay, you gotta open these sections of walls,

[15:13] we have to look at it. We have. So, so this is a way to

[15:18] help encourage, uh, behavior and recover the time that it costs

[15:22] for us to stand out there while they, um, go back and show us

[15:26] how they've addressed the corrections. Mm-hmm . Uh, so then

[15:30] to that, uh, the, kind of in the same vein, so the investigation

[15:34] fee for the missteps, does that also include the reinspection fee or

[15:38] do you have to do both? Um, sometimes, sometimes we would

[15:42] do both depending upon the severity of the situation.

[15:47] okay. Thank you mr. Mayor? Yes. Yeah, nick,

[15:51] real fast. Um, it seems like we're using, we'll say sb nine

[15:55] as an example. We use consultants. So in other words, if a consultant basically

[15:59] gives directions and the consumer or the person that's pulling the permit follows

[16:03] those directions and then he finds out later that that's not how it was

[16:07] supposed to be done and then they have to do a reinspection, are we charging them?

[16:13] so, so, um, it wouldn't necessarily in, in that case,

[16:17] um, because it's, it's more of a paper exercise. We, we wouldn't,

[16:21] we wouldn't charge necessarily a reinspection. Sometimes we

[16:25] have to evaluate it because if there are conflicting cases,

[16:30] I have some ability to, to look at what the charges were

[16:34] and say, well, hey, you know, we gave them one set of corrections this time,

[16:38] but then things changed. Is it, is it fair

[16:43] to do that? So, so, um, I do as the director

[16:47] have a little bit of flexibility to look at those cases. But when it comes to

[16:51] building inspections, we're actually doing construction generally

[16:55] when we have smaller projects and we're helping like maybe an owner builder or something

[16:59] like that. Um, that's, it's not the case. It's when we have,

[17:04] uh, these large construction projects where they have professional corporations

[17:08] that they should know what they're doing and, uh, taking advantage

[17:12] of our staff time. We, we really don't want them to do that. So

[17:16] thanks nick. Good. Thank you. On those smaller projects, I, I,

[17:20] I know I talked to you about a, a complaint we had from a recent, uh,

[17:25] uh, development, not development building going on on a property. And

[17:29] they had had a contractor come in, they basically covered everything up beforehand.

[17:33] is there a way that we can make sure that we put in our instructions

[17:37] to them along the, when they first come in, that they're going to be required on

[17:42] certain, in certain es or, uh, instances to get those,

[17:46] uh, permits written off or those functions written

[17:50] off before they cover things up and make it very clear to them? They cover it up, they're

[17:54] gonna have to tear it up, uh, for us to inspect it, because I know it was a big surprise to

[17:58] people. It couldn't cost 'em a lot of money when their contractor gets, you know, ahead of himself

[18:03] and just covers up the work. Right. And generally, um,

[18:07] we, uh, we do a lot to educate the contractors. We're,

[18:11] we're pretty fortunate. We have a lot of good contractors that do a lot of business

[18:15] in the city. Um, but there are those that, um, maybe

[18:20] try to get away from with things. Um, what we are doing is we're continually

[18:25] refining our building permit software to try and

[18:29] build in more, uh, safeguards that will helpfully

[18:33] steer the contractor in the right direction, the right inspections that they

[18:37] need to be requesting and putting some checkpoints on allowing them to

[18:42] move further without us kind of doing that verification. That's

[18:46] my exact point. So you've got it covered. That's the main thing. 'cause we don't want people coming up. Well, I

[18:50] didn't know. Well, I didn't know cost you a couple thousand bucks, you know, so.

[18:54] alright. Any other questions? All good. Where are we at,

[18:58] ben? What, uh, is, is this the extent of the, uh,

[19:03] the workshop, uh, what kind action is required from here?

[19:07] yes. Uh, our, our goal was to give you access to staff, uh,

[19:12] for the types of questions you've already asked. And I think our next step

[19:16] would be, uh, a motion, uh, right. And then, or do just a workshop.

[19:20] oh, that's right. We have to approve. It wouldn't take that so mm-hmm . Okay. So that would

[19:24] be, uh, the extent. Wait one moment. We'll, we'll bring it for adoption, not

[19:28] tonight, but at the next council meeting. Perfect. The public hearing and adoption. Okay. Well

[19:32] we want to thank staff that is here, uh, uh, supporting this

[19:36] and listening in and the case, we had questions that needed to be answered. Uh,

[19:41] very good process. It sounds like you are looking in advance

[19:45] to, uh, preclude any issues or any questions that are obvious,

[19:49] you know, pitfall for people. So I, I think that's great. So

[19:53] you said we do not need a motion? Nope. Okay. No, it'll be come back to you. Alright, well we,

[19:57] that happens to be it. We will go ahead and at, uh, four 20 close this work.

[20:01] yeah. Just for your workshop. Thank you very much. Here,

[21:04] there. Alright. I don't know what happened to the intro,

[21:08] but that's fine. Alright. Uh, welcome to the regularly scheduled meeting

[21:12] of the chino hill city council for january 14th. And, uh, happy new

[21:16] year to everyone in attendance. Uh, roll call. All members

[21:21] are present. Wonderful. Uh, I'm going to ask you all to

[21:25] stand and join council member ray marquez in the, uh, flight

[21:29] salute and then the invocation remain standing, uh, by pastor ken

[21:33] elvin of the chino valley community church. Thank you. If you please join

[21:37] me. Ready begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag flag

[21:42] of the united states of america and to republic for which it

[21:46] stands, one nation under god, individual

[21:50] with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Alright,

[21:54] let's pray together. Lord, we thank you that we can come here tonight at this new year

[21:59] just living in this beautiful city lord, and being able to serve the people

[22:03] here. I pray for the leaders of the council. I pray for the leaders who

[22:07] make decisions, lord, that, um, we'll be honoring to you and looking out for the people.

[22:12] lord, thank you. I pray for this meeting to go to your glory and thank

[22:16] you that we get to live in this city once again in your name jesus. Amen. Amen.

[22:20] thank you pastor.

[22:36] the first item on our agenda

[22:41] is the recognition of the city's annual holiday home decorating contest

[22:45] winners to be introduced by the mayor and community

[22:49] services coordinator, jessica patino. Will you please join the mayor jessica?

[23:00] alright. Pacific hills host an annual

[23:04] holiday home decorating contest where households all over the community

[23:08] display their holiday spirit and help celebrate the festive season.

[23:12] this year we are recognizing winners in three different categories,

[23:16] mary and bright holiday spirit and best theme.

[23:21] each winning household will receive a $50 gift card to september's

[23:25] tap room and eatery. In addition, the winners will be given a

[23:29] yard sign to display in front of their house during the holiday season.

[23:34] a few of the winners are with us in the audience tonight. When I call your name, please

[23:38] join me at the podium to receive your prize and take a group photo.

[23:42] the first winner of the mary and bright category is the laura family.

[23:46] would you please join me? They're not here.

[23:50] okay. Alright. For the holiday spirit category, the judges selected

[23:55] the marino family.

[24:03] oh, it's so pretty.

[24:08] excuse me. I have certificates here from the

[24:12] city of chino hills and from supervisor hagman,

[24:17] um, congresswoman norma torres, uh,

[24:22] young kim, the congresswoman co young kim and assemblyman phil chan.

[24:27] and by the way, each and every, uh, winning family will have those. So

[24:31] I'm going to present this to you. Thank you so much. We have your picture up there.

[24:35] would you go? Would you like to say it? Uh, say something about the fun

[24:39] you have doing this. Come on right up .

[24:45] I just want to thank my beautiful wife anita and my, uh, daughter lisa,

[24:50] and my son mike, and, um, his wife, uh,

[24:54] nicole and my two grandsons, uh, dylan and, um, nate, uh,

[24:58] without their help, um, I think we made it a big family affair

[25:02] and, um, it was really wonderful to see them all work and help me

[25:06] decorate our house. Wonderful.

[25:12] there is, I'll let you do those,

[25:16] but I know she's gonna get the gift card, but that's alright. We're, I'm gonna have you hold here

[25:21] for just a moment and we're gonna do a group picture, by the way. And by the way, thank you very

[25:25] much for your service. I'm a fellow army vet and go airborne,

[25:29] huh? All righty. Uh, the next winner,

[25:33] but, and last but not least, the winner of the best theme was the

[25:37] ellison family.

[25:42] and they're not here either. . Oh, that's this group is gonna be us. Let's take a picture.

[26:05] good.

[26:11] thank, thank you.

[26:20] next is a proclamation proclaiming january 11th, 2025 as

[26:24] national human trafficking awareness day to be accepted by police chief ard.

[26:32] okay. Hey, chief human trafficking

[26:36] sadly, continues to be a global problem. This modern day exploitation

[26:41] derives victims of their individual freedom, or deprives,

[26:45] excuse me, victims of their individual freedoms, civil rights and personal

[26:49] dignity. As a society, we must support all levels of law

[26:53] enforcement by reporting such crimes and work to strengthen laws

[26:57] that send an unwavering message to any and

[27:02] all who attempt to profit from it. On behalf of the city

[27:06] council, we encourage our community to spread knowledge and awareness to help stop

[27:10] this hideous crime. To accept this proclamation and to share more about

[27:14] the importance of this day is our very own chino hills police. Captain

[27:19] gerard.

[27:24] thank you mayor. Uh, vice mayor city council. Uh,

[27:28] I'm honored to receive this proclamation and I applaud the council's continued efforts to raise

[27:32] public awareness of human trafficking. Uh, most of us think of prostitution when we hear

[27:36] human trafficking, uh, but the reality is labor trafficking and debt

[27:40] bondage are just as prevalent. Debt bondage occurs when individuals are forced

[27:44] to work without compensation to pay off. Never ending debts usually

[27:49] incurred in their efforts to migrate to america. Many times the only hope for these victims

[27:53] is for someone to become suspicious of their plight and report it to local law enforcement.

[27:57] public awareness is often the key to rescuing victims of human trafficking. So again,

[28:02] I thank the council for their continued commitment to raise awareness to human trafficking.

[28:06] if you witness what you suspect is human trafficking, you can report it to the national human trafficking

[28:10] hotline at 8 8 8 3 7 3 7 8 8 8.

[28:14] you can also report it anonymously at we tip or call 9 1 1

[28:18] for immediate law enforcement assistance. Thank you, mayor. Thank you very much. And here

[28:22] is the certificate proclamation.

[28:45] next we have a presentation on tree trimming budget and prioritization

[28:49] to be presented by landscape inspector fusco and management analyst

[28:53] pont.

[29:00] is she familiar?

[29:12] good evening, mayor bennett, council members, staff and members of the public.

[29:17] I'm alexis dpa management analyst, and this is tony

[29:21] fusco, landscape inspector and certified arborist, also

[29:25] known as tony trees . We are from the public

[29:29] works department and tonight we'll be presenting on our urban forest management.

[29:36] we have over, uh, 47,000 trees here

[29:41] in the city of chino hills with an annual budget of about $900,000

[29:46] for maintenance of those trees. About 90%

[29:50] of our tree maintenance is contracted out with our tree trim

[29:54] contractor, west coast arborist, and we utilize

[29:59] a corrective maintenance approach. Um, compared to preventative maintenance,

[30:04] we are responding to issues and requests as they occur.

[30:09] our current inventory value is 145 million.

[30:17] we receive approximately 650 requests regarding

[30:21] trees throughout the year, and those requests are typically

[30:25] inspected within about two weeks or so. And then the

[30:29] ones that do need to be addressed are addressed by priority.

[30:37] and to share with you guys a little bit of perspective and some of the complexities

[30:41] that we deal with in our city, we wanted to zoom into a couple of different areas.

[30:46] so, uh, we'll start here off of, uh, off of peyton drive.

[30:50] this is, uh, off peyton near carriage house. This is a, this is a,

[30:54] a city owned slope where we have about, uh, 30 inventory trees,

[30:58] 30 of our, uh, 18,000 slope trees.

[31:02] um, this is an area that we would consider an, an easy to access

[31:07] area where, where as our tree crews are our trimming trees

[31:11] up slope, they can easily, uh, bring branches down slope

[31:15] as, and park their vehicles here, the chipper trucks. And, uh,

[31:19] and this is, this is an area where, um, where guys

[31:23] can work the slope really well. Conversely,

[31:28] we have a lot of areas throughout the city that are much more difficult to,

[31:32] uh, to navigate this area in between fallen oak and tall oak

[31:37] is bordered on the north by, uh, the cattle property. So we can't get in that

[31:41] way. The crews have to park their vehicles down here off of

[31:45] split oak, and as they're trimming trees in this area, they have to drag

[31:50] all the branch, all the brush and the trees and limbs,

[31:54] uh, through that, that difficult to navigate area. And, and

[31:58] while this, this area is about half the footprint of the area we just looked at,

[32:02] it has twice as many trees.

[32:09] so with the, um, with time and labor being the

[32:13] greatest cost, uh, we kind of wanted to show how the cost can

[32:17] vary greatly on tree trims. Uh, when we're working

[32:22] easy to, easy to get under street trees, it can be

[32:26] as simple as a half an hour, 75 bucks to trim a tree. Whereas you get into more

[32:30] difficult trees like this guy right here, this was a dead eucalyptus that

[32:34] we had to take out. And because it's such a narrow, narrow pathway,

[32:39] the guys are can go single file and it, and

[32:43] it can be up to $2,500 is to, to trim or remove one tree.

[32:53] so after we get the service requests, uh, residents, they want to know,

[32:57] when will my trees be trimmed with only about,

[33:02] uh, with only budgets, only to trim about 10%

[33:06] of our trees, we have to prioritize our trees. So we're constantly

[33:10] trying to figure out which trees need it the most and what can wait.

[33:14] so we prioritize our trees on, on the tree condition,

[33:18] on how much the trees are encroaching the property lines and fire safety.

[33:23] we do not trim trees for view and

[33:28] we do not trim for leaf litter issues.

[33:33] we also do not top trees. This is a common request

[33:37] we get. Can you please totem pole my tree?

[33:41] we don't do that. Top end trees is very, very bad

[33:45] for the tree and it goes against isa standards. Uh, when you, when you

[33:49] top trees, you starve 'em, they, they don't have the ability to photosynthesize

[33:53] or create sugars. And then they, they will ultimately

[33:57] have, uh, go into a rapid response growth mode where they

[34:02] put out these shoots, right? And you get these bushes grown on the end

[34:06] of stubs. And as those bushes grow into like larger

[34:10] branches, the branches grow into limbs, the limbs to, uh, to leaders.

[34:15] they're all, they're all growing at, uh, um,

[34:23] structurally a poorly structured rate. Right? And, and these attachment points

[34:27] are weak and we see failures, um, as

[34:32] a result. So you also leave the tree vulnerable, the trees are

[34:36] ugly. A lot of times the tree will die and then you have a costly removal

[34:40] on your hand, which is much more than a trim.

[34:45] so to kind of give you guys an idea, uh, priority one

[34:49] trims look, look a little bit like this, like this is a, a,

[34:54] a red gum behind a resident and it's encroaching their yard by

[34:58] a good 15, 20 feet. Those are priority trim that we would schedule for trim

[35:02] and get done as soon as possible. Same with the rest of the photos here.

[35:08] conversely, priority two trims are trees that got await. So these are trees

[35:12] that we don't disagree, you know, the tree is full, it would be nice to thin it out,

[35:16] but, um, they're not encroaching properties too badly and there's

[35:20] no other substandard conditions. So trees like this have to wait.

[35:28] so as an alternate option for our residents, we established the

[35:32] resi pay program in august, 2023, and that

[35:36] allows residents to pay for city trees to be trimmed.

[35:40] um, some restrictions do apply. Um, there should have been

[35:45] no trimming within the last 12 months on that tree. It does have to be in the

[35:49] city right away. And there are some seasonal restrictions that apply

[35:53] as well. Um, we trim trees to isa

[35:57] standards, so again, no topping. And the cost is based

[36:01] on cost recovery. Quick question about that. Uhhuh , you

[36:05] know, we've had issues with people unauthorized cutting down of, of

[36:10] trees in, in the city's right of way that are city owned. Mm-hmm

[36:14] . If someone decides that they want to

[36:18] pay for trim trimming of city trees, what's their process? Who should,

[36:22] obviously they need to contact the city first, but can you explain a little bit what that process

[36:26] would be by they don't just get a gardener or tree trimmer to come out and start

[36:30] trimming trees saying, oh yeah, we'll pay for it. Correct. So, so they'll

[36:34] call public works and, um, request a work order and one of our,

[36:38] um, landscape inspectors will check it out and meet with

[36:43] our contractor to get a price for them. And, um, if

[36:47] they decide to move forward, we'll go ahead and get it scheduled, but it does have to be trimmed

[36:51] by our contractor. Okay. The, yeah, there's the key. They'll pay for, they'll

[36:55] reimburse the city for the cost, but we will have total control of what gets trimmed.

[37:00] exactly. And it is trim that's essential that people know that in the, in the press. Yes. Okay. Thank

[37:04] you mr. Mayor. Of course. Oh, wait, excuse me. Right. Can I, can I have a follow up question? Obviously doug mccormick's

[37:08] here, and I think doug, you're the one, one of the first that initiated this or

[37:13] wanted to know about this. So thank you staff for doing that. My question is,

[37:17] when a tree comes over, say onto my property, do I have

[37:21] the right to trim the tree that's within my property line?

[37:26] uh, yes. The way, the way we operate is, um,

[37:30] at, at, at the public works is, um, your property line extends

[37:34] up into the sky just as well as it does into the ground. And so a, a tree

[37:39] or a root encroaching onto your property, you're within your right to cut, but not not beyond

[37:43] your property. Would you prefer that we make contact with the city before

[37:47] we do it or, definitely yes. Okay. Thank you. Alright.

[37:55] um, we've been able to utilize nearly $2 million of non-city

[37:59] money, um, to help with our tree trimming efforts. We had,

[38:03] uh, three state grants recently that helped with our nature parks

[38:07] hollow run, strickling and eucalyptus, and we were

[38:12] able to utilize those grant funds to remove, um, dead or

[38:16] declining trees, uh, trim the good trees and plant some new trees.

[38:21] and then we also, uh, utilized a million dollars of arpa

[38:25] funding to grid trim all of our park trees

[38:32] so that, that million dollar, um, arpa funding we got, we started in

[38:36] 2022. It's been a three year program. Um, and it's, and it's

[38:40] going great. We were able to trim 14,000

[38:44] park trees over those three years. And, and especially with the recent

[38:48] winds we've experienced, um, we saw very few failures,

[38:53] uh, in these areas. A tremendous success

[38:58] with this, with this, um, funding was that it freed up money

[39:02] that we had otherwise had to spend in the parks, and we were able to, to take that

[39:06] into the neighborhoods and to do, um, to, to spend

[39:10] the money there, which was a tremendous success. We were able to catch up on a lot

[39:14] of priority one backlog trees that had been in our inventory

[39:18] for, for quite a while. So, um, this was a great

[39:22] program for us. And then my favorite day

[39:26] of the year, national harbor day, this is where we get together and plant a bunch of trees,

[39:31] 200 to 250 plus trees. We get together with all the beautiful members of

[39:35] our community. We have such a diverse group. We get the girl scouts, we

[39:39] get babs guys, we get young marines, we get the various dignitaries.

[39:44] and, uh, I think this past year we had congresswoman norma torres come out and

[39:48] give us a letter of recognition and, um, and yeah,

[39:52] hope you join us this year and we are a proud

[39:56] tree city, usa as well. Uh, if you guys have any

[40:00] questions anyone have yes, go right

[40:05] ahead, chris. Great presentation, guys. Um, first of all, just for clarification for

[40:09] our, our, our viewers and audience, can you let us, remind us what isa

[40:13] stands for? Sure. That's the, uh, international

[40:17] society of arbor culture. He's like, come on cynthia, you should've known that . Okay.

[40:21] a bit of a tongue. And I know you brought up leaf litter, but, um, I'm glad you brought it up

[40:25] because I have gotten, um, feedback from residents that get frustrated

[40:29] that their neighbor's tree puts all of their, blows, all their leaves into their nice clean

[40:34] pool. But as a city, our policy is that we do not

[40:38] trim or do not get involved in anything that just because someone's tree is blowing

[40:42] leaves into the other person's yard and making it a mess. Right.

[40:47] uh, I'm not sure if we're talking about private trees or city trees in this instance. City trees,

[40:51] city trees. I'm trying to say neighbor, but like yeah. Um, we, you know,

[40:56] we simply don't have the budgets to trim for leaf litter.

[41:00] it's not that we, we disagree or we we want to be a bad neighbor. That's not the case

[41:04] at all. We just have priority one trims that

[41:09] are more so, I'm, I'm glad you brought up the whole, the leaf litter thing because it is a thing,

[41:13] and I know we get complaints about it, but we don't trim for leaf litter. Um,

[41:17] when you talked about topping the tree, how it's not normal, it's interesting because

[41:22] I think that for people that get their private trees maintained by their landscapers,

[41:27] the people behind me, they were notorious. It looked like the picture that you said was bad. So

[41:31] I think we all think it's normal because the landscaping companies top

[41:35] trees all the time, you're biting your tongue now, top topping trees is, is

[41:39] widespread and very common. Yeah. But it is not the right way to trim trees. Yeah.

[41:44] I wish there was a way we, we could, you know, educate all the people in that field, but

[41:48] me too. Yeah, I know. So, um, that's all I

[41:52] have. Any other questions? No, go ahead. Had a question. Um, you, you

[41:56] just made a comment earlier, but I don't wanna put you on the spot. Since we do have 145,000

[42:01] trees in our city and our budget is about 900,000, where should it

[42:05] be mr. City manager?

[42:09] uh, every year when we do our budgeting, uh, um,

[42:13] process, the public works department looks at ways to

[42:17] stretch, uh, the available funding. They look at options. If

[42:21] we had, uh, more funding, um, we, we could

[42:25] spend a lot more on trees. Uh, I think a lot goes

[42:29] to, uh, tony and the team for making use of, of other people's

[42:34] money where we can. Uh, but it's, it's, we do have constraints. It's

[42:38] just one of those things that, uh, we don't have, uh, uh, enough

[42:42] money to do some of the lower priority items. If it's health and safety, we make

[42:46] it a priority and we get out there, we use, uh, con uh, contractors

[42:51] in order to be able to maximize, uh, uh, uh, you know, the,

[42:55] the, the work that's done out there. But it's one of those things that we'll be talking,

[42:59] uh, with the council about. Uh, are there ways for us to, uh,

[43:03] hi, make more of a budgetary priority to put more

[43:07] money toward, uh, uh, trees? Uh, the goal of this presentation was

[43:11] I know the council gets a lot of calls about trees because it's

[43:15] something that's, uh, pretty obvious. They'll say that tree belongs to the city,

[43:19] but I don't think, uh, I know I didn't know until this team educated me.

[43:24] a lot of people just don't understand how much work it goes in

[43:28] to maintaining 45,000 trees. We love the, the, uh,

[43:32] the beauty of our, of our city, but I wanted an opportunity to give

[43:36] a little bit of, of a spotlight and kudos to what the team is achieving.

[43:41] what that $900,000 budget. Mr. City manager, thank you for that explanation.

[43:45] um, you guys do a great job and I wanna say thank you, but obviously there's a shortfall.

[43:50] um, I think we need to come up with more money, even though you guys do a great job with the

[43:54] budget. I don't know what we can do as a council to basically generate more funding to

[43:58] be able to do a better job. But thank you for the presentation. I appreciate that. Thank you.

[44:02] could you give me an estimate of, uh, how long the city has been doing this,

[44:07] uh, management of trees since day one?

[44:11] since from the beginning five years in, when, when did we begin it?

[44:16] uh, I'd be guessing I would, you know, 10 years ago, since day one,

[44:20] I, I would think is day one almost the reason I bring this up, this is

[44:24] kind of a timely, uh, subject. As we know with these devastating

[44:28] wildfires, there's been a lot of criticism of, uh,

[44:32] lack of urban foresting or forest management. And

[44:36] I think that this is just a good example of the fact that way before it

[44:40] started getting in the press, that this is a real problem. We've been doing this for,

[44:45] you know, since basically day one. So it's, it's a great, uh, process.

[44:49] and when it comes to, uh, the leaf, um, uh,

[44:53] , I can tell you I have a pool and I have two big u eucalyptus behind me in this,

[44:58] in the green belt. And, uh, yeah, my, my

[45:02] pool maintenance guy hates it. , they do stain your pool, but

[45:06] at any rate, uh, any other questions? Alright, great presentation

[45:10] that is just a strictly in receipt and file. So thank you very much for your time. Thank you very much

[45:14] for the work you do and, uh, keep it professional like that. We really do appreciate

[45:18] it.

[45:24] alright. Public information officer. A report. Thank

[45:28] you mayor bennett. And good evening council staff and residents. Just a few quick announcements.

[45:33] the city understands that many of our residents have been affected by southern california.

[45:37] edison's ongoing public safety power shutoffs, which remain in effect for areas of chino

[45:41] hills through tomorrow evening at midnight. The city wants to thank our community for

[45:45] all their patients throughout this process and remind everyone to stay prepared until sce

[45:49] issues the all clear. Throughout this event, our city officials and city council members have

[45:53] been in constant communication with sce, advocating on our residents' behalf to expedite

[45:58] all power restorations as quickly and as safely as possible. And for sce to provide

[46:02] timely information and updates to residents, sce has established a community

[46:06] resource center at the chino hills community center, which is open until 10:00 pm tonight. And

[46:11] tomorrow from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm residents can find information and support from

[46:15] sce as well as charging stations for mobile devices and portable medical equipment through of this

[46:19] time. And just a reminder to the community that city facilities and the library

[46:23] will be closed next monday, january 20th. An observance of martin luther king jr.

[46:27] day and trash service is not affected. And that concludes my pa report tonight. Thank

[46:31] you nicole. And just for the public's information, uh, don't think that

[46:35] the council is exempt from this. Uh, several of us have

[46:39] had power shutdowns. I know I've had probably 35 hours total of, of

[46:44] shutdowns most, most recently this morning just for a repair and not the

[46:48] psps, but, uh, uh, we all share in your pain and your

[46:52] frustration. But I think that we all have to agree that the inconvenience

[46:56] of not having power is sure much better than the

[47:01] devastation that's gone on the people that have had total loss of everything they own.

[47:05] so keep them in your prayers, uh, and try and remember that when you're

[47:09] complaining, when you don't have any lights on. Okay, uh, pub, uh, announcement. Any

[47:13] action from closed session? Mark? No reportable action. Taking any

[47:17] closed session? Seeking, seeking mayor. Alright, thank you cheryl. Would you like to read the,

[47:22] uh, instructions about public comments at this time? Members

[47:26] of the public may address the city council regarding any item appearing on the agenda,

[47:30] except that testimony on public hearing items which must be provided during

[47:34] those hearings. Those persons wishing to address the city council must complete

[47:38] and submit to the deputy city clerk a request to speak card available at the

[47:42] entrance of the city council chambers. Comments will be limited to a maximum

[47:47] of three minutes per speaker. The time allotted per person may vary depending

[47:51] on the total number of speaker cards received. This comment period will generally

[47:55] be limited to 30 minutes per meeting, so not all members of the public may have the opportunity

[48:00] to speak at every city council meeting. We currently have three speaker

[48:04] cards. The topic pertains to the tree presentation and

[48:08] hazards. So we're gonna have them as agendized public comments. Okay.

[48:12] okay. And cheryl, uh, we have developed some new

[48:17] policies and some new procedures with respect to attendance at public meetings

[48:21] and everything from seating to signs and everything else. Can you,

[48:25] um, refer people to that? Because I know we, it's a very lengthy process.

[48:30] would you please refer them, uh, on the record here as to where they

[48:34] can find out exactly what our policy is now on public speaking and attendance

[48:38] at city uh, hall meeting? Yes. On page two of

[48:42] our agenda, we have now included a lot of information. The information

[48:47] I just read regarding speaker cards is there, there is a definition of city

[48:51] business and there is a prohibition in, uh, for signs,

[48:56] banners, and flags or other symbolic material within the council chambers.

[49:00] they are allowed if they are a certain size to be in the community

[49:05] room. However, they will not be allowed to be brought into the council chambers when

[49:09] speaking. And all of that information is also on page two of the agenda. We

[49:13] also have the levi levine levine act disclosure for anybody who makes

[49:18] contributions, um, in excess of $500 on

[49:22] a, um, council proof contract. And then we also provided some tips

[49:26] on how to speak at the podium to help with

[49:31] everybody who might have, you know, little nerves when they're speaking so forth. So

[49:35] all of that is contained on page two of our agenda. We also have some

[49:39] of the tips on the backside of our speaker cards. So

[49:43] we thought that would be helpful for you as well when you're filling out the speaker card to see the little tips

[49:47] on the back. Thank you very much. I thought it was very important for us to go

[49:51] on record and publicly announce when people come up and say, well, what's, what's

[49:56] your policy on who, who can speak? What could they speak on? How long can they speak?

[50:00] this very concisely outlines what our policy is on it. So anyone

[50:04] that is out there in the, in the, uh, public that is planning on coming to a meeting,

[50:09] uh, please read those rules, uh, because they will be adhered to. And, uh, we

[50:13] even explain a little bit about what will happen if you don't. So, uh, thank you very much.

[50:17] in addition, um, just so you, everybody is clear, if you are speaking on

[50:22] the non agendized items, which is the section at the end of the meeting, the

[50:26] time period for those is one minute per speaker as opposed to

[50:30] the three minutes. Um, here on the agenda items. Great

[50:34] clarification. Alright, do we have any public comments? Right, we have three. We have doug

[50:38] mccormick as our first speaker. Alright,

[50:56] good evening everyone. Uh, after the latest wind event,

[51:00] my wife and I spent the better part of two days cleaning up the tree branches, park leaves

[51:04] at debris that ended up in our backyard. The debris

[51:08] equaled four pack green waste bins as councilman marquez

[51:13] can attest to. Our yard's not that big. This happens every

[51:17] three or four times a year, not because of the landscaping in our yard or our neighbor yard.

[51:22] it comes from the city maintained slope. Rewind early

[51:26] november when the mountain fire in camarillo destroyed hundreds of homes.

[51:31] it's been widely recognized that besides the winds, the main contributor

[51:35] to the unchecked spread of the fire in the residential communities was a result

[51:39] of city and privately maintained graded slopes within

[51:44] the community that included overgrown eucalyptus trees and other

[51:48] highly flammable vegetation of debris that was not maintained.

[51:53] my company consulted on several masterplan communities in camarillo, as we

[51:57] also did in chino hills. I had have to tell you that

[52:01] most of the homes that were destroyed in that, in that community were,

[52:05] were designed to build just like the, just like the homes here,

[52:10] while that fire was ongoing. Uh, and the

[52:14] fires we see on tv also in, uh, the

[52:18] palisades. My wife and I are looking at each other and saying one spark of the english road

[52:22] community and that could be our neighborhood. Several months ago I

[52:27] attended the emergency preparedness workshop. In these chambers I heard everybody

[52:31] talk about protocols, manuals, computer modeling, et cetera, regarding

[52:35] dealing with wildfires in our community. A couple of us brought up

[52:39] the slope maintenance issue and I thought there was some good input. Has

[52:43] anything been done about it? It doesn't appear to be the case,

[52:47] although I bet the city manual looks really good. Last year you

[52:51] passed an ordinance that allows homeowners to have their slopes cleaned

[52:56] on their own, which was, I thought was a good thing. However,

[53:00] in comparing the fee schedule with private contractors,

[53:04] I discovered it was gonna cost more than double to have the city do it.

[53:08] and that doesn't include inspections and permits.

[53:12] over the years, I've heard issues about funding or lack of for the slope maintenance

[53:16] and its impact on landscaping and lighting districts in the community.

[53:21] I also see code enforcement signs each year about weed abatement and private

[53:25] property all around the city. I've never understood how these districts were established

[53:29] or maintained. I also think most would agree the enforcement of code issues

[53:34] related to fire protection and the city appears to be random and haphazard.

[53:39] I think it's time for the city to not kick the can down the road any

[53:43] longer and revamp the system before one or more of our communities

[53:47] end up in ruins like we've seen in recent days. Thank you.

[53:51] thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is

[53:55] john nik nik.

[54:06] ah, well good, good evening. I have nothing, uh, formal to present.

[54:10] uh, my wife and I, uh, charlotte, uh, uh, live on the, uh,

[54:15] ca carbon canyon community of, uh, summit ranch. Uh, we've been there

[54:19] for about 34 years and seeing a few fires, uh,

[54:24] get excited a little bit when, uh, we see large fires coming up and, uh,

[54:28] especially with the wind blowing down the, uh, canyon. I'm sure

[54:32] many of you do. Uh, and, uh, we

[54:37] go down carbon canyon to go into breyer a number of times during

[54:41] the week. Uh, not as often as some that, uh, go every morning.

[54:45] thank god we don't do that. Uh, but, uh, uh,

[54:49] we noticed that there's a, a large amount of brush on the side of the road,

[54:53] uh, bushes and some trees that were basically, uh,

[54:58] seemed dead. And we just wondering if indeed there's some way that

[55:02] uh, uh, city, city yard or somebody could uh, uh,

[55:06] take care of those. I know some of that is private property and, uh,

[55:11] especially the stretch between, uh, sleepy hollow and uh,

[55:15] and the scur. Uh, so,

[55:19] uh, I just thought I'd point that out and uh, we are kind of sensitive

[55:23] to that. I'm sure everybody is, uh, with dry, uh, leaves during

[55:28] the fire season. So that's all I had to say. Alright,

[55:33] thank you. Alright, thank you for your comments. Okay,

[55:37] ansel z

[55:51] um, good evening everyone. I have the same. Uh, this is in .

[55:55] I live on berry hill drive, which is, um,

[55:59] east of chino hills parkway and north of grant avenue, right in the corner.

[56:04] um, so behind my backyard there's a

[56:08] green belt vegetation, it's maintained by the city.

[56:13] I've lived, uh, at the address for about 10 years now. Um,

[56:17] based on my knowledge, I think the green belt has been minimally

[56:21] maintained. Um, more very recently.

[56:26] that was probably the second time I've seen that there was a crew,

[56:30] um, who, that were cutting some of the branches, overhanging branches,

[56:35] um, which I complained years ago. It didn't happen only until

[56:39] recently. What happened after, however, the clue,

[56:44] the crew actually left a lot of the dead branches laying around.

[56:48] I have pictures on my cell phone and so that's really concerning. And those

[56:52] branches are browning and they can easily catch fire. Um, there are

[56:57] many tall trees, uh, in that green belt and those trees have

[57:01] never been trimmed as far as I'm aware of any of them fall down. They're

[57:05] gonna be hitting any of our backyards. Um, and those trees,

[57:10] um, I look up online, they're all highly in inflammable. So

[57:14] that's the second concern. The third one of the green belt is

[57:18] there's a thick layer of mulch and those

[57:22] mulch, they're dry and they're easily

[57:26] in flammable. And so if any of the ember sparkles,

[57:31] you know, goes off, the whole thing is gonna burn up and none of the houses

[57:35] near it will be safe. And so, again, you

[57:39] know, there were a couple of gentlemen who raised similar concerns. I think this has to

[57:43] be number one concern that the green belt near homes,

[57:48] they have to be taken care of. Um, so, um,

[57:52] I think that's all I have to say. I really appreciate you paying attention.

[57:57] this is, in my opinion, has to be the top priority of

[58:01] the city. Thank you sir. Thank you. Thank you for your comments.

[58:05] that is the final speaker. Alright. Uh, do we have any,

[58:09] uh, conflict of interest levine act announcements by any of the, uh, council

[58:13] members? Mm-hmm. Alright, moving on. We will move to city calendar business, the consent

[58:18] calendar, which is nine items, items, uh, 11,

[58:22] excuse me, through 19 8 19. Uh, anyone like

[58:26] to poll? Peter ray? No. Cynthia? No. Alright. A motion

[58:30] to approve, like to, did you, um, um, I think ray's making a

[58:35] motion. I'll second. Okay. Motion by marquez? No, it's actually by brian. And I'm gonna second.

[58:39] there you go. Alright. , please lock in your vote.

[58:45] thanks brian. Motion passes. Five zero.

[58:51] okay. Next item is, uh, dis under the discussion calendar. Item 20,

[58:55] assigned council member as an alternate to the tracer manos conservation authority board.

[59:00] and, uh, I will present, uh, this item is to appoint two

[59:04] member, or I'm sorry, wrong one. This item is to, uh, sign a

[59:08] council member as alternate to the trust ram's conservation authority board.

[59:13] the selection of an alternate was inadvertently missed at the december 10th meeting.

[59:17] so we are taking that action tonight. So if we could just have a nomination of

[59:21] a alternate and a vote for okay.

[59:25] as I recall, I think that, uh, we named ray as a secondary is

[59:30] that I'm a primary. He's primary. Primary too. We need an alternate.

[59:34] so we need one alternate. Who would like to that? What do you want's? Go back.

[59:38] you wanna do an alternate? Okay. Off a nomination to no motion

[59:42] council if you're good with it. Alright. Absolutely. Council member moran

[59:52] motion passes. Five zero. Okay. Item number 21.

[59:57] uh, and this is initiated by the council. Uh, we need to appoint two

[1:00:01] members to each parks in recreation planning public

[1:00:05] works, uh, with terms expiring november 30th. This is

[1:00:10] occasioned by the fact that, uh, cynthia and I were reelected to four year terms.

[1:00:14] uh, we each have three, uh, commissioners. So we, uh, had

[1:00:18] the option of looking at all of the applicants and also

[1:00:22] discussing this with our existing commissioners to determine if they wanted to

[1:00:27] continue. We had the choice of looking at new applicants, the existing lab

[1:00:31] applicants, and we had, uh, we both made choices with

[1:00:35] respect to who we, uh, propose to appoint for the next four years

[1:00:40] consecutive with our terms. Do you need to read that in cheryl? I do not.

[1:00:44] you, uh, the only thing I wanted to mention is that you had the opportunity to review

[1:00:48] applications that were received during the open recruitment that concluded on

[1:00:52] december, or was december 11th through the 19th. Okay. Wait, did that, would you

[1:00:56] like to read into the record the, uh, commissioners that are being appointed on this?

[1:01:00] I need to have the nominations. Okay. I'm the vote of the council to nomination appoint

[1:01:05] them. Thank you. Art. Well, first I'd like to thank everyone that submitted an application that wants

[1:01:09] to get more involved in our community. And cheryl, can you remind me how long we

[1:01:13] keep, uh, applications on file if someone was not selected? The applications

[1:01:17] are kept on file for a year. Okay. And each time an opening comes up, we do look at

[1:01:21] the applications we have on file and we notify them of the um,

[1:01:25] okay. Of the opening. Wonderful. So I wanna thank everyone that wants to get more involved in the community, but

[1:01:29] for, um, consideration by my colleagues this evening. Um,

[1:01:34] I would like to reappoint to the public works commission. Mike klitschko

[1:01:39] reappoint to the planning commission. Peter pero and reappoint to the

[1:01:43] parks and recreation commission. Uh, robert gla. Alright.

[1:01:47] mm-hmm . And I would like to nominate my three

[1:01:52] existing commissioners and I'm having an absolute brain fade here. I can help you.

[1:01:56] natalie avila? Yes. Jen.

[1:02:00] jennifer hol. Jennifer hol camp. Hol camp. And you have, um, sharon

[1:02:04] vo. Sharon voy. I'm so sorry. I'll mine someplace else. I'll second

[1:02:08] the nominations by each of you. Wonderful. I appreciate we don't have to do anything. Can you repeat 'em please? Yes.

[1:02:13] . And, and can you replace me too in my mind at least? Alright,

[1:02:17] let's uh, take a vote on that. We'll second that. Alright.

[1:02:26] motion passes. Five zero. Thank you very much. That's what

[1:02:30] happens when you get, uh, uh, your power going off and turning off your

[1:02:34] ccp a p machine early in the morning. I think the brain went with it.

[1:02:38] . Okay, next item. This is the, is

[1:02:42] going to be public comments again. Would you like to explain that one? And this is for the non agendized

[1:02:46] item. I'm gonna go ahead and read it even though I explained it earlier in case somebody came in later

[1:02:51] this time, members of the public may address the city council regarding any items with, in

[1:02:55] the subject, any items not within the

[1:02:59] subject matter. Oh, I'm sorry. Within the subject matter jurisdiction

[1:03:03] of the council. That does not appear on the agenda. Boy. Okay.

[1:03:07] please complete and submit to the deputy city clerk a request a speak card comments will

[1:03:12] be limited to a maximum of one minute per speaker. Time allotted

[1:03:16] per speaker may vary on the total number of speaker cards received, and this comment

[1:03:20] period will be generally limited to 30 minutes per meeting. So not all members

[1:03:24] of the public may have the opportunity to speak for tonight. We have three

[1:03:28] speaker cards for this item. Alright, would you like to read

[1:03:32] the first number? Suzette nang.

[1:03:48] good evening, mayor bennett, vice mayor, council member, city staff and

[1:03:52] residents of chino hills. My name is suzette dang, with your fourth district county

[1:03:56] supervisor, kurt hagman's office. I do have one announcement. Supervisor.

[1:04:01] hagman is accepting applications from fourth district residents who

[1:04:05] are interested in public service to serve on the following boards, committees, or commissions,

[1:04:10] airports, behavioral health campaign accountability, and

[1:04:15] veterans advisory. Applicants must be residents of fourth

[1:04:19] district, which includes the cities of chino, chino hills, montclair, ontario,

[1:04:23] upland south of 14th street, and

[1:04:28] surrounding unincorporated areas for eligibility requirements or to

[1:04:32] apply. I do have, um, flyers with qr codes, or you can

[1:04:36] call 9 0 9 4 6 5 5 2 7 3,

[1:04:40] or 9 0 9 3 8 7 3 9 6 1.

[1:04:45] um, there are several weather warnings issued by the national weather service that could impact

[1:04:49] our communities, including high winds, red flag warnings, and frost

[1:04:54] advisory. Please stay safe and take the necessary precautions to protect

[1:04:58] your family, pets, and property against these weather conditions. For

[1:05:02] more information and information and tips, please visit our

[1:05:06] resourcepage@osbcounty.gov.

[1:05:11] thank you and happy new year everyone. Thank you, sir.

[1:05:16] juan ortiz .

[1:05:30] uh, good evening. Uh, uh, mayor bennett and, uh, chino hill city council. My name's juan ortiz.

[1:05:35] I'm a newer resident to chino hills within the last three years. Uh, and I just wanted to

[1:05:39] come up and, um, say recount a a short, um,

[1:05:43] interaction that I had with members, uh, in the department of community development and say

[1:05:47] thank you, um, for the support that I got on, got in a project early this

[1:05:51] year. I had a nightmare project in my backyard that with a contractor that

[1:05:55] just was not going well. And just one of those nightmare scenarios you hear, I reached out

[1:06:00] to ms. Moran at that time who was serving as mayor. Um, and she immediately kind

[1:06:04] of responded. It was kind of a last ditch kind of effort. Maybe I'll reach out to the city and they'll help. Um,

[1:06:08] and she responded to me within two hours. Uh, that day she got me in touch

[1:06:12] with mr. Nick lago, who again, kind of fast forward my my permit

[1:06:16] and kind of helped me out a great deal. Uh, once I got into it.

[1:06:20] uh, christopher zavala, alex rocha, and mr. Bradley fleeman. They

[1:06:24] didn't always give me the best news about my project, but they were empathetic, respectful,

[1:06:29] and guided me through what was becoming a nightmare, nightmare that was gonna cost my family

[1:06:33] tens of thousands of dollars and kind of guided me along the right path. Uh, my

[1:06:37] project's finished. My family has enjoyed, uh, the backyard's a space in

[1:06:41] my, in my home. And so I just wanted to say, I know sometimes you always don't get good news,

[1:06:45] right? But I just wanna say thank you. Uh, it's really made me feel like, uh, we made the

[1:06:50] right decision in moving to chino hills from whittier, and we've, uh, just very happy. So thank you

[1:06:54] so much for your help. Thank you. Welcome to chino hills,

[1:06:58] sarah ramos, inger.

[1:07:11] good evening, mayor bennett, vice mayor, joe council members

[1:07:15] and staff in our community. I just wanted to come up, um, there were some

[1:07:20] comments today about canyon and concerns in that. So I just wanted to remind

[1:07:24] the community that we have a fire safe council that meets the first wednesday

[1:07:28] of every month. However, due to power outages,

[1:07:33] um, et cetera, holidays, we postpone that meeting and it's

[1:07:37] actually tomorrow. So I wanted to personally invite you folks. It is a zoom meeting

[1:07:41] so it's easy for you to attend. And if, um, any

[1:07:45] resident wants information, I'm going to let the fire district handle that. If you can call

[1:07:50] 9 0 9 9 0 2 5 2 8 0 6 0 6 0.

[1:07:56] okay. So again, 9 0 9 9 0 2 5 2 6 0.

[1:08:01] and again, that's the carbon canyon fire safe counsel. Okay, thank

[1:08:05] you, sarah. Thank you, sarah. That is our final speaker.

[1:08:10] okay. Safety updates, chief williams.

[1:08:18] good evening, mayor and council and community members. I know that the fires

[1:08:23] aren't right here in our backyard, uh, but I would like to just give an update for the community

[1:08:27] members who, uh, regularly have questions about where things

[1:08:31] currently stand. So, really quick, uh, the palisade

[1:08:35] fire, uh, as of today, but when I left the office to come over here was

[1:08:39] about 23, just over 23,000 acres, 70,

[1:08:43] 17% contained and is considered an active, uh, fire.

[1:08:47] still at this time. The eaton fire, uh, which most are

[1:08:52] probably more familiar with, a little bit closer to home, 14,000 acres,

[1:08:56] 35% contained, uh, 35% containment, and

[1:09:00] again, still active. The chino valley fire district does have personnel at both of

[1:09:04] those fires. Uh, we have a total of 10 personnel out, uh, for us that equates

[1:09:09] to two engine companies with four people on each company. And we also have

[1:09:13] a team called a rems team. It's an urban search and rescue team. Ask you

[1:09:17] to just continue to keep those folks in your thought. They have, uh, the very

[1:09:21] challenging task of trying to identify and search for maybe missing persons

[1:09:25] or dead bodies. So at any rate, we do have folks out there, uh,

[1:09:29] to all of our community members. Uh, anytime that we send individuals

[1:09:33] out on these large scale incidents, we do recall additional personnel

[1:09:38] to fill our local stations. So when we send people out, we're not down

[1:09:42] here. We actually recall people. And, and, and a matter of fact, in cases

[1:09:46] of wind events, we actually will, uh, not only recall people to fill positions

[1:09:50] or vacated by providing assistance, but we'll, usually ups staff, uh,

[1:09:55] additional, um, either water tenders or whatever, whatever

[1:09:59] the, um, uh, the national, um, disasters could. If it's a rain, then we'll,

[1:10:03] we'll upst staff, uh, swift water rescue as opposed to a a, an

[1:10:07] engine that's really equipped for wildland firefighting. So we do, do those, take those measures.

[1:10:11] and that's all I have. Thank you. Uh, chief, since the subject of brush clearance,

[1:10:15] uh, came up earlier tonight, would you explain what the fire district's, uh,

[1:10:19] efforts are in that and, and what the process is? Uh, we have a

[1:10:24] very, very robust, uh, brush clearance program. Um, a lot

[1:10:28] of the detailed information you can get on our website, but essentially what it is, is, uh, twice

[1:10:32] a year we do do an active, uh, notice for abatement.

[1:10:36] and so what it is, is our inspectors will go out the, we identify the areas,

[1:10:40] then we make a notice, uh, to abate. And then, uh,

[1:10:44] following that, if, if, uh, the abatement is not, um, taken on by

[1:10:49] the parcel, whoever the id, the, the parcel owner's idd to,

[1:10:53] then we will have to go ahead and abate it and then, uh, either lien property or

[1:10:57] work through some sort of a payment process. But we do that twice a year. Where, where

[1:11:01] it can become problematic is we can't always forecast the kind of weather

[1:11:05] we're gonna get. So we could technically go out or have an area

[1:11:09] bated, um, and then we get significant reigns.

[1:11:13] and then again, then those, that growth is gonna happen very, very rapidly,

[1:11:18] uh, and exceed our ability to get back out there right away because we,

[1:11:22] we do have a plan and a, a process that we go through, uh, because of the vast

[1:11:26] open spaces, uh, to identify those, go through a bait those,

[1:11:31] and then come back around at the next abatement period and, and do that. But

[1:11:35] we do have our, our, um, uh, fire district meetings

[1:11:39] the second wednesday of every month. Community members are welcome to come, um, and,

[1:11:43] and hear what's going on in the fire district, uh, updates. And, uh,

[1:11:47] again, we're always gonna be accessible to, uh, any community member that has concerns.

[1:11:52] you feel free to reach out directly. Our no, our numbers are posted again. It was mentioned

[1:11:56] tonight, 9 0 9 9 0 2 5 2 6 0. It's our general line.

[1:12:00] and then again, it'll walk you through, um, getting you to speak to somebody on

[1:12:04] the phone based off of what your needs are. And, and the whole objective is to,

[1:12:09] uh, to obtain a defensible space around properties when

[1:12:13] they're, especially when they're up against open space, correct. Absolutely.

[1:12:17] when it comes to brush clearance. Yeah, that's absolutely the key is the key is to really reduce,

[1:12:22] reduce any kind of vegetation or fuel, essentially, uh,

[1:12:26] that would allow for fires, uh, to grow rapidly. Uh,

[1:12:30] it limitate limit, um, um, ladder fuels that could get into trees.

[1:12:34] there's, there's many, many reasons to do it. Yeah, essentially, yes, it's all related

[1:12:38] around fire safety. Okay, thank you very much. Chief gerard police.

[1:12:46] good evening. Honorable mayor, vice mayor, city council, city staff

[1:12:50] and residents and attendance. During the month of december, the chino hills multiple enforcement

[1:12:55] team worked collaboratively with investigators from the san bernardino county sheriff's department's gang

[1:12:59] and narcotics division to conduct a retail theft operation in chino hills

[1:13:03] as part of operation smash and grab operation smash. And grab

[1:13:07] aim is to prevent retail thefts during the holiday shopping season and disrupt organized

[1:13:11] reha retail theft crews. It was funded through crime suppression funding from

[1:13:16] the san bernardino county board of supervisors. A total of 18 deputies participated

[1:13:20] in the three day operation prior to the operation. Local businesses were

[1:13:24] contacted and a total of 10 chino hills businesses participated in the operation.

[1:13:29] the three day operation led to 17 arrests in our city. Notable arrest

[1:13:34] included ae at large who was arrested at a business in the 4,200 block of chino hills parkway,

[1:13:39] the arrest of a theft suspect who was observed committing the crime by undercover

[1:13:43] deputies at a retail business on payton drive, the driver of a vehicle leaving

[1:13:47] a shopping center who was contacted during a traffic stop and found to be a convicted felon

[1:13:52] in possession of an uns serialized ghost gun and narcotics,

[1:13:57] the arrest of two suspects who were contacted upon leaving a business on peyton

[1:14:01] drive. They had purchased multiple items with credit cards stolen during a

[1:14:05] vehicle burglary earlier that day. A search of their vehicle led to the recovery of

[1:14:09] the burglary, uh, victim's property, the arrest of a fugitive who was

[1:14:13] wanted in connection to a felony assault with a deadly weapon investigation during a traffic stop in

[1:14:17] the shop's parking lot. And also, our investigators assisted are our staff

[1:14:21] in the investigation of an attempted residential burglary in chino hills, which led to the arrest of

[1:14:26] three los angeles gang members. Operation smash and grab was

[1:14:30] a successful collaboration between your chino hills police department, the san

[1:14:34] bernardino county sheriff's department and local businesses, the high visibility of law enforcement

[1:14:38] personnel conducting proactive patrols within the shopping centers to help to deter, deter

[1:14:42] crime, and prevent additional theft from occurring. Thank you.

[1:14:47] as always. You guys are doing fantastic work to protect the businesses and the

[1:14:51] people in the city of channel hills, and we greatly appreciate it. Please give them all our extreme thanks.

[1:14:56] I will. Thank you, mayor. Good work. Alright. Appreciate it. Had a quick comment, if you don't mind. Oh, yes, I'm sorry. Um, you know, as a

[1:15:00] city, we took a position on prop 36. Um, chief,

[1:15:04] would you mind maybe touching on how, uh, with the voters passing

[1:15:08] prop 36, it's, uh, affecting how you're able to do your jobs

[1:15:13] now that crime is illegal? So the big part of prop 36 that's

[1:15:17] gonna help us out is the narcotic aspect. A as of it, um,

[1:15:21] where a, a suspect who is convicted on a second narcotics possession

[1:15:25] offense, there's some other stuff in there like fentanyl. But for, for, I think for our city,

[1:15:29] a second narcotics, uh, uh, uh,

[1:15:34] uh, sentencing is gonna result in either a felony

[1:15:38] sentence or a choice to, uh, receive services. So I don't know that the county yet

[1:15:42] has finalized what those services look like, but they're working on it.

[1:15:46] but instead of somebody getting arrested time and time and time again for possession

[1:15:51] of narcotics and continually getting a misdemeanor, uh, conviction or

[1:15:55] no files charged, we're gonna be able to, like we had before, uh, either give

[1:15:59] them a choice of a felony conviction, which will result in, in further

[1:16:03] incarceration or receiving, um, uh, help. Basically. The

[1:16:07] other aspect of that is retail theft, where again, a second conviction or a third conviction

[1:16:12] of a petty theft, um, is gonna result in, in a felony

[1:16:16] conviction. Where prior to that, um,

[1:16:21] you could, you could accumulate as many petty thefts as you wanted, and

[1:16:25] it was never gonna be a felony. So now we're back to the way it used to be, where we used to have

[1:16:29] petty theft with a prior, where if you're a habitual or a, uh,

[1:16:33] uh, a lifetime criminal who's continually committing thefts, eventually they're gonna

[1:16:37] be able to hit you with a felony conviction. So catch and release has pretty much been

[1:16:41] done away with in, in regards to those two areas and those two areas,

[1:16:46] I'm hoping, and I am, I'm optimistic that yes, and everything I've heard so far from the,

[1:16:50] from the courts and the da's office, especially here in san bernardino county and our own staff, uh, is

[1:16:54] optimistic. There is some stuff on the, on the back end that they're gonna have to work out as far as

[1:16:58] like the services that they're gonna provide, especially in the narcotics convictions.

[1:17:02] uh, but the other stuff is, looks like we're good to go. Very good. Thank you chief.

[1:17:07] alright, thank you very much, much. Okay. Uh, council reports,

[1:17:11] and I guess I drew the story. We're going alphabetic, so there you go.

[1:17:16] uh, chino valley fire district, uh, although I was not able to physically attend

[1:17:20] the meeting 'cause of a conflict, like no power at my home, uh, et cetera.

[1:17:24] uh, a couple notable things. We had the retirement recognition of battalion chief

[1:17:29] wayne fontes after 31 years of service, he's gonna be greatly missed. We

[1:17:33] had promotions and recognitions of badge pinning for battalion chief john cripe,

[1:17:37] battalion chief chuck keeny, captain nathan brooks, captain kyle

[1:17:42] colonna, captain dan fry, captain tom

[1:17:46] kavanaugh, engineer josh ster engineer

[1:17:50] eric engelhart, engineer christina nova and engineer

[1:17:55] aaron patty, and also recognition of the chino valley fire

[1:17:59] district response, uh, to the, uh, fire incident that was going on, uh, when that

[1:18:03] happened. So, uh, that's all I have for the fire district. Uh, the school

[1:18:07] district, uh, the last school district meeting was back on the 9th of december

[1:18:12] that we had a conflict with the city event, so I was not able to attend. However, they

[1:18:17] did go ahead and do their, um, naming of their, their new officers,

[1:18:21] which are really the same officers that they've had. So I, sonia

[1:18:25] shaw as president john monroe, vice president and uh, and

[1:18:30] andrew cruz as a secretary. So vice mayor jobs. Alright.

[1:18:34] uh, regarding omni trans, uh, the largest thing of note at the last

[1:18:38] meeting was we had a previously approved 25 cent,

[1:18:42] uh, uh, fair, uh, rate increase that was on the books. Um,

[1:18:47] it would've made omni trans the second highest bus service in southern california

[1:18:51] behind, uh, octa. And looking at the numbers from

[1:18:56] staff, it looked like we would see a pretty significant decrease in ridership if we were to

[1:19:00] go ahead with that. So the board, uh, voted to forgo

[1:19:04] that fair increase, uh, for now. And then just something of note

[1:19:08] for, uh, folks on, uh, february 4th

[1:19:12] is rosa parks birthday. So, uh, omni trans is giving,

[1:19:17] uh, allowing free, uh, bus rides on fixed routes.

[1:19:21] so not the service that we have in town, but on fixed bus routes. Uh, in honor

[1:19:25] of her birthday. It's transit equity day, so if you want to go ride around

[1:19:29] on a bus in the county, it's on, uh, it's on omni transit.

[1:19:33] thank you. Very good. Council member marquez. Thank you, mayor. First

[1:19:37] of all, I'd like to talk about san bernardino county transportation authority. I attended the general

[1:19:41] policy committee. Uh, we reviewed and approved, uh, the

[1:19:45] fiscal year budget 20 25, 20 26. Uh, we got an update,

[1:19:50] uh, that was given to us, uh, regarding the san bernardino council of government's work plan.

[1:19:55] we reviewed the summary report of measure I

[1:19:59] for capital improvements for all our members, members of s-b-c-t-a,

[1:20:04] the board meeting. We appointed a board member to metrolink board.

[1:20:09] we established an ad hoc committee for s-b-c-t-a and sbc cog

[1:20:13] for, to, um, start recruiting for the next executive director. We

[1:20:17] had a presentation of the annual coffers report. We awarded,

[1:20:21] uh, central avenue and chino, an existing planning project.

[1:20:26] and then also we voted and we actually had a presentation from south coast a qmd

[1:20:31] on rule 11 11 11 12. And what that

[1:20:35] basically means, uh, uh, they want us to eliminate

[1:20:39] gas for stoves, gas for heating. Uh, s-b-c-t-a

[1:20:43] took a position we are opposing this, and this will be coming to the board

[1:20:48] of a qmd. Um, yeah, I believe either the late part of february

[1:20:52] in march. So we took a position to oppose it. Metro valley, there

[1:20:56] was nothing to report transit, there's nothing to report. And sir, you're, I'm gonna

[1:21:01] that you talk about , sir. Well, thank you. That's it, sir. Alright. Uh,

[1:21:05] council member rogers. Alright, two reports I have. One is, uh, chino

[1:21:09] desal authority, or cda, one of our five water sources,

[1:21:13] uh, in the region. Uh, pretty standard board meeting last week.

[1:21:17] approved numerous contracts for facility upgrades and or

[1:21:21] pump and well repairs. And we also held our yearly

[1:21:26] election of officers and made committee assignments. So that was cda

[1:21:30] trace. Armos, ray and I are, uh, represent the city at trace armos.

[1:21:34] we, uh, every two years we rotate the three within the three cities.

[1:21:39] the last two years we're here in chino hills. Now we've moved back to the

[1:21:43] original host city of, city of industry. And that was last week also.

[1:21:47] and the only real item was a report on the installation of erosion

[1:21:52] control measures on the earth and dam.

[1:21:56] so many of you that know that property and you're coming, let's say from diamond bar heading

[1:22:00] this way, you can see a, a lake there off to the right.

[1:22:05] uh, and that lake needed some significant repairs.

[1:22:10] so they, they mostly for mitigation of, uh,

[1:22:14] erosion and they took care of erosion,

[1:22:18] some erosion control, and also some road repairs, if I remember correctly,

[1:22:23] for a total cost of a hundred, 500, $1,000

[1:22:27] for erosion control, uh, for that earth. And dam also, we

[1:22:31] have, we talked about, uh, an upcoming ranch tour, which

[1:22:35] will take place in february. The, the a hundred or so visitors

[1:22:39] that will be hosted on the tour this time around will still be

[1:22:43] sourced from the original group of individuals that signed up a

[1:22:48] couple of years ago. And we had so, so many people sign

[1:22:52] up that that one day for our very first tour,

[1:22:56] that in subsequent tours we have sourced that,

[1:23:00] that pool of individuals and we've drawn down that

[1:23:04] list. So this will complete the, this will

[1:23:09] essentially, this will be the remaining group of individuals that showed a lot of patients

[1:23:13] over the last two years, uh, to tour the property. So we will

[1:23:17] finish that up and then we will, we will re advertise probably next fall, late, late

[1:23:22] summer fall for the next tour if the board decides to pursue

[1:23:26] the tour for next fall. That's all I have on trace romanos. Very good.

[1:23:30] one, one last thing. Thank you so much for being the president last year. Do we have a new president and

[1:23:34] vice president? We do. And who's that? So cory moss. Cory moss is, uh, the

[1:23:38] current mayor of city of industry and she rotates back

[1:23:42] into that role as president and andrew, um,

[1:23:46] ch ch chow chow. Andrew chow is from diamond bar council

[1:23:51] member diamond bar is the, the vice chair of trace armos for the next year.

[1:23:56] alright, here we go. Thank you very much. Council comments. Council

[1:24:01] member moran, how would you like to start? I just have a few things. Um, earlier we had,

[1:24:05] um, a resident that was worried about, um, the wood chips that, that get

[1:24:09] sprayed in like the areas. But I noticed that even on parts of the 71 freeway on

[1:24:13] the, like the on-ramps, you know how they do that annual, they spray it to make it look nice. So are those flammable?

[1:24:17] are they treated to be non flammable? Do you know anything about that?

[1:24:22] uh, I, excuse me, I I can't speak on the, uh, wood chips that are on

[1:24:26] caltrans right away. 'cause I don't know what, uh, kinda material they, they use. Um, however,

[1:24:31] the, the, uh, the mulch that we use in our landscaping is not flammable.

[1:24:35] okay. Um, it does tend to dry out and when it does, um, it's just, it becomes organic

[1:24:39] matter. Uh, we will go out and spread more mulch, um, to, um, uh, to address,

[1:24:43] uh, or to compress some of the u the weeds that, uh, tend to grow in that area. Okay, great.

[1:24:48] and, um, just a little update for the colleagues. So brian and I, you know, we were,

[1:24:52] um, appointed to the public safety ad hoc committee we've met.

[1:24:57] um, so I just wanted to update you guys on that. Um, we had

[1:25:01] a good first meeting, but I do think, and we've met long, we've met before the wildfires,

[1:25:06] so, but we addressed a lot of, um, different things as far as evacuation

[1:25:10] as well, coincidentally. But I think ben far next meeting,

[1:25:14] um, I'd really like to have a representative from fire in the school district there.

[1:25:18] I know that that's our long-term goal to have, um, communications with the

[1:25:22] school district. But I would like some facetime at, at that meeting so we

[1:25:26] can, you know, talk frankly and what are different. Uh, make sure we're all on

[1:25:30] the same page when we're trying to get either adults or kids, you know, different places.

[1:25:34] we had a, uh, we have an assisted living home in the south end of

[1:25:39] town that lost power. And, um, there's a lot of different things that people have reached out, different

[1:25:43] concerns. So at our next meeting, if we could try to facilitate that representation, that'd

[1:25:47] be great. So I won't really say anything. Blink twice

[1:25:51] for yes. I'm sorry. I thought you saw me nodding. Yes.

[1:25:55] thank you maam. I did. I'm sorry. . Thank you. This is what happens when you don't have

[1:26:00] power. You have ugly hair. Sorry, I'm being a brat. Okay, so,

[1:26:04] um, yep, that's it. We had a good first meeting and before I ask for the rest of

[1:26:08] council reports, I apologize, ben. I went right over

[1:26:12] city manager reports. Oh, that's what I, or updates for the first time. Not the first time, but

[1:26:16] yeah. Uh, that's quite all right. Uh, I, I will nudge you if it, if I had something burning.

[1:26:21] I have no, uh, addition tonight. No comments. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much, peter.

[1:26:25] yeah, thank you. I've only got a couple of items. One, uh, being a water

[1:26:29] representative in town for a few years now, uh,

[1:26:34] the subjects coming up more often at our different board meetings with our different water source

[1:26:38] sources that, uh, we haven't had any significant rain.

[1:26:42] we haven't had any rain in southern california, at least in our region

[1:26:46] since the first week of may. No rain at all. May have

[1:26:51] had some drizzle but no rain, no measurable rain. So, uh,

[1:26:55] because of that, now they're starting to talk drought.

[1:27:00] we are in a moderate drought condition in southern california now.

[1:27:04] so when you look at drought maps, we are now where there was no

[1:27:08] no indication of any drought because we had significant water and rain

[1:27:12] to, to mitigate any issues. Now we're starting to enter into that

[1:27:16] phase. So let's hope for some rain, some significant rains over the

[1:27:21] next three months or so in the traditional, in the traditional rainy months.

[1:27:25] but so far, nothing, which obviously in the old days,

[1:27:30] which was several years ago, in fact, ray made a comment that many years, january

[1:27:34] was pretty vulnerable time 'cause we didn't have enough rains. And because of that, and

[1:27:38] with some winds, we had fires that you wouldn't think you'd have fires in january because

[1:27:43] it's traditionally a rainy month. Uh, but either way.

[1:27:47] so you may want to start thinking about your water usage, uh, for

[1:27:51] now at least, uh, as we, we enter possible drought

[1:27:56] months in the summertime. Also, ben and I have talked a little bit

[1:28:00] about changing the subject. Talked a little bit about the numerous

[1:28:04] dump trucks that are making their way up and down the canyon as we've all experienced,

[1:28:09] uh, for the last, well, since before christmas when the project started.

[1:28:14] and I live in the canyon, as does ray, so I see it every day. Uh,

[1:28:19] seven when I left at 7:00 am for our rotary meeting, seven

[1:28:23] were all kinda lined up in a row coming past me as I was trying to get out

[1:28:27] of, uh, uh, fels bar where, where I live. So it, and

[1:28:31] they just zoomed right on through. So I know chief, there's

[1:28:35] probably been some dialogue about, uh, I know we talked about at the last

[1:28:39] council meeting about stepping up some enforcement in general in the canyon,

[1:28:43] just as a little body check for, uh, those that are, that may

[1:28:47] want to race through the canyon or, or have some trucks, big trucks going

[1:28:51] through. But these dump trucks, they meet, they meet the criteria, there's a project going

[1:28:55] on, and they're not, they're not five axle or larger,

[1:29:00] but they, many of 'em, they are hauling, but they're,

[1:29:04] they're hauling, they're, they're moving big time up and down those streets. So

[1:29:08] I want to just let the audience know that we have

[1:29:12] noticed it and we're seeing if we can give them a little, uh, reminder that they need

[1:29:16] to be in check. When it comes to their, my guess is

[1:29:20] they're, each of their loads are, they're rushing back and forth to do their thing.

[1:29:25] so they're probably based on how much they can earn per day as to

[1:29:29] how many trips they need to make. So either way, just wanted to let you know that we do,

[1:29:33] we've noticed it and we're seeing if we can control that a little bit. And that's

[1:29:37] all I have. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Mayor. Thank you so

[1:29:41] much. Appreciate it. Um, I got to attend and I wanna say city. Thank you. Um,

[1:29:46] my, uh, council members, I got to attend, uh, an organization called well,

[1:29:51] which is water, um, education for, uh, latino leaders.

[1:29:55] and I was in, uh, coachella valley this past week.

[1:29:59] and, uh, we did tour salton sea. I did not run into any quicksand. I got

[1:30:03] photos. Yeah, no quicksand this time. . And then also we did

[1:30:07] tour called parks. These are, um, the ag community. They have a lot of trailer

[1:30:11] parks throughout the area. And, uh, we, we got to tour one

[1:30:15] of the homes and it broke my heart. Um, they have water

[1:30:19] to each one of the units, but it's laced with arsenic, so they can't use

[1:30:23] it to drink. Um, they, um, bathe in it, they wash their

[1:30:27] clothes, they wash their dishes, and it just, to me, it's, uh, despicable that people

[1:30:32] in california are living that way. So this will be a series

[1:30:36] of five meetings throughout california. I'm really looking forward to the other four meetings.

[1:30:40] city. Thank you for allowing me to do this. I truly appreciate it. Um, peter

[1:30:44] and myself would like to do a meeting probably within the next 30 days. Um, we

[1:30:48] got the permission today to do it over at western hills, and it's gonna be talking about

[1:30:52] fire behavior and different things that we in the city are doing.

[1:30:56] um, I'll be talking to the police chief, which I haven't done yet, so I apologize.

[1:31:01] but I did talk to the chief, the fire department did talk to the city manager, and I did

[1:31:05] talk to public works. So hopefully within the next 30 days we will have a meeting

[1:31:09] talking about water, talking about fire behavior, talking

[1:31:13] about evacuation. Yep. So it's something that, uh, peter, myself are real,

[1:31:18] and actually all, all the council, this is something that's very important to all of us, but

[1:31:22] it's, uh, we're working on that. So I just wanna share with the community. Ray, will you include

[1:31:26] the carbon, uh, fire state council. Fire state council. Okay. Alright. Good. Yeah,

[1:31:30] I'm gonna include all the hoas. Yeah. Um, sleepy hollow,

[1:31:34] the different areas. Yeah. And so we're gonna get a lot of people there, so

[1:31:39] thank you har, appreciate that. Uh, pickleball courts, I did go by the pickleball courts.

[1:31:43] I was told the courts are not open as of yet, but people are playing. And

[1:31:47] again, they're, they're doing a great job. They're staying off the asphalt, they're parking outside the

[1:31:51] park and they're walking in. So I just wanted to bring it to your attention. Um, but

[1:31:56] they, they look beautiful. The quotes and the parking looks like it's

[1:32:00] coming along too. Yep. Okay, perfect. Um, I got a couple questions

[1:32:04] for, um, our public works director. I know in some of the fires,

[1:32:08] the reservoir, uh, water ran down. Can you tell me, uh, the

[1:32:12] capacity number one and what do we do to keep 'em at whatever level?

[1:32:17] uh, sure thing. Councilman marquez, uh, throughout the city, we have a total of

[1:32:21] 18 reservoirs, um, strategically located, uh, around, uh, various parts

[1:32:26] of the city. Um, with those 18 reservoirs, we have a capacity of 39 million

[1:32:30] gallons, uh, of water. Um, any, anytime we have

[1:32:34] a, uh, a wind event or any type of emergency, we, uh,

[1:32:39] we top our reservoirs. We completely fill them, uh, so that if there is a need

[1:32:43] to tap into our, our water system, uh, to fight a fire wildfire,

[1:32:47] um, structural fire, uh, there is enough capacity, uh, and

[1:32:51] pressure, uh, to be able to fight that fire. Just a quick question. With psps,

[1:32:56] um, when we do pumping at night, does that affect that at all? Uh,

[1:33:00] it can, but however, we do have generators, uh, that we deploy to our

[1:33:05] critical, uh, locations to be able to continue pumping water into our reservoirs. That was really smart to

[1:33:09] get those generators. Thank you, sir. Um, hydrants that we have throughout the city,

[1:33:13] are they annually or do we test them at all? We have a total of

[1:33:17] 2,800, uh, fire hydrants throughout the city. Uh, we currently,

[1:33:21] uh, inspect them on a cycle of every four years. However, we are reassessing,

[1:33:26] um, that schedule, uh, given the, the current events, uh, with the,

[1:33:30] with the wildfires, we are looking to, uh, inspect those on a more frequent basis.

[1:33:35] uh, we will be updating our, our program and we'll, we will come back to you at a future date to share

[1:33:39] that information with you. Daniel, thank you so much. And then also, I did call you the other day,

[1:33:43] there was a little glitch in the system when ps ps went down six houses on top

[1:33:47] of the hill, you jumped on it. Thank you so much for taking care of that. So we

[1:33:51] do have a solution and we're moving forward on, right. We do, excuse me.

[1:33:55] uh, we do have a, a vulnerable area, um, on a cannon lane where we do have six

[1:33:59] properties that if we are without power for a significant amount of time,

[1:34:04] um, we do have six homes that will be without water. Uh, we've identified that issue, we've

[1:34:08] isolated the issue, uh, and we're currently working on a solution to be able to provide

[1:34:12] a, a connection point so that we can run, run the generator to that, uh, that station.

[1:34:17] um, so we we're hoping to resolve that in the next, uh, week or two. Okay, brother, thank you so much for

[1:34:21] doing that. I appreciate that. You're welcome. Also, I want to thank you two on pinnacle street.

[1:34:26] you put a center divider lane, or you're gonna be doing that fairly soon because

[1:34:30] cars were driving on both sides of the road, correct? Is that correct? Yeah, we've identified a potential,

[1:34:34] uh, safety issue, uh, along that road. So, uh, we're hoping that a, uh, a

[1:34:38] center line will clearly notify drivers where they should and shouldn't be driving.

[1:34:43] sir, you do such a great job, you and your public works. Thank you for all the hard work. I

[1:34:47] truly appreciate it. And sarah gibbons, I just wanna say thank you. Uh, we had a dinner

[1:34:52] the other night for john demon that, uh, served on the fireboard, and, uh,

[1:34:56] we're gonna miss 'em and thank you for doing that. And john, what a great job over the

[1:35:00] years. Those all, those are my comments, brian. Alright. This will be fairly

[1:35:04] quick. I think, you know, uh, all of us are gonna have emergency preparedness

[1:35:08] on our minds for a while in light of what's happened in la. Um, yeah, we just

[1:35:12] need to make sure we button up our own city emergency procedures and for

[1:35:16] residents. You know, I think we've learned, you know, we've seen these stories of people having

[1:35:21] to run out, you know, right before the flames at their house. So make sure you're

[1:35:25] ready with your go bags every, as much as you can, you can digitize and put into

[1:35:29] the cloud with your, you know, birth certificates and marriage licenses and

[1:35:33] all that good stuff. You know, make sure you take care of it that way. Um,

[1:35:37] yeah, that's all. Oh man, just a reminder, when the lights are out, a stop

[1:35:41] light is a four-way stop. I saw plenty of people not really knowing

[1:35:46] what to , not really knowing what to do when the power went out at some of our, uh,

[1:35:50] some of our four-way enter or some of our, uh, exchange or

[1:35:54] intersections. So four way stop. Alright, thank

[1:35:59] you. And to that point, uh, I contacted daniel

[1:36:03] about several, um, intersections that were being brought to my attention. In

[1:36:07] particular, those that were close to the high schools and schools and staff

[1:36:11] was going out and placing, manually placing, uh, portable stop

[1:36:15] signs, if you will. So, uh, that was a very good, good thing. They, they did

[1:36:19] that. So I appreciate that very much. Uh, this last weekend I

[1:36:23] had the pleasure of, uh, attending and, uh, giving certificates to four,

[1:36:28] uh, eagle scouts in troop two 20. Uh,

[1:36:33] they, they, these guys actually have obtained their

[1:36:38] eagle scout within the last year and a half, but they were all such close friends. They wanted to wait

[1:36:42] and have a ceremony together. So we, we did that. And I, I always

[1:36:46] loved the fact that we, uh, uh, you know, give these gentlemen

[1:36:50] these, these recognitions, uh, for all of their, uh, projects that they do.

[1:36:54] and I always tell them that, uh, just like the marines that are, say, once you're

[1:36:59] a marine, you're always a marine. Well, once an eagle, always an eagle. And the, the

[1:37:03] gentleman that, uh, obtain that rank, uh, are held to a different

[1:37:07] standard, I think, than the rest of us. And they're also given far more recognition,

[1:37:12] uh, through their adult lives, uh, when they have attained that honor. And as we

[1:37:16] know, kurt haman and his son both, uh, have attained that rank. So,

[1:37:20] and, and my brother, uh, obtained that. So it was really good, um,

[1:37:24] during this, this constant time and concern about the,

[1:37:28] the wildfires. Uh, I just ask that everybody, uh,

[1:37:32] be patient, uh, our city is, is looking at a lot of things. Uh, when we

[1:37:37] took talking about the fire hydrants, that's one thing that ray and I have been talking about. And, and talking

[1:37:41] with the city, uh, fire hydrant, checking the fire hydrants, uh,

[1:37:45] updating and, and looking at our, uh, evacuation plan. So we're

[1:37:49] doing what we need to do through joyce lee, who is the in charge

[1:37:53] of that for the city. And we are taking every precaution we can to

[1:37:57] try and make sure that people, god forbid the a bad thing happens,

[1:38:01] that, uh, our people will be organized in getting to safety. So

[1:38:06] with that, that ends my comments. Now tonight. Uh, besides our

[1:38:10] normal adjournment, I would ask that everyone, keep

[1:38:14] all of those that have been so drastically affected by these

[1:38:18] wildfires, keep them in your prayers and your thoughts. If there are organizations

[1:38:23] that are collecting, um, everything from monetary to physical

[1:38:27] items of clothing and food, or food or whatever it happens to be, if

[1:38:31] you have, if you're fortunate enough to have the wherewithal to contribute to those,

[1:38:35] uh, please do so. Uh, it's, it, it, it's

[1:38:40] impossible to, to fathom what those people have been going through and, and are going

[1:38:44] to be going through for many, many months. And well, some of

[1:38:48] them, it'll be a lifelong horror story to remember. So, but

[1:38:52] also, I am going to adjourn in memorial and hope with, uh,

[1:38:56] deep gratitude, respect and appreciation for the brave individuals who

[1:39:00] serve and have served in the armed forces their selfish contributions. Protect us

[1:39:04] all. May our community continue to support and honor them, and also

[1:39:09] for all of our first responders, our firefighters, our police that

[1:39:13] are so involved on a daily basis, keeping us safe and now

[1:39:17] protecting these people that have undergone this tragedy. Uh, keep

[1:39:21] them in mind as well. And with that, I will, uh, close our meeting. Thank you.

[1:39:26] .

Jan 14, 2025 City Council Special Meeting

Agenda

Transcript