Agenda
[4:35]
CLOSED SESSION
[4:37]
CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL - ANTICIPATED LITIGATION
[4:51]
ADJOURN CLOSED SESSION
[4:54]
CALL REGULAR MEETING TO ORDER
[5:18]
ROLL CALL
[5:37]
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
[6:29]
REIMBURSEMENT DISCLOSURES/REPORTS ON ASSIGNMENTS AND COMMITTEES
[14:04]
COMMUNICATIONS FROM CITY STAFF
[18:28]
PUBLIC COMMENT
[23:42]
PRESENTATIONS
[24:07]
CONSENT CALENDAR
[24:54]
ORDINANCES/INTRODUCTION & FIRST READING
[25:02]
IB FORUM SPORTS BAR AND GRILL SEEKS APPROVAL TO ALLOW LIVE ENTERTAINMENT WITHIN THE EXISTING RESTAURANT LOCATED AT 1079 SEACOAST DRIVE, AND A CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT CATEGORICAL EXEMPTION. (0600-20)
[1:38:41]
CONSIDERATION OF A MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH THE CITY OF CHULA VISTA FOR FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY SERVICES RELATED TO THE TIJUANA RIVER VALLEY CROSS-BORDER POLLUTION CRISIS. (0150-40 & 0210-26)
[2:04:17]
RESOLUTION 2026-081 APPROVAL OF AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF CHULA VISTA AND THE CITY OF IMPERIAL BEACH FOR THE PROVISION OF BRIDGE SHELTER AND ASSOCIATED SERVICES FOR HOMELESSNESS. (0240-10 & 0660-00)
[38:05]
DISCUSSION OF REGULATIONS FOR ELECTRIC BICYCLES IN THE CITY OF IMPERIAL BEACH. (0240-95)
[2:30:28]
I.B. REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY SUCCESSOR AGENCY REPORTS
[2:30:29]
ITEMS PULLED FROM THE CONSENT CALENDAR (IF ANY)
[2:30:31]
CITY COUNCIL FUTURE AGENDA REQUESTS
[2:30:32]
ADJOURN REGULAR MEETING
Transcript
SOURCE TRANSCRIPT
This transcript is downloaded from the source you provided but we haven't reviewed it for accuracy. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record. You can also request an AI-transcription of the audio file with the button to the left.
[4:40]
Good evening everyone. At this time I'm going to have
[4:42]
the city attorney report out on our closed session. Thank
[4:46]
you Mayor. The Council Met in closed session on item
[4:49]
3A as listed as the closed session agenda. Direction was
[4:53]
given no reportable action was taken. Thank you. Thank you.
[4:57]
And with that I'm going to close the closed session.
[5:03]
This is the regular city Council meeting of the City
[5:05]
of Imperial Beach for August 19th, 2026. As it is
[5:11]
my tradition, I'm going to announce that the City Council
[5:13]
also sits as the Imperial Beach Planning Commission, Public Finance
[5:17]
Authority, Housing Authority, and the Imperial Beach Redevelopment Agency Successor
[5:21]
Agency. At this time I'll ask City Clerk Kelly to
[5:25]
please take a role. Council Member Nakawase. Not going to
[5:30]
say President. Council Member Labor Gonzalez. Labor Gonzalez here. Mayor
[5:34]
Pro Tem Fisher. Fisher President. Mayor McKay. Mayor McKay is
[5:38]
present. Council Member Seaberry is absent. Thank you for that
[5:42]
roll call. At this time we're going to engage in
[5:46]
the Pledge of Allegiance. We have a very special guest
[5:48]
here this morning. Excuse me this morning this afternoon this
[5:51]
evening. This will be a young lady named Maya. She
[5:55]
participated in the sun in Sea Festival as one of
[5:58]
the Sandcastle Building teams for the children. And she's going
[6:01]
to lead us in our Pledge of Allegiance today. So
[6:04]
take it away Maya. Our pleasure allegiance. To the flag
[6:09]
of United States of America. To the Republic for which
[6:15]
it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with sliverty and
[6:22]
justice for all. Wonderful. Thank you so much Maya. You
[6:29]
did a wonderful job. Alright, we're now going to move
[6:36]
on to reports on assignments from our council members, and
[6:41]
we'll start at my left with Council Member Nakawasay. Thank
[6:46]
you Mayor on August 6. I had the great pleasure
[6:49]
of attending Crest, which was an opening person new housing
[6:52]
here in the district. It was really wonderful to see.
[6:55]
It was a beautiful property. So hopefully we can get
[6:57]
some tenants in there moved in and enjoying the property.
[7:03]
I had the great pleasure of going to Stopping by
[7:08]
HessFest and the Frogmen fundraiser over at the plank, which
[7:11]
is really cool. I got a brand new challenge coin,
[7:13]
which I thoroughly enjoyed. Um, and then yesterday I actually
[7:17]
got to meet with the acting CEO of for San
[7:19]
You Community Power. Jack Clark. I actually want to thank
[7:22]
Lynn who gave me this idea was to ask for
[7:26]
basically some data based on how much we're using inutilities
[7:30]
on spikes when we have the sewage issue and everything
[7:33]
because a solution shouldn't also call an adjacent problem. And
[7:36]
so we had a long conversation about that. And so
[7:38]
I'm helping he gives us that so we can just
[7:40]
kind of see those patterns and hopefully ask to advocate
[7:44]
for some kind of incentives for the folks using more
[7:47]
utilities. Cause I know that I am during those times.
[7:49]
Um, and I told him you can use my house
[7:51]
as a reference point or anything like that. So it
[7:54]
was a great meeting. And then, um, next Saturday, if
[7:58]
I can have this flyer pulled up, I don't know
[8:01]
if it is. Um, we are hosting the next -
[8:08]
gen workshop. So really want to encourage any youth in
[8:10]
our community. You don't have to be 14 and up.
[8:12]
If you're really enthusiastic, 13 year old, I would really
[8:15]
like to see you there. Um, again, I want to
[8:17]
make sure that youth in our community has the tools
[8:19]
to be successful. So we're going to have some wonderful
[8:21]
speakers. Again, they're going to learn how to interview, how
[8:24]
to network and everything. And one thing again, I think
[8:26]
that's always important is walking away with something tangible. And
[8:29]
so really want to make sure they have a headshot.
[8:32]
So you guys can register by scanning the QR code.
[8:34]
It's posted on our social media and everything. But would
[8:36]
really love to see some more people register intent. And
[8:40]
that's it. Thank you, Mayor. Great. Thank you. We'll move
[8:44]
on to Council Member Labor Gonzalez, please. Uh, thank you
[8:47]
Mayor. Um, I don't have anything to report for committees,
[8:50]
but I just wanted to report on, um, an issue
[8:52]
that happened on Saturday the 15th. So initially I received,
[8:57]
um, confirmation from our amazing city manager, Tyler Foltz, that
[9:01]
there was a water leak at 1348 Holly Avenue. This
[9:05]
was a little after 10 a. m. I, I was
[9:09]
in the process of deciding what I was going to
[9:11]
do with the rest of my day. So I'm like,
[9:12]
let me go drive over there and be a sidewalk
[9:16]
superintendent. So I showed up. And initially our public works,
[9:22]
amazing team was there already. Um, Calam and Calan's sub,
[9:27]
which is Montejo Backho Service. So there was already a
[9:30]
group of residents, you know, kind of congregating and asking
[9:35]
questions. So I connected with public works. They had explained
[9:38]
already that they were concerned about the, um, drains because
[9:43]
there was a lot of mud and smug and muck.
[9:46]
So, uh, the Cal Am ironically while I was there
[9:51]
had showed up with their big shop vac, their back,
[9:55]
um, so I connected with some of the residents, let
[9:59]
them know roughly the time, you know, the time range
[10:01]
where they will be out of water. So initially I
[10:04]
had quoted them five to six hours. Um, prior to
[10:08]
leaving, I connected with, um, the owner of Montejo Backho
[10:13]
service, Andres gave him my contact info and said to
[10:16]
kind of give me an update. Literally 130 ish, the
[10:21]
water was back on. They were backfilling. And the whole
[10:24]
situation could have been extremely more negative, but it just
[10:28]
really made me proud to know that we have people
[10:32]
that work on a Saturday diligently and everyone communicated efficiently.
[10:39]
And the disruption in water service to the residents in
[10:42]
that area was limited. And it was, it really made
[10:47]
me feel good. So, um, thank you Tyler for being
[10:50]
communicating so efficiently. And thank you to public works. Cal
[10:54]
Am and Monteco Baco service. That's all I got. All
[10:58]
right. Thank you for that update. We'll move on to
[11:00]
Mayor Protem Fisher. Thanks Mayor. No, no real big official
[11:05]
stuff. Um, other than at the end of July, uh,
[11:08]
SDG, and he filed some paperwork with the state, um,
[11:12]
it's a very technical stuff. Uh, regarding San Diego Committee
[11:15]
power, but the net result is that power, um, satin
[11:20]
can be powerful for transmission and generation as its lowest
[11:23]
it's ever been, uh, for residents. And so the average,
[11:28]
uh, resident with the regular service is about seven to
[11:32]
eight percent saving the SUGNE. Now with rates, they're always
[11:36]
fluctuating. Um, but the staff doesn't think that there's going
[11:41]
to be any more fluctuations for us here. So there
[11:43]
should be good savings on the horizon. Uh, that's very
[11:46]
steady again. All it depends on what SDG need does.
[11:49]
So, uh, on the other thing, uh, last Friday music
[11:52]
in the park, uh, group PRIMO was fantastic. Lots of
[11:55]
people out there. Great, great time for those who showed
[11:58]
up. Lots of dancing going on. And so, uh, this
[12:00]
week we have an 80s cover band. So invite everybody
[12:04]
to come out there at 6 p. m. Veteranspark. Bring,
[12:08]
bring your pillows, your, uh, chairs, whatever you have to
[12:12]
do. If you get the early, may want to sit
[12:14]
in the shade. If you get there later, sit in
[12:16]
the sun. They get, they got a little bit cool
[12:18]
out there. So anyways, that's all you got, Mayor. Great.
[12:22]
Thank you for that update. I did have a few
[12:24]
things to report. Um, August 6th, I attended the Metro
[12:27]
Wastewater JPA meeting. The only real announcement out of there
[12:32]
is we did get, uh, all the participating agencies to
[12:35]
sign off on the, uh, Sarah, which is the second
[12:39]
amendment to the, uh, agreement. And so the new billing,
[12:45]
uh, is in place now. Um, there were some concern
[12:48]
that if all the agencies didn't pass it within, uh,
[12:51]
certain timeline, we might have some staggered billing, which is
[12:55]
never good. Um, then on August 8th, I did attend,
[12:58]
uh, the Hest Fest here in Imperial Beach. I think
[13:01]
it was very well attended. It seemed like there was
[13:02]
a really good turnout. Um, both locals and, uh, and
[13:06]
folks in the region, uh, October, excuse me, August 11th.
[13:11]
I had my monthly, actually quarterly meeting with the Lieutenant
[13:15]
Galvet, the Sheriff's Department. You've probably seen in the local
[13:20]
media some reporting on the Little League situation. I want
[13:24]
to thank the Sheriff's Department for doing their due diligence
[13:27]
and participating with that investigation and bringing it to, uh,
[13:33]
somewhat of a conclusion. Uh, then on, uh, August 15th,
[13:37]
our local grocery outlet had its 80th, actually their ninth
[13:42]
anniversary here in town, but the company is their 80th
[13:47]
anniversary. So we did have a ribbon cutting, um, and
[13:50]
then yesterday I spoke at both the City Council Meetings
[13:53]
for, uh, City of Coronado and also for the City
[13:56]
of Chula Vista, uh, a couple of those items will
[13:58]
be coming up, uh, on our agenda later this evening.
[14:01]
So we'll, we'll talk a little bit more about them
[14:03]
then. All right. At this time I'm going to hand
[14:08]
it over to, uh, City Manager Folts versus some communications
[14:13]
from city staff. Thank you Mayor. Staff's requesting to, uh,
[14:17]
that the Council move item 15C before items A and
[14:21]
B. It's our understanding that the Mayor of TIL Vista
[14:23]
may be coming to comment on items A and B.
[14:27]
So again, stash requesting to consider the e - bike
[14:29]
item before those items. All right. We certainly happy to
[14:34]
provide that professional courtesy to the Mayor of Chelovista. So
[14:37]
we will in fact move item, uh, 15c ahead of
[14:42]
15a and 15b. I see we have an announcement from
[14:49]
fire chief French. Is that correct? Honorable Mayor City
[14:58]
Council. Um, I have a few, um, employees. I want
[15:01]
to introduce and then a few announcements after that. So,
[15:05]
um, I'm going to introduce two, one started on, um.
[15:12]
July 27th. And he's so he's new to the fire
[15:17]
department. And then the other one started on May 25th
[15:21]
as a part - time with Marine Safety Division of
[15:24]
the Fire Rescue Department. And we hired him full time
[15:28]
on January of 26. So he hasn't had a chance
[15:31]
to be up here. So the first one I'd like
[15:32]
to bring up is Ian Urskine. From our marine safety
[15:37]
division. Um, and, you know, he's doing a great job.
[15:41]
He's had a couple of CPRs he's done with the
[15:44]
fire department down there in the beach area. So real
[15:46]
hard worker. So like to welcome you. Thank you. Welcome.
[15:50]
Go ahead and have, yeah. Introduce yourself. You and your
[15:56]
skin. I was a seasonal here at the Imperial Beach.
[15:59]
I started May of last year. And then promoted to
[16:02]
full time in January of this year. And joined every
[16:05]
minute of it. And just want to say thanks for
[16:06]
having me. Great. Thank you. Welcome to the team. All
[16:12]
right. Second one I'd like to bring up is Kyle
[16:15]
Barone. Um, he started with us on July 27th. And
[16:19]
he's going to be starting Heartland's fire academy next Monday,
[16:22]
the 24th. And he'll be finished with that on November
[16:25]
5th. So he's got a couple months of hard work
[16:29]
to go through. So. Come on. Hello. Cover only
[16:39]
parasitionary fire paramedic. Grew up here in San Diego. Carl's
[16:44]
bed mainly. The work in San Diego most of my
[16:46]
career is in the city. Worked to the cigar role
[16:49]
paramedical children's defire where I started working some ambulance just
[16:52]
here at Vista at Imperial Beach. And been employed here
[16:57]
since July. Looking forward to a long period with the
[17:00]
privilege fire department. Super welcome you into the team and
[17:03]
thank you for all your hard work so far. Thank
[17:05]
you. Get ready for the Academy. All right. I know
[17:13]
Council has been waiting for this one for a long
[17:14]
time. So, um, on, uh, on October 3rd, um, we're
[17:20]
going to be doing our, um, new engine push in
[17:22]
ceremony. Um, some of the details and it's going to
[17:25]
be along with the pancake breakfast. So some of the
[17:28]
details and times are still in the works, but we
[17:32]
want you to save that date. Um, the next one's
[17:35]
going to be our, uh, open house. It's going to
[17:37]
be Saturday, October 17th. From 10 a. m. to 2
[17:41]
p. m. And that's always a fun event for the
[17:43]
community. And we love seeing you guys out there. Great.
[17:47]
Thank you. Yeah. And as part of the open house,
[17:54]
we're going to have the blood bank. We're going to
[17:58]
have the blood bank. And this can be our second
[17:59]
annual, uh, blood drive that we've done. We didn't have
[18:01]
mount here last year, but they were here the previous
[18:03]
year. So, um, they're going to be here for 930
[18:07]
to 230. So they're going to be here half hour
[18:10]
on each side of our blood drive. And as, um,
[18:13]
if you get blood, you can, um, get a t
[18:16]
- shirt and it's going to have the thing from
[18:18]
the Adams family on their t - shirt. So. Great.
[18:24]
Looking forward to everybody signing up and giving some blood.
[18:27]
Great. Thank you for those announcements and thank you for
[18:29]
getting that, uh, fire engine ready to go. All right.
[18:34]
It's this time we're going to move on to public
[18:36]
comment section. Looking for some public speaker cards. Let me
[18:42]
announce before we take speakers in house that we did
[18:47]
receive correspondence from truth. And it was a made available
[18:51]
to the Council members and also, uh, the folks in
[18:54]
the auditorium here in the back. I have one public
[18:57]
speaker card. It's Mr. Brandon Claypool. So Brandon, if you
[19:02]
can come forward and you're three minutes start now, I
[19:07]
just wanted to say thank you for welcoming me to
[19:12]
Imperial Beach. I love the city. The Sheriff's Department does
[19:16]
a really good job of keeping it safe. I've noticed
[19:18]
it. It's sad that the beach is closed. But hey,
[19:23]
you got a lot of good businesses that need to
[19:26]
be filled with customers. And so I'm just pleased the
[19:32]
way I progressed. It's a very safe city. You care
[19:37]
about the citizens here. Uh, it's nice to see that
[19:42]
like people out walking around. They're in parks, you know,
[19:45]
it's like, it's really nice what you've done with parks
[19:48]
and recreation. And you got people out everywhere. It's, it's,
[19:52]
it's really, it's a really good community that like stands
[19:56]
up for each other. And I, you can see it.
[19:59]
This is a great city. And you guys have done
[20:01]
a really good job. I just wanted to thank you.
[20:04]
Thanks. Well, thank you very much for those comments and
[20:06]
we appreciate the, uh, the feedback. All right. I guess
[20:13]
we're going to go to the remote participation at this
[20:15]
point. City Clerk Kelly, please. Announce the first speaker. Okay.
[20:22]
Mr. Mayor, we have one raised hand and it's a
[20:26]
caller with the last two numbers of three one. Please
[20:29]
unmute yourself and begin. You have three minutes.
[20:40]
So that is proof that even when things go awry.
[20:42]
Oh, you don't want me to start now. Uh, everyone
[20:46]
collapse it off even the curse. Um, earlier today, I
[20:50]
went to email a few comments and received an automated
[20:52]
city email return saying you guys no longer at that
[20:55]
email comments and that everyone must use the e -
[20:57]
commit form. I don't mind that as an option, but
[20:59]
as a mandate, They also do not allow pictures to
[21:05]
be uploaded, which was my entire point of emailing my
[21:08]
comment. So I give a trying to roll III, but
[21:11]
give more of a snarky look of emojis to that
[21:13]
option. That being said, uh, I emailed my comments only
[21:16]
because I've been married. Turns out okay. Cause Hey, the
[21:19]
brush covered bike racket. The bay has nothing cleared for
[21:21]
you. It's a city success. So my new public works
[21:25]
idea is if you pour a little concrete square on
[21:27]
that bike rack, dry brush should be less of an
[21:30]
issue. I don't know if there's environmental rotate, but Hey,
[21:33]
an idea. The other issue I brought up was a
[21:36]
legal finding about union derived conflicts of interest on city
[21:39]
council. Um, it actually came from former corrupt supervisor underneath
[21:43]
the fletcher in his corrupt wise Lorena Gonzalez head of
[21:45]
the union. The Majority Council legally investigated the issue provided
[21:49]
an analysis. And I just think that's something that could
[21:52]
be looked at further in the future. Because anyone who
[21:54]
has a conflict of interest should never be involved in
[21:57]
the decision making process. And a girl beat a certainly
[22:00]
suffered from that in the past. I really think that
[22:03]
union paid for phone should also be bad from the
[22:05]
diets because it opens that door to conflict. Getting even
[22:09]
more political, I also notice that the progressive narrative seems
[22:12]
to be the unsounded line that Mitch has no plan
[22:16]
for Mexico sewage. And it's like, really they're going to
[22:18]
ignore the IV plan that he helped draft last year
[22:21]
that was chocks was tangible solutions that the former corrupts
[22:25]
democratic entity. Man, well I pulled them again a vote
[22:28]
it against. So question, what does grab your labor drunker,
[22:33]
conshaus breast at the table, other than socialism, bad attitude,
[22:36]
beer and asleep at the wheel. Sorry, nobody wants curl
[22:39]
to commie. Jose the ace puppet or Omar the law
[22:42]
breaker. And obviously Matthew couldn't even get the endorsement from
[22:45]
his own party enough said. Now let's give to something
[22:48]
else better or not actually, sorry, quick APCD update. I
[22:52]
did a public records request with a county and they
[22:54]
claim that no communications exist with the company Ironti who
[22:58]
provided the unqualified junk air purifiers. APCDN men will it
[23:03]
would not confirm whether or not the new air purifiers
[23:05]
are. But actually purify anything or not. And we'll also
[23:08]
pick Laura Wilkinson to be on a committee, even though
[23:10]
she's received over 4, 100 dollars in campaign donations from
[23:14]
her. Totally corrupt as always. It was a purely political
[23:18]
meeting. We're honestly the best part with just me calling
[23:20]
out George at Gomez for Stuffner's face on camera. Oh,
[23:26]
that's why I started meeting life in a nutshell. All
[23:28]
right. Let's bring on John McCann. I want to hear
[23:30]
him. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Moving on,
[23:39]
um, do we have any other callers? That was the
[23:41]
only one. That was the final caller, Mr. All right.
[23:44]
Thank you. Um, I guess we're going to move on
[23:46]
to item 11, which is presentations. And as was
[23:56]
mentioned earlier, we're going to re shuffle the order. We're
[24:00]
going to take item 15C. Sorry.
[24:10]
I apologize. I skipped over the consent calendar. Silly me.
[24:13]
All right. We're going to move on to consent calendar.
[24:15]
Do we have any public speaker slips for the consent
[24:18]
items? No, Mr. Mean. None. Uh, do we have any
[24:21]
remote participation requests. No, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Any city
[24:28]
council discussion on the consent calendar. All right. Can I
[24:33]
get a motion and a second, please? Fisher. Proves a
[24:39]
motion. In a second. Thank you. Please vote.
[24:53]
Motion carried unanimously by those present. All right. Now we're
[24:59]
going to move on to ordinances and first readings. We
[25:05]
have none this evening. And then we're going to move
[25:08]
to public hearings. I'm going to open the first public
[25:14]
hearing on item 14a, which is the Imperial, excuse me,
[25:18]
Imperial Beach Forum Sports Bar and Grill seeking approval to
[25:21]
allow live entertainment within the existing restaurant located at 1079
[25:26]
Sea Coast Drive. And a California Environmental Quality Act categorical
[25:32]
exception 0600 - 20. City Planner Arturo. Excuse me, or
[25:39]
twonow will present this item. Thank you. Good evening, Honra
[25:45]
Mayor Council members. My name is Arturo Ortuno, City Planner
[25:49]
with the Commuter Development Department. I will be presenting item
[25:54]
14A this evening, which is a request for a conditional
[25:57]
use permit for I. ......... live entertainment at the existing
[26:02]
restaurant. The Project Site is located at 1079 Sea Coast
[26:07]
Drive in a zoned CMU2 or CCOS Commercial and Mixed
[26:11]
Use. The applicant is proposing to operate live entertainment at
[26:15]
the existing restaurant location. Under the CMU2 zoning regulations, a
[26:19]
restaurant with live entertainment is permitted with an approval of
[26:22]
a conditioner use permit by the City Council. The project
[26:29]
site is located in the western portion of the city
[26:31]
at the northeast corner of CCOSIDIVE and Imperial Beach Boulevard.
[26:35]
The surrounding area consists primarily of residential uses, including multifamily
[26:39]
development to the north, west, and south in a single
[26:43]
- family residence to the east. The site contains an
[26:48]
approximately 2, 200 square foot restaurant, approximately 2, 000 square
[26:52]
feet of cover patio areas. And eight existing parking spaces.
[26:56]
The applicant is not proposing any changes to the existing
[26:59]
footprint. Landscaping, or parking. Staff would like to note that
[27:04]
there is a typo arrow in the staff report regarding
[27:07]
the square footage of the restaurant and patio areas. The
[27:10]
figures included in the staff report were taken from a
[27:12]
previous permit and do not reflect the existing conditions of
[27:15]
the site. The applicant is proposing to operate live entertainment
[27:22]
within the eastern patio area adjacent to the parking lot.
[27:27]
As shown on the slide. The patio is enclosed by
[27:29]
a 6 foot high perimeter wall. The wall consists of
[27:33]
a 4 foot concrete missionary wall with an additional 2
[27:36]
feet of tempered glass screening. And the patio is covered
[27:39]
by a solid roof structure. The areas proposed for live
[27:43]
entertainment is located at JSON to the eastern entrance of
[27:46]
the restaurant's dining area shown in yellow on the floor
[27:48]
plan. The proposed entertainment would include amplified music, trivia, bingo,
[27:54]
and acoustic performances. If the condition used permitters to approved,
[27:58]
the applicant is also required to obtain and maintain all
[28:01]
applicable licenses and permits, including those required by the California
[28:05]
Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Pursuant to ABC license requirements,
[28:11]
live entertainment shall be limited to the hours of 10
[28:13]
a. m. to 10 p. m. seven days a week.
[28:15]
With the exception of Monday through Thursday, these hours are
[28:18]
generally consistent with the restaurant's existing hours of operation and
[28:22]
with other approved live entertainment uses in the city. This
[28:28]
light shows a southeast and northeast corners of the patio,
[28:31]
including the existing 6 - foot perimeter wall and covered
[28:34]
structure. As part of the proposed operation, the patio will
[28:38]
be equipped with noise decibel monitors to help monitors sound
[28:41]
levels. In addition, speakers used for live entertainment will be
[28:45]
directed toward the restaurant building and angle downward to hit
[28:48]
minimize noise impacts on surrounding properties. This slide shows the
[28:53]
entrance that the patio from the parking lot, as well
[28:56]
as a northern elevation of the patio. The northern elevation
[29:00]
provides an additional physical barrier between the proposed entertainment area
[29:03]
and the multifamily residential use to the north. Staff recommends
[29:09]
that City Council conducted public hearing and adopt resolution number
[29:12]
2026 - 084. This concludes my presentation and I'm available
[29:17]
for any questions. And we also have the owner for
[29:21]
I. B. forum here, Matt Morgan, also to answer any
[29:24]
questions. Great, thank you for the presentation. Um, we're going
[29:27]
to go to public speakers. Um, I do have one
[29:30]
public speaker request card. Mr. Martin Mattis, please approach the
[29:35]
DIAS. Or the podium.
[29:45]
Good evening, Honorable Mayor. Distinguished Council and hardest working staff
[29:50]
in San Diego County. For the record on Martin Mattis,
[29:53]
owner of the Oplank N, long time I. B. resident
[29:56]
and retired Navy Command Master Chief. In 1992, Morgan family
[30:03]
purchased i. i. before. 1993, me and Matthew started going
[30:07]
there. Just kidding. No, in 1994 I moved a, I
[30:12]
moved from Coronado down to Imperial Beach. And I went
[30:15]
down to the forum all the time. Lots has changed,
[30:20]
but one thing has stayed consistent along Sea Coast. The
[30:24]
Europlank in and IBorum have been the cornerstones of C
[30:28]
Coast Drive. Matt reached out to me asking how to
[30:33]
get live music two years ago. Uh, we set up
[30:36]
a meeting with mayor Aguiri. And worked with Matt on
[30:41]
getting the ball rolling to get live music going. It's
[30:45]
been two years. Several ABC visits, and now in front
[30:49]
of this distinguished council. I support allowing music at the
[30:55]
i.. Plank has music, my cat says music, Sammy's has
[30:59]
music. I. B. forum needs to have music. In fact,
[31:03]
I think my son - in - law is playing
[31:04]
at Sammy's this weekend. There's a lot of history at
[31:09]
the I. B. forum. I went there when it was
[31:11]
a fishbowl. And now it's a premier spot to go
[31:16]
eat. I ate their lunch today. So, thank you for
[31:20]
the time. And please vote yes on allowing music at
[31:23]
the I. B. forum. Thank you. Thank you, sir, for
[31:26]
your comments. Do we have any remote participation on this
[31:33]
item? Yes, Mr. Mayor, and it is truth. Truth, please
[31:38]
unmute yourself and begin. You have three minutes. You know,
[31:47]
it's actually a literal porn. So it's on the south
[31:51]
side of ISQUI. Southwest, so it's kind of interesting. It's
[31:55]
a literal cornerstone on the other side. Um, so should
[31:58]
you have music at every end, at every notch in
[32:01]
IB? Yeah, sure, why not? The only hesitation would be,
[32:06]
what are the neighbors think about it? Because you do
[32:07]
have homes right there. And you do have the estuary
[32:11]
right there. Some environmentalists may have an issue if the
[32:14]
music is too loud right there at the estuary. I
[32:17]
mean, I do like peace there. Uh, but I'm a
[32:20]
little more concerned about the neighbors. As long as you
[32:28]
have really set time that everyone agrees on of when
[32:33]
you're not going to have music going and when you
[32:34]
are, then as long as their consent, I don't see
[32:37]
a problem with it. I think it sounds like a
[32:39]
great idea to have just been another cool business in
[32:42]
ID. Thank you. Thank you for those comments. I'm going
[32:51]
to go ahead and close the public hearing now. Uh,
[32:56]
City Council, would you like to speak? Um, Matthew, would
[33:00]
you start, excuse me, Councilmember Labor Gonzalez? Uh, yes, thank
[33:03]
you. Thank you, Mayor. Um, so. I'm going to try
[33:08]
to remain as non - biased as possible. Um, so
[33:14]
it's not necessarily, it is a cornerstone of the city,
[33:19]
but the reason why myself and my wife enjoys. Being
[33:24]
there so much, aside from the food, because we love
[33:28]
the soup there. So we're always like, what's the soup
[33:30]
of the day? But it's more along the lines of
[33:34]
the individuals that work there because they give you that
[33:38]
great feeling when you show up. And the locals that
[33:41]
work there, um, the food's amazing. Um, and it's family
[33:46]
owned. So we always talk about what we can do
[33:50]
as a council to make businesses strive here in Imperial
[33:56]
Beach because of the beaches being closed. They are definitely
[34:00]
a place that people that come from out of town
[34:03]
for sure wants to see because the service is amazing.
[34:05]
The food is amazing. Um, I take pride in stating
[34:09]
that my stiping gets spent. Throughout Imperial Beach. I'm not
[34:14]
going to say how much gets spent there. But I'm
[34:16]
in strong support of passing this. Thank you, Mayor. Thank
[34:20]
you for those comments. Councilmember Nakasa. Thank you Mayor. Um,
[34:25]
I had the great pleasure of working at a live
[34:27]
music joint for five and a half years. And so
[34:29]
we had also told the city at the time amplified
[34:33]
music and sound. And so just to dig a little
[34:35]
deeper, are you guys planning to have some like acoustic
[34:37]
axe live bands? What are you guys expecting in regards
[34:41]
to some of your live entertainment. Can you please perch
[34:45]
the microphone? Thank you. Um, iBorm. Happy to say that
[34:52]
we've been there for 34 years now as of July.
[34:55]
Repeat your question with the acoustic? Yeah, of course. Uh,
[34:59]
the, the concept of amplified music amped sound more, more
[35:03]
falls under that. So just wondering what kind of digging
[35:06]
a little bit deeper into hopefully your ideas of live
[35:09]
entertainment. Are you guys planning to have like acoustic sets
[35:12]
or like maybe full bands or middle of both? Not
[35:14]
really pushing so much for live music, more for entertainment
[35:18]
for, um, games. Bingo. Um, trivia night. A lot of
[35:23]
times when we'll have a wedding, they want to know,
[35:25]
Hey, can we have someone play on the patio at
[35:27]
spur of the moment. Are we going to be having
[35:31]
rock bands here? No. It's something where we just want
[35:34]
to have the option if we want to play music
[35:37]
on a special weekend. We want to be able to
[35:40]
do this. Very cool. Thank you. Yeah. Uh, the forums
[35:45]
was my grandmother's favorite place to go eat dinner and
[35:47]
lunch. Uh, I really, uh, like the Fred zucchini. I've
[35:51]
heard you've been an incredible neighbor in regards to anything.
[35:54]
So just continuing to be responsive and everything, everyone's really
[35:57]
spoken high praises of you because that was the first
[36:00]
thing that I brought up to staff was like, you
[36:04]
know, the live music joint I worked at was right
[36:05]
next to senior assisted living center, um, it was crazy
[36:08]
that we even were there half the time because we
[36:10]
did have rock bands and whatnot. But your reputation proceeds
[36:14]
you, Matt. So my neighbors are my number one concern
[36:17]
over there. Um, Mr. Miller that owns the apartments. I've
[36:21]
been good friends with him for over 30 years. Almost
[36:23]
everyone in the apartment complex house my cell phone number.
[36:27]
All the neighbors around there have my cell number. And
[36:28]
I tell them if the issue, if you hear something
[36:30]
going on or if you see something, call me directly.
[36:33]
I want to handle it. And I've been a hands
[36:35]
- on owner since day one. I took over this
[36:38]
place. Thank you, sir. And I appreciate you. Thank you.
[36:44]
Pretend fisher, please. Thank you, Matt. So I appreciate your
[36:47]
honesty and how you conduct your business. I agree. It's
[36:49]
been a benefit to the city the way the form
[36:52]
continues to redesign, redevelop, uh, it is a beautiful place
[36:56]
for people to enjoy Imperial Beach. And I shared some
[36:59]
concerns. I'm grateful for Council Member Nakawatose talking about what
[37:02]
type of music, you know, and type of things that
[37:05]
would happen. We have seen, um, a few different places.
[37:09]
I won't say abuse, but push it to the very
[37:11]
limit when they have live permits. And I think you're
[37:14]
seeing the same. You're aware of those as well, but
[37:16]
it sounds like you have a great relationship with, uh,
[37:19]
with those around you. And that's hard. Um, I noticed
[37:22]
that there was a, uh, during the presentation talked about
[37:24]
having decimal monitors on the patty, which I think will
[37:28]
help key everything in. Obviously, you know, it's a conditional
[37:30]
use permit, uh, the language in there that helps everybody
[37:33]
keep each other on this. And, you know, provides, um,
[37:37]
cure for any, any issues that may come up. And
[37:40]
obviously you're a willing owner to help guide through any
[37:44]
things that might have concerns in the committee. So again,
[37:47]
I'm in favor and I want to thank you for
[37:48]
being out here and representing the CD. Well, thank you.
[37:52]
I appreciate that very much. Thank you. All right. Thank
[37:54]
you for your questions. I don't have any questions directly
[37:56]
for you. I do want to encourage you to continue
[38:00]
to promote your business and, you know, help the city
[38:04]
help you, uh, bring visitors to the city, um, even,
[38:09]
even when our, maybe our beaches are closed sometimes, uh,
[38:12]
most of the time, um, but our businesses are always
[38:15]
open. So, uh, I appreciate you coming out this evening.
[38:18]
And I appreciate you stepping forward. So. Thank you for
[38:20]
taking the time. Yes, of course. Okay. So at this
[38:24]
time I will look for a motion or a vote
[38:27]
and a vote. A second. I'll make the motion mayor.
[38:31]
Can I get a second? I'll second. You. Please vote.
[38:37]
And please lock in your votes. Motion carried unanimously by
[38:45]
those present seabury absent. And Mr. Mayor for clarification, that
[38:50]
was for the adoption of Resolution number 2026 - 2026
[38:54]
001 and Resolution 2026 084. Yes. Thank you. Thank you.
[39:00]
Thank you again. Appreciate it. Thank you. All right. We're
[39:07]
going to move on to reports. And as was mentioned
[39:10]
earlier, we're going to reorder, uh, and bring the e
[39:13]
- bike discussion up first. And so with that, I
[39:17]
will turn it over to City Manager Foltz for, uh,
[39:21]
presentation of the item. Uh, thank you Mayor and members
[39:25]
of the Council. This is a continuation of a discussion
[39:27]
that was had earlier this year regarding e - bikes,
[39:31]
uh, where the council requested that staff look into additional
[39:34]
information. Uh, every word here. Some of it's for reference
[39:38]
for later if needed, uh, but more or less, in
[39:41]
our current code, bicycles and e - bikes, they're treated
[39:45]
the same, uh, our code does not reference e bikes
[39:48]
at all. Uh, bicycles and e - bikes are supposed
[39:50]
to be meeting the same traffic, uh, laws and signs
[39:53]
that are on the roadway today. Cities can, however, adopt
[39:57]
additional regulations. And that's what's being discussed tonight. Uh, and
[40:00]
in January, that's when council provided additional direction of staff.
[40:04]
So the intent of this meeting is to provide some
[40:05]
additional information, get additional direction from the council. Uh, so
[40:09]
our current code is very interesting with regards to what
[40:12]
a bicycle is defined as. For our current code, it
[40:16]
talks about, uh, it's being propelled by a human power.
[40:20]
But then it says it either has two or three
[40:22]
wheels, one of which is at least 20 inches in
[40:24]
diameter. And then it has a frame size of at
[40:27]
least 14 inches or having four wheels or more. Uh,
[40:31]
so it's, we've seen many bicycles out there with different
[40:34]
wheel sizes and but then they can come and say
[40:36]
that's not a bicycle. So some clean up on that
[40:39]
language, uh, would be appropriate. State law says, uh, bike
[40:43]
is one or more wheels and no wheel size. Right
[40:46]
now in our current code, bicycles are prohibited from writing
[40:49]
on the sidewalk in business districts. The peer and then
[40:53]
public parks and facilities. Uh, the code also, uh, requires
[40:57]
licensing, uh, but, uh, there is a law that was
[41:01]
passed that says we were not allowed to do a
[41:03]
licensing. So it prohibits that. Uh, so our current municipal
[41:06]
code is not compliant. It would need to be updated
[41:10]
to comply with current law. Uh, so this, uh, this
[41:13]
slide here shows the current definitions for, uh, e -
[41:16]
bikes today. There's three different types. There's the class one,
[41:19]
which is pedal assisted. Um, and then it only provides
[41:22]
the motor assistance when you're pedaling. There's no minimum age.
[41:25]
Helmets are required for individuals under 18. There's a 20
[41:29]
mile per hour max limit. Uh, and it's allowed to
[41:31]
go wherever bicycles are permitted. The class two has the
[41:34]
throttle assistance. Uh, and again, it has the motor that
[41:38]
also assists to propel the bicycle, uh, with pedals. No
[41:41]
minimum age again. Helmets are required for individuals under 18,
[41:46]
20 miles per hour max limit, uh, for speed. And
[41:49]
again, they're allowed wherever bicycles are allowed. And then the
[41:51]
class three's a little different. It's pedal assisted. It has
[41:54]
a speedometer. It's motor assistance, uh, when pedaling, uh, but
[41:58]
it can't, uh, it doesn't have a throttle. Uh, the
[42:01]
minimum age for that type of class is 16 years
[42:03]
old. It's a higher speed limit of 28 miles an
[42:05]
hour. And then all ages must, uh, wear a helmet.
[42:09]
So, uh, e bikes. We also want to note their
[42:12]
exempt from drivers licenses. License plates and insurance requirements. That's
[42:15]
just per state law. Uh, and you also can't have
[42:18]
a passenger unless the separate seat. Again, that's just per
[42:20]
law. Uh, there's variety of state laws that cover the
[42:25]
regulation of bicycles, which includes e bikes, uh, the, uh,
[42:30]
there's certain vehicles that are not included, uh, in the
[42:33]
e - bike discussion as well under state law. Uh,
[42:35]
so, uh, one of the discussions here is, uh, vehicle
[42:39]
with two or three wheels powered by an electric motors
[42:41]
that's intended by the manufacturer to be modifiable to attain
[42:45]
speed greater than 20 miles an hour. That's, that's not
[42:47]
any bike. That's not allowed a vehicle that's modified to
[42:51]
atterrate in 25 miles or 20 miles an hour on
[42:54]
a motor, uh, alone without the pedals. That's, that's not
[42:57]
an e - bike either. Uh, and then a vehicle
[42:59]
that's modified to have, uh, the pedals completely removed. So
[43:02]
none of those are e - bikes. Just wanted to
[43:04]
make sure council is aware of those. Uh, there's also
[43:07]
separate designation of e - scooters. Those have no pedals.
[43:11]
Uh, there's an electric motor. Generally, it's 15 miles per
[43:14]
hour, a maximum speed limit. Uh, they're prohibited on sidewalks
[43:17]
except to enter and leave adjacent properties. Uh, you do
[43:20]
need a helmet if you're under 18 years old. The
[43:23]
minimum HTUs are 16 years old. There are not allowed
[43:26]
to have passengers. Uh, you actually do need a driver's
[43:30]
license or instruction permit to utilize an e - scooter.
[43:33]
Uh, and, uh, the state, the law specifically mentions that
[43:36]
the financial responsibility registration or license plate requirements for e
[43:39]
scooters. Uh, this just references a flyer that the sheriffs,
[43:44]
uh, department has created to inform people about, uh, e
[43:49]
- bikes, safety requirements. And then what the classes are
[43:54]
and then what is not any bike. And that's in
[43:55]
the bottom right hand corner on the third, uh, slide,
[43:58]
uh, picture there, the motor license required for these different
[44:02]
types mopeds, et cetera. Uh, and this just continues to
[44:07]
fly her. Uh, there is an assembly bill that was
[44:11]
passed. Uh, that allows for additional regulations beyond what we
[44:16]
just described. And this is the San Diego Electric Bicycle
[44:20]
Safety Pilot program. It allows agencies in San Diego County
[44:23]
specifically to adopt regulations, prohibiting persons under 12 from operating
[44:27]
a class one or two e - bike. You have
[44:29]
to have a public information campaign with at least 30,
[44:33]
uh, 30 calendar days, uh, for that campaign. If you
[44:36]
get a violation, uh, within the first 60 days, it's
[44:39]
a warning after that. There's a fine of 25 dollars.
[44:45]
Agencies also have to submit a report to the legislature.
[44:49]
The agencies have to report it to the county, the
[44:51]
county then, uh, reports it to the legislator. Uh, and,
[44:55]
uh, the data that's collected is traffic seltzer violations results
[45:00]
from traffic stops. The time persons was stopped while allegedly
[45:04]
being under 12, but was found to be over the
[45:07]
age limit. Description of warnings or violations cited. If an
[45:12]
arrest or traffic stop is made, document perceived race, ethnicity,
[45:15]
gender in approximate age. Detail the actions by the police
[45:20]
officer, uh, number of times a person opted to complete
[45:24]
training in lieu of the fine. And then the number
[45:28]
of times person under 12 was involved in severe crasher
[45:31]
injury prior and after the adopter regulations. Uh, so what
[45:36]
are our neighbors doing? This was discussed last time, but
[45:38]
there has been some change. And that's why it took
[45:40]
some time to, uh, come back to the council. We
[45:42]
have been tracking what San Diego's doing because there are,
[45:45]
there are direct adjacent neighbor. Um, Carl's Bad Schulivista, Cornato,
[45:49]
LaMESA, POUAY, now San Diego, San Marcos and Santee all
[45:53]
past ordinances, uh, to prohibit the use of the e
[45:57]
- bikes under 12 years old. Uh, for Coronado, they're
[46:01]
prohibited also in different areas. Sidewalks beaches parks and then
[46:04]
the different areas noted here. Um, the writers can walk
[46:08]
their e - bikes in those areas. Uh, for Class
[46:11]
1 and 2, the writers have to be over 12
[46:13]
for class 3, 16. Um, and then for Chula Vista,
[46:17]
it's very similar in those regards with those limitations because
[46:20]
they've also adopted AB2234. San Diego has very similar rules.
[46:26]
Uh, they've also prohibited under 12 years old for Class
[46:29]
1 and 2. Um, and, uh, they're provided the public
[46:33]
education campaign. This just has some of the dates where
[46:36]
it went into effect. And that's just very recently August
[46:38]
13th is where those regulations went into effect. Um, they
[46:42]
also, uh, provide the same requirements within the law that
[46:46]
allows for, uh, someone to take a class if they
[46:49]
receive a fine things along those lines. Uh, ekes are
[46:52]
allowed, uh, in bike lanes, roads and most bike paths
[46:55]
in San Diego, but they're generally not allowed on sidewalks,
[46:58]
near businesses or crosswalks, which are, uh, mainly pedestrian areas.
[47:04]
Uh, these are just some of the flyers that Cornato
[47:07]
has created for their city so that people are aware
[47:10]
of what the regulations are. Uh, this is Cheul Vista.
[47:14]
They have a toolkit over they explain what, what the
[47:16]
regulations are within their city. Uh, this is San Diego's
[47:20]
website that describes the different laws and safety tips, uh,
[47:23]
within the city. A lot of the different, the cities
[47:25]
have very similar information because it's a geared specifically to
[47:28]
state law and what the parameters of their cities are.
[47:32]
So there are some considerations that the city council can
[47:35]
have with regards to regulations within the city versus our
[47:39]
municipal code. We mentioned the definitions earlier. They're fairly outdated.
[47:43]
They don't, they didn't even contemplate e bikes or e
[47:46]
- scooters or anything along those lines. Uh, so we
[47:48]
would recommend having a definition for a bicycle that's more
[47:51]
consistent with state law. Having definitions for electric bicycles consistent
[47:55]
with state law. Same with the electric scooter, uh, we
[47:58]
would also recommend Electric Mobility devices. We see a lot
[48:01]
of, uh, unicycles or hoverboards or even electronic skateboards. Uh,
[48:06]
so having a definition for that would assist with our
[48:09]
regulations. And allowing people to know what they can and
[48:12]
cannot use and what areas. Uh, but also defining a
[48:16]
sidewalk and what a sidewalk is, uh, we have some
[48:18]
different areas in the city such as the boardwalk on
[48:22]
Imperial Leech Boulevard by the estuary. That was designed to
[48:25]
actually allow for a bicycles. So that's, that would be
[48:27]
something that we'd want some guidance on to make sure,
[48:29]
are we going to not include using e bikes or
[48:32]
e - scooters or eMobility devices in those areas? Or
[48:36]
will we allow for, uh, use of those areas? Uh,
[48:39]
so this goes into some of the, uh, regulations that
[48:42]
can be considered by the council or at least request
[48:45]
that staff look into it further. Expanding bicycle restrictions to
[48:49]
all areas of parks and public facilities, not just the
[48:52]
pedestrian areas, uh, because right now it mainly says pedestrian
[48:55]
areas. Uh, so we could specifically, uh, state where eBikes
[49:01]
may or may not be allowed or if they're prohibited.
[49:03]
Same with the E. Scooters and eMobility devices, uh, do
[49:06]
we want to prohibit them from playgrounds? Uh, from all
[49:09]
park spaces, uh, from fields and trails, uh, from the
[49:13]
entire Pure Plaza area, the pier, um, uh, or any
[49:17]
other areas that's contemplated, um, I will note at sports
[49:21]
park facility, uh, we just redid the sports park area.
[49:25]
We did brand new concrete and there are tire marks
[49:29]
all over that new concrete area. Uh, it would assist
[49:32]
to have a clear definition within our code so that
[49:35]
we could help, um, enforce that. Council can consider prohibiting
[49:40]
e bikes. E. Scooters mobility devices on all sidewalks if
[49:43]
they so choose or define areas where they may locate,
[49:46]
uh, we could designate, uh, additional no writing areas such
[49:49]
as the beachfront on the, on the sand itself, uh,
[49:52]
schools at the skate park. Right now we do see
[49:55]
e bikes using the skate park. It's not designed for
[49:57]
such use. So that'd be a consideration. And also the
[50:01]
board walk that I mentioned earlier, uh, or are there
[50:03]
any other hypodesrian activity area? Uh, Council could consider requiring
[50:08]
e bikes, e - scooters or e - mobility devices
[50:10]
to be walked, uh, rather than written in all areas
[50:13]
that we just described parks, uh, facilities, uh, pedestrian area,
[50:18]
uh, only, uh, installing new signage, uh, throughout our public
[50:23]
facilities. A lot of it's old and outdated. It doesn't
[50:25]
really say, uh, e - bikes, rescooters. That many would
[50:30]
be familiar with, uh, and then also ensuring that operators
[50:34]
aren't blocking ADA access or obstructing any paths of travel.
[50:38]
Uh, SAFE operation is another consideration that the Council can
[50:42]
consider with, with guidelines. Uh, there are current California vehicle
[50:49]
code requirements for reckless driving and things along those lines.
[50:53]
Uh, but, uh, we can specifically state within the ordinance
[50:56]
the intent. Would the Council want to consider traveling in
[50:59]
the same direction of motor vehicle traffic at all times,
[51:03]
even if they're on a sidewalk, if it's loud, um,
[51:06]
uh, same with bicycle lanes, uh, we're writing this permitted
[51:11]
yielding the right way to pedestrians. Again, that's a law,
[51:14]
but specifically noting it within an ordinance at the city
[51:17]
can utilize. Operate at a speed that's reasonable and prudent
[51:21]
for existing conditions. Limits side by side writing to no
[51:24]
more than two, except that during city approved events or
[51:29]
other approved events, uh, maintaining at least one hand, uh,
[51:32]
on the handlebars except when signaling providing an audible warning
[51:35]
when overtaking pedestrians on shared use facilities. And, uh, following
[51:45]
direction by council, we will look at it legally to
[51:47]
find out what, what language can we come back with
[51:49]
to the Council to ensure that we're not overstepping state
[51:52]
law, but supplementing it in an appropriate way. We talked
[51:57]
about reckless writing and street takeovers. Some of the complaints
[52:00]
we often receive are seeing people doing wheelies, which seem
[52:03]
very unsafe and the right of way burnouts, jumping, drifting,
[52:07]
exhibitions of speed, other stunt writing unsafe turning movements, um,
[52:13]
impeding pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, uh, carrying passengers, uh, unless the
[52:18]
bicycles designed for it, equipped for that purpose, towing others.
[52:22]
We see that, uh, often, uh, so we can consider
[52:25]
language that would allow for enforcement of that. Uh, and
[52:28]
then also utilizing handheld mobile phones, uh, or other electronic
[52:32]
communication devices when they're using one of these, uh, either
[52:35]
a bicycle or one of the e devices that we
[52:37]
talked about. Or even organizing an event that, uh, what
[52:41]
purposely, uh, not comply with the ordinance. Uh, but staff
[52:46]
would recommend some other measures that would allow for, um,
[52:49]
some flexibility as well. And that's this temporary operational authority.
[52:54]
It would, it would allow the city manager to temporarily
[52:57]
modify or suspend these rules, uh, in the purpose of
[53:00]
public safety. So if during a permitted special event or
[53:05]
an emergency or unusual traffic conditions or other circumstances, uh,
[53:09]
these rules can be a temporarily adjusted, uh, just based
[53:13]
on that current situation that the cities undergoing, um, uh,
[53:17]
at the designation of the City manager, if, if, uh,
[53:20]
requested by the Council. And then of course public education,
[53:24]
uh, letting the community know what's being considered, um, informing
[53:29]
people of, uh, educational warnings for first time if an
[53:33]
ordinance is adopted, uh, ensuring again, that the intent is
[53:37]
safety first and foremost, not necessarily getting a fine or
[53:41]
anything along those lines. But safety is paramount. Uh, so
[53:45]
that concludes staff report. We request that the Council provide
[53:48]
direction on some of these regulations. Um, and, uh, City
[53:53]
staff can come back with a draft ordinance or other
[53:55]
considerations. Uh, and also cleaning up that ordinance that is
[53:59]
not compliant, uh, to date. Um, and, uh, some of
[54:03]
the general topics is to update the municipal code. And
[54:06]
then I have some of the bullet points there that
[54:07]
we went over just in case we want to reference
[54:09]
it. Uh, this concludes staff's report. Council member Nakawat is
[54:14]
a has collected some survey information that she would like
[54:16]
to present on at this time. Thank you, Dilar. I
[54:26]
always like a good community survey and I was happy
[54:28]
to say that this had a pretty high engagement of
[54:30]
one. Data is, I believe, published and in the back
[54:34]
for anyone that wants to reference it. And I said,
[54:36]
if I spelled anything wrong, uh, don't tell me in
[54:38]
public, tell me later. Uh, I had the great pleasure
[54:41]
of hosting this just a bit of a methodology of
[54:45]
what I did. So just to try and maximize my
[54:47]
participation and try and reach a broad section of the
[54:49]
community, I promoted it through, um, comprehensive digital outreach campaign.
[54:55]
My survey was posted twice across my personal, um, social
[54:57]
media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, ex - formally as Twitter,
[55:02]
LinkedIn and next door. In addition, I posted the survey,
[55:05]
um, to my social media stories on three separate occasions
[55:08]
at three separate times to try and encourage and increase
[55:10]
the visibility and encourage participation through the outreach period. Um,
[55:14]
I also posted in all of our relevant IBlocal happenings
[55:17]
groups and everything like that to just encourage, um, people
[55:19]
to fill it out. So I was happy to say
[55:21]
in that period, I was able to receive 92 responses,
[55:24]
um, 76 respondents asking to see the survey results. Um,
[55:28]
in terms of respondent demographics, it was, uh, 32 of
[55:31]
drivers, uh, 18 of e - bike readers. Writers, excuse
[55:35]
me, parents and guardians 16 pedestrians 11 traditional cyclists. So
[55:40]
regular bicyclist, eight and other seven. Next slide, please. And
[55:45]
then in terms of age distribution of survey respondents, um,
[55:49]
65 plus crowd with 37 respondents, uh, 55 to 64,
[55:53]
18, 45 to 54, 17, 35 to 44, 13, 25
[55:59]
to 34, six and 18 to 24, which I was
[56:02]
hoping for a little bit more, uh, I had one.
[56:05]
Next slide, please. In terms of the e - bike
[56:09]
ownership among survey respondents, I thought that was really important.
[56:12]
Obviously, if you own an e - bike, I'd hope
[56:14]
you'd participate. Um, we had no of 57 respondents with
[56:18]
62 percent. And yes, with 35 respondents. Not not necessarily
[56:24]
in the slides, but just for the people, the primary
[56:27]
use that people use e - bikes for in our
[56:28]
community in terms of that responded to the survey was
[56:30]
recreation with transportation being second. Um, I had a sling
[56:36]
scale in regards to, uh, the survey, because I think
[56:39]
it's easier to, for people to kind of gauge what
[56:41]
they feel about either, I'm not really concerned or I
[56:44]
am really concerned. And so these were our top e
[56:47]
- bike safety concerns. And so I chose specifically from
[56:49]
the highly concerned to focus on, um, which was writers
[56:53]
ignoring the stop signs and traffic signals. Excessive speed, distracted
[56:57]
writing, helmet use, conflicts with pedestrians and multiple writers on
[57:02]
one e - bike, which is kind of a reflection
[57:04]
in terms of the staff report about complaints they received.
[57:07]
Next slide. Um, I just want to know that in
[57:11]
terms of the safety solutions, it was noted before, but
[57:14]
just to reiterate that youth licensing and certification is not
[57:17]
something we can allow. So my apologies for putting that
[57:19]
in the survey. I was going after Arminess full code
[57:21]
first. Um, so that was my fault. Um, but some
[57:23]
of the safety solutions that the community is looking to
[57:26]
see is increased enforcement speed limit enforcement, parent guardian education,
[57:32]
writer education, helmet campaigns, community awareness campaigns, better bike lanes
[57:36]
and then more signage. This kind of theme that we're
[57:38]
seeing is that there's obviously a strong desire from enforcement.
[57:42]
Some accountability from youth and definitely education before punishment in
[57:46]
regards to that. In terms of some of the open
[57:47]
- ended, um, I think it's really important for people
[57:50]
to kind of verbalize what they're interested in. So the
[57:53]
open - end comments, which was at the end of
[57:55]
the survey, trying to encourage people to ride in what
[57:57]
they thought might be the best solution or everything like
[58:01]
that, because I don't always have the best ideas. It's
[58:03]
definitely some of the constituents who give me the most.
[58:06]
But yeah, I thought it was a fairly good survey
[58:09]
that got ran. And I was, I was happy that
[58:11]
more people were engaged in it. And I think that's
[58:14]
it. Very, thank you for taking the time and the
[58:19]
effort to put that all together and to collate the
[58:23]
data and, uh, provide that presentation. Um. We have public
[58:28]
speakers. I have one public speaker card. Um, we also
[58:31]
had correspondence provided to, uh, the City. Pardon me. Been
[58:39]
made available to the staff and also those in the
[58:41]
room that came from Senator Brilhart. We thank her for
[58:46]
that. Um, the public speaker card I have is for
[58:50]
Lynn Fisher. So if you want to go ahead and,
[58:53]
uh, come up. Get Eden Council staff, Lynn Fisher, resident,
[58:59]
retired government analysts, executive special projects. I just want to
[59:04]
commend Councilwoman Nakatuase for following through and sharing the outcome
[59:09]
of the eBite Community Survey. I was really looking forward
[59:11]
to this. I hope the city puts these results on
[59:16]
the website on the Cities website so that residents can
[59:20]
clearly find them. And don't just leave them on the
[59:22]
agenda because it's really difficult for residents to find that
[59:25]
information on the agenda. Um, uh, PAS councils used to
[59:31]
involve residents very often in open workshops and surveys. And
[59:36]
they use those outcomes of those resources to build better
[59:39]
city reports and documents. And we haven't really seen that
[59:43]
many outreaches like this lately. So this was really refreshing
[59:49]
to see this in many of us participated. So I
[59:52]
would really like to see a return to this approach.
[59:55]
So that if you want, if you want to see
[59:57]
more of us here in this room, then talk to
[59:59]
us more. And so this was a really refreshing approach.
[1:00:04]
And we participated. So, um, I want to thank the
[1:00:07]
Councilwoman again for stepping up here and trying to inspire
[1:00:10]
people to take part and show up. So it's really
[1:00:14]
appreciated. Thank you very much. Thank you so much for
[1:00:17]
your comments. Do we have any speakers online? Yes, Mr.
[1:00:26]
Mayor, we have one raised hand and it's truth. Please
[1:00:30]
proceed. Truth, please begin. Hi there. I'm beginning. So yes,
[1:00:38]
include the other e devices into the language. I don't
[1:00:41]
know about wheels near the astroy kind of questionable. There
[1:00:45]
are a lot of pedestrians, but at the same time,
[1:00:47]
if it's made for it, but then I guess you
[1:00:48]
can't go back on your word. Definitely not on the
[1:00:51]
tier because that not only does it put pedestrians at
[1:00:53]
risk, it does damage to the pier. Everybody knows lithium
[1:00:56]
is a much heavier than anything else. So I personally
[1:01:00]
can't stand when I see them even at the core
[1:01:01]
noticery landing on that little period there. It's just, I
[1:01:05]
see bad things happening. And don't forget, you have to
[1:01:07]
put up signs where you say no. The court of
[1:01:10]
San Diego does that. So the signs are very obvious,
[1:01:13]
but don't do any restrictions if you're not alerting the
[1:01:15]
people to at first. Uh, but my feeling about eBay
[1:01:19]
is that they should just be banned for anyone under
[1:01:21]
the age of 18. They're essentially no different than mopeds,
[1:01:25]
vespas and motorcycles. And so should be subject to the
[1:01:27]
same regulations. Uh, there's nothing wrong with a regular bike
[1:01:32]
for a child. It's actually way more affordable. But that's
[1:01:35]
not to say that children are the only problem. Cause
[1:01:38]
I can't tell you how many adults I've seen that
[1:01:40]
have ridden in the opposite direction of traffic. Then made
[1:01:43]
an illegal turn in the opposite direction of traffic. So
[1:01:48]
traffic enforcement doesn't usually happen with bicycles. It happens with
[1:01:52]
vehicles, right? And that is my point. I think even
[1:01:56]
banny evites from sidewalks parks peers, et cetera is a
[1:02:00]
sign that they're not safe toys. They're dangerous vehicles. Along
[1:02:04]
with future, state approved licenses. I'm hoping for that. I
[1:02:07]
support required education courses, fines and empowending bikes. Because the
[1:02:12]
breath on eBox need to face all of those things.
[1:02:15]
The parents also need to face punishment when their child
[1:02:17]
does something wrong. I do not accept e - bikers
[1:02:20]
taking over streets and destroying rows and property and then
[1:02:23]
not facing punishment for. They need to pay damages. Um,
[1:02:27]
something else that's just distantly related that has never been
[1:02:30]
addressed is e. by tontransit or e. scooters or whatever
[1:02:34]
it is. They take up tons of room. I just
[1:02:35]
want you to consider that wherever that will be applicable
[1:02:38]
at some point MTS. And I wanted to point out,
[1:02:42]
uh, all of Marniko's misspellings because I saw a lot.
[1:02:46]
And I'm just kidding. Uh, you did a great job
[1:02:48]
of the survey in presentation. Thanks for doing that. Um,
[1:02:51]
and I also want to point out that after you
[1:02:53]
turn 18, you no longer have to wear a helmet.
[1:02:56]
Because as soon as you become an adult, your brain,
[1:02:58]
it just no longer matters. Don't worry about it. Thank
[1:03:01]
you. Thank you for your comments. All right. We're going
[1:03:07]
to go to City Council discussion. Um, I think Councilmer
[1:03:13]
Lavalazalis is ready to go. Um. I, I,
[1:03:23]
I believe that we do have to make. Make it
[1:03:28]
safer in our city. So personally, um, this past Christmas,
[1:03:35]
my son. Convinced my 14 year old son convinced me
[1:03:39]
to purchase him an e - bike. April 12th, he
[1:03:43]
was at urgent care. So he fessed up that he
[1:03:46]
was trying to pop Willies. So. Like I see the
[1:03:50]
kids popping Willies everywhere. And I was drawn to it.
[1:03:55]
So I went home and got on my bike. And
[1:03:58]
I can't pop Willies. I was like, how do they
[1:04:00]
do it and make it look so easy? So I
[1:04:02]
think a lot of why these kids are doing that
[1:04:06]
is because it's part of that acceptance. And they want
[1:04:11]
to be accepted in their friends are doing it. So,
[1:04:14]
um, we just have to work together to make it
[1:04:18]
safer, not necessarily only for the people that the kids
[1:04:22]
that are writing these, um, e - bikes. But for
[1:04:25]
the residents as well. Because I've seen kids go through
[1:04:30]
peer plaza and they don't necessarily care. And the people
[1:04:36]
that are out there walking with their kids or dogs,
[1:04:39]
um, and I'm really looking forward to us working together
[1:04:43]
as a group. To figure out exactly what we need
[1:04:47]
to do to make everyone safer on the bikes as
[1:04:52]
well as people and our residents in the city. So
[1:04:55]
that's all I have. Great. Thank you for this comments
[1:04:58]
and that personal observation. Council Member Nakawata say thank you
[1:05:04]
Mayor. Um, in no particular order, I've just been taking
[1:05:06]
notes after the last few weeks in regards to this,
[1:05:08]
uh, some of the direction that I would personally like
[1:05:10]
to see is again, yes, incorporating electrical mobility devices if
[1:05:15]
we're going to update the code. We should include all
[1:05:17]
of the electronic devices coming up. I know I have
[1:05:20]
quite a few lovely salesmen that come on those little
[1:05:22]
unicycle things up and down my road. Um, I really
[1:05:26]
do want to agree on posting online in regards to
[1:05:30]
social media and website and finding easier for our constituents
[1:05:32]
to say like they get a little pop up. Hey
[1:05:35]
this new e - bike ordinances happening. This is where
[1:05:38]
you can find the information on it. I think pictures
[1:05:40]
are really helpful. I was, I really like seeing that
[1:05:42]
a lot of these tool kits are including more, um,
[1:05:45]
pictures of things and just examples of stuff. If you
[1:05:48]
ask me to pick a lineup of a class three
[1:05:50]
e - bike in a lineup, I would not know
[1:05:53]
what necessary to look for. So anything like that is
[1:05:55]
helpful. I do agree that I don't think we can
[1:05:58]
enforce everything without some kind of large educational component as
[1:06:04]
well as updating Republic signage first. I think a lot
[1:06:06]
of people are frustrated to see a lot of new
[1:06:08]
meters appear in a certain park in another city without
[1:06:12]
there really being educational component that people are going to
[1:06:15]
have to pay for that stuff. So really want to
[1:06:16]
make sure that we have updated that all of that
[1:06:19]
before we start enforcing and everything. Um, for me personally,
[1:06:23]
because it's, it's in the district that, that area by
[1:06:25]
the estuary, I don't really consider it being smart for,
[1:06:30]
um, eBikes to be on. Specifically just because we, I
[1:06:33]
went and physically saw also, um, at the sports park,
[1:06:36]
the tire marks that are becoming more and more in
[1:06:38]
apparent there. There's a lot of areas there that I
[1:06:40]
think that we're going to have to then keep starting
[1:06:42]
to clean up more in public works is going to
[1:06:44]
have to get more involved in and cleaning up in
[1:06:46]
that area. I would also probably prefer no e -
[1:06:48]
bikes on, on sidewalks in those regards. Uh, some of
[1:06:52]
the reckless writing, uh, my street is definitely a road
[1:06:55]
that is currently getting a lot of e - bikes
[1:06:58]
on really more so, um, frustration with how fast they're
[1:07:04]
going, especially not only on my street, but in the
[1:07:06]
history as well, no helmets. And two to three passengers
[1:07:09]
on some of these bikes is just a little bit
[1:07:11]
scary. I agree that having it defined that it should
[1:07:14]
be, if it's not an additional seat, um, I know
[1:07:18]
that the age component, uh, comes up pretty often. And
[1:07:23]
I'm, I'm not, I'm going to be perfectly frank. I'm,
[1:07:25]
I'm not a mother. I don't have kids or anything
[1:07:27]
like that. I've talked with quite a few of our
[1:07:30]
neighbors that I've pinned now that have e - bikes
[1:07:32]
and writers as a family. I just don't really like
[1:07:36]
the concept of splitting up a family that rides together.
[1:07:40]
There are families, in my opinion, and kids now that
[1:07:43]
are respecting the roles in law. For me, I don't
[1:07:46]
see it a parent to make an age enforcement on
[1:07:48]
that. I do think some responsibility does need to come
[1:07:51]
not only down to youth. But as well as the
[1:07:53]
parents and guardians themselves in that, um, I'm all for
[1:07:57]
an incredible, great community workshop. I love that. Um, county
[1:08:01]
supervisor, Terra Lost Remorer did one, I believe with SIPS
[1:08:04]
Ranch in regards to an education, kind of teaching parents
[1:08:08]
what are. The trends happening in the emergency rooms and
[1:08:11]
everything like that. And I had reached out to, um,
[1:08:14]
sharp to see if they were interested in hosting something
[1:08:16]
similar here. And they were. So I love a good
[1:08:19]
community workshop and would really like to see that and
[1:08:22]
have our best we can educate more. It's hard to
[1:08:24]
change stuff that we've done forever. Um, National IITOL. I
[1:08:29]
realized that I've been breaking the no bikes in the
[1:08:31]
park rule since I was very little, uh, because I've
[1:08:33]
definitely ridden my bike through there all the time. Um,
[1:08:37]
so that's definitely a component that we need to try
[1:08:39]
and encourage our neighbors and whatnot that there is going
[1:08:42]
to be having a little bit of change in the
[1:08:44]
community and how we can best move forward with that.
[1:08:47]
Those are really the things that I think were the
[1:08:50]
most in terms of council direction that I thought was
[1:08:52]
really important to address and clarify. So thank you. Thank
[1:08:56]
you for your comments. Mayor Pro Tem Fisher. You know,
[1:09:01]
this is always such a discussion with so much Tom
[1:09:04]
Pack looking at, you know, what do we draft as
[1:09:08]
an ordinance? What do we change municipal code out? What
[1:09:10]
is what? Again, the, as I'm sitting here, I'm thinking,
[1:09:15]
so if a 12 year old has a e -
[1:09:17]
bike and can't write on the sidewalk, we're going to
[1:09:19]
push him into traffic. To me, that's crazy. Absolutely crazy.
[1:09:24]
You know, and I think that, you know, the couple
[1:09:26]
of things that I just want to get kind of
[1:09:28]
is housekeeping. I agree with, uh, Mrs. Fisher and Councilmember
[1:09:32]
Nakawa. I say perhaps a good comedian outreach with service
[1:09:35]
well. The data you collected in years. I understand where
[1:09:40]
it comes from, but again, most of the people were
[1:09:43]
older people who don't have e - bikes. And we
[1:09:47]
see families throughout our community writing e - bikes. Um,
[1:09:49]
and I agree that, you know, how do you split
[1:09:51]
up a family? You know, maybe it's a 12 and
[1:09:54]
end or with supervisions type of thing. But again, I
[1:09:58]
sit there and yesterday or the other day before I
[1:10:01]
was leaving City Hall. And I had a guy in
[1:10:03]
the bike lane on a mobility scooter. It's only form
[1:10:07]
of transportation. He's like, Hey, don't hit me. I'm going
[1:10:10]
slow, but I'm going as fast as I can. He
[1:10:12]
was probably going seven miles an hour. So how, how,
[1:10:17]
I understand we wanted to find stuff. But, you know,
[1:10:20]
how do we get to the point where it's even,
[1:10:23]
how do we enforce it? I just don't know. And
[1:10:25]
you know, when it comes down to assembly bill, twelve,
[1:10:27]
thirty, again, another bill that comes our way tells us
[1:10:30]
to do his death and has, I'm assuming the funding,
[1:10:32]
right? Is there no funding. Because there's never any funding
[1:10:35]
with assembly bills. You have to do all this outreach
[1:10:37]
education, put up signs, do this, that, um, but if
[1:10:42]
it's okay, I do have a question for Lieutenant Galli.
[1:10:47]
Because I just want to understand, because part of 22,
[1:10:51]
34 is reporting the data would be collected in any
[1:10:54]
infraction. So if you find some teen who's driving writing
[1:11:02]
an e - bike recklessly, what does that look like
[1:11:06]
if they were to be stopped, are they actually present
[1:11:08]
identification? Are their parents called? What's, maybe you could just
[1:11:12]
help me out. Jerk him. Excuse me, Mayor City Council.
[1:11:15]
Uh, it could be a variety of those things. I
[1:11:17]
mean, it just depends. Does the teen have valid license
[1:11:19]
on them or any kind of identification at all? So
[1:11:23]
sometimes it's just verbal. Whatever, whatever biographical information that we
[1:11:26]
need to fill out the citation or traffic accident is
[1:11:30]
sometimes just verbal. And we do our best to vet
[1:11:31]
that. Hopefully we can call responsible parent to the scene
[1:11:33]
to sort of vet that information. But sometimes that's kind
[1:11:36]
of the best we can do because obviously people under
[1:11:38]
the age of 16, I mean, let's just say a
[1:11:40]
school ID or something that they have may not be
[1:11:43]
equipped with that. So I don't know if that answers
[1:11:45]
your question. No, that kind of leads me to where
[1:11:47]
I thought it would. That even the enforcement component is
[1:11:53]
mediocre at best. And that has anything to do with
[1:11:55]
our law enforcement team. Uh, it's because it's just 13
[1:11:59]
year olds don't carry AD on them normally. You know,
[1:12:02]
and again, tracking this stuff for purposes. And I understand
[1:12:05]
the requirements for, for 2234 are just very vague, uh,
[1:12:11]
but again, does it solve the problem? You know, if
[1:12:13]
you look at, for me, the biggest problem is we
[1:12:16]
allow these e - bikes to be sold at a
[1:12:18]
great cost to whoever wants to buy them without any
[1:12:21]
form of registration or anything. If California was smart, they
[1:12:25]
would require these parents who were buying these bikes. For
[1:12:29]
their kids. To make sure that they're registered. They understand
[1:12:33]
that the parents need the training before the kid gets
[1:12:36]
the bike. Because I think that there's a big part
[1:12:39]
that we're missing here. Because on the city level, we're
[1:12:43]
not going to be able to fix this. On the
[1:12:46]
printal level, that's where the responsibility is. So if the
[1:12:49]
parent decides to spend, I don't know what it, what
[1:12:52]
does an e - by - cost? My first five
[1:12:57]
cars didn't cost more than 1200 dollars. But, you know,
[1:13:02]
my whole thing is, is like, we should really look
[1:13:04]
at what can the state do to require. People to
[1:13:08]
register and get that education before you buy an e
[1:13:11]
- bike for your 16 - year - old, your
[1:13:13]
12 - year - old, you should be the one
[1:13:15]
having to understand what the training looks like. You know,
[1:13:18]
if you buy a car for your kid, it's a
[1:13:20]
little bit different, but then you have insurance. You have
[1:13:22]
to make sure they're licensed. We're providing something for somebody
[1:13:25]
to do the unthinkable, you know, 100 years ago, nobody
[1:13:30]
went 20 miles an hour. And if you did, you
[1:13:32]
know, when first cars came out, people thought it was
[1:13:35]
crazy that they're, you know, do an 18 miles an
[1:13:38]
hour. That's faster than the horse carriage could ever take
[1:13:40]
them. They're going to kill everybody. And, you know, and
[1:13:43]
they think they were right in some respects. But we're
[1:13:45]
going to do millennium where it's a convenience. For kids
[1:13:50]
to have. And they don't have the responsibility that goes
[1:13:54]
along with it. You know, so that's kind of my
[1:13:57]
thoughts on there. I think there should be age limits
[1:14:01]
for kids, but again. What's the age limit? And how
[1:14:05]
do we push everybody off the side? There's times I
[1:14:07]
dried my bike around town. I'm right on a sidewalk.
[1:14:10]
Cause I sure can get into traffic. So again, I
[1:14:13]
know that we're not going to be out there. We're
[1:14:15]
not going to have, uh, one of our shares deputies
[1:14:17]
on every corner pulling people over. And, um, this helps
[1:14:20]
protect us when something goes wrong. Um, but again, it
[1:14:23]
doesn't hit the thing. Because if we wait for something
[1:14:27]
to go wrong, the near misses are just as important
[1:14:31]
in some respects. So, um, I'm in favor if I
[1:14:36]
ever eating age restrictions for classes one and two are
[1:14:39]
for the class one to two e bikes. Um, as
[1:14:42]
far as no raid areas, I agree, pure plaza, the
[1:14:45]
pier. People ride bikes up and down the pier all
[1:14:48]
the time, uh, plate ground areas. Uh, you know, the
[1:14:51]
parks, I'm totally with you. I've ridden my bike through
[1:14:53]
veterans park all the time. Um, but again, you know,
[1:14:58]
I think the signage is there. And again, most of
[1:15:01]
the time kids ride their e - bikes to the
[1:15:02]
park, they're not hurting anybody, but there's at least some
[1:15:05]
point if we need enforcement that's there. Um, skate park.
[1:15:08]
I agree upon. Um, but no, I think that, you
[1:15:13]
know, first and foremost, we need to have some larger
[1:15:17]
public outreach events. To gather more information. Because again, we're
[1:15:22]
looking at, do we, you know, we have to follow
[1:15:24]
California vehicle. There's some state laws. There's A. B. 22,
[1:15:28]
34 if you want to hop on to. We're going
[1:15:30]
to put an ordinance out and change our municipal code.
[1:15:32]
There's a lot to unpack. Will it delay in passing
[1:15:36]
an ordinance. Have any catastrophic effect? In my opinion, no,
[1:15:42]
because it's been, I think, six months since we ate
[1:15:44]
seven or eight months since we talked about this originally,
[1:15:47]
um, and so if we were to craft it together,
[1:15:50]
because I'm with you, I don't know if we always
[1:15:51]
have the right answers from the dais. Um, there are
[1:15:54]
some very smart community members out there who love to
[1:15:57]
share with us their idea. So, um, so, you know,
[1:16:00]
again, I think there are some things that we could
[1:16:03]
do right away at least get diving it down to
[1:16:05]
where, um, staff has given us all this information, but
[1:16:08]
I, I think that again, if i were to figure
[1:16:11]
out the biggest picture, I think the response fee is
[1:16:13]
with the parents and the purchaser of the e -
[1:16:16]
bike. And, you know, I don't know if we talked
[1:16:18]
parallel representatives and start pushing some type of assembly build
[1:16:21]
that requires the education to start from the initial purchase.
[1:16:25]
Um, I've never owned a firearm, never bought one, but
[1:16:28]
I don't know if there, did they require that when
[1:16:30]
you buy a firearm. That you have to have education.
[1:16:34]
So, you know, we, we, we look at this. And
[1:16:37]
again, we understand the, the gravity of owning a firearm
[1:16:41]
and the severity of the actions in the wrong hands
[1:16:44]
or even in the right hands with misintended consequences, uh,
[1:16:48]
have. So, you know, like I said, I would love
[1:16:51]
to find somebody at the state level that we could
[1:16:54]
push to get a build playoff. Because I think that's
[1:16:56]
our best bet. Our best bet is education of the
[1:16:59]
parents and the responsibility of holding them accountable and crafting
[1:17:03]
language from a legislative point that would hold them ultimately
[1:17:07]
countable because you can't just take something that's harmful. Give
[1:17:12]
it to your kid and say, well, they have the
[1:17:15]
mind of their own. You know, I've had enough kids
[1:17:18]
to know that most teenagers don't have much of a
[1:17:20]
mind of their own. They're very influence by the group
[1:17:24]
of people and what they see on the internet. So
[1:17:27]
I'll leave it at that. Great. Thank you for that
[1:17:31]
share. And, uh, I did have a question, another question
[1:17:34]
for the lieutenant. Um, you know, I think a lot
[1:17:37]
of the concerns and sort of the driving energy behind
[1:17:41]
the age limit has to do with, uh, with fatalities
[1:17:45]
and accidents, um, can you give us any kind of
[1:17:47]
maybe even just anecdotal conversation about what you've seen in
[1:17:52]
the city of Imperial Beach relative to that? Have we
[1:17:54]
seen fatalities? Have we seen, um, you know, especially younger
[1:18:00]
kids younger than 12, um, involved in accidents that are
[1:18:03]
serious that, um, that you guys come across or have
[1:18:07]
to call out for, uh, emergency aid? Yeah. I can't
[1:18:11]
really speak back to, you know, prior to my assignment
[1:18:14]
here, uh, so we're looking at probably about 15, 16
[1:18:16]
months since I've been here. I don't recall, I don't
[1:18:20]
recall any specific, at least eBike fatality. Certainly we've had
[1:18:22]
our share of, you know, accidents that some have been
[1:18:25]
serious, some have been minor. Um, but in comparison to
[1:18:29]
some of the other jurisdictions that I've heard about, I've
[1:18:31]
not seen the volume in some of those jurisdictions. It's
[1:18:35]
not to say it doesn't happen here, but it does.
[1:18:37]
But I'd have to really dive deeper into some of
[1:18:39]
the, those statistics to really get you a solid answer.
[1:18:42]
Okay. I was just curious off the top. I know,
[1:18:45]
uh, I've read quite a few reports on, you know,
[1:18:48]
the spike and emergency room visits and the age is
[1:18:53]
affected are sometimes even under 10, um, which is kind
[1:18:57]
of shocking that some adult would give a 10 year
[1:19:00]
old e - bike or at least allow them to
[1:19:01]
use it without, without proper training. Um, I think what
[1:19:06]
I'm hearing across the dias here is, um, you know,
[1:19:09]
the information, um, even though we've had opportunities to read
[1:19:12]
it and go through it. I think A. B. 2234,
[1:19:16]
um, tried to do a good job. I don't know
[1:19:17]
that it's a the best fit for our community. Um,
[1:19:21]
I've heard several council members in public speakers talk about
[1:19:25]
having a workshop. Um, I think that, that would probably
[1:19:28]
be a good idea. Um, and to, uh, thank again,
[1:19:33]
Council Member Nakawa, the safe for her survey. I think,
[1:19:37]
um, it was a little lopsided from an age point
[1:19:39]
of view. And it, it maybe didn't get as many
[1:19:43]
users, actual users of e - bikes. And I think
[1:19:45]
that's an important segment of the population that we need
[1:19:49]
to, you know, pull into this conversation. Um, so I,
[1:19:53]
you know, while I think the good stuff in here,
[1:19:56]
certainly we need to update our, our municipal codes for,
[1:20:00]
you know, reasons that, you know, things of aged out
[1:20:03]
and new technologies have come in. Those things certainly need
[1:20:06]
to happen. And that could start right away. But I
[1:20:09]
think, um, you know, my feeling is, um, you know,
[1:20:13]
we need to have more conversation to understand, um, some,
[1:20:18]
some of the issues specifically education is a big issue.
[1:20:22]
Um, you know, I mean, if we can engage the
[1:20:25]
community and maybe even the school district somehow into providing
[1:20:29]
some kind of educational element, um, to help support whatever
[1:20:35]
ordinance as we do end up coming, uh, forward with,
[1:20:39]
I think we've been in a much better position as
[1:20:40]
opposed to kind of coming down with the big hammer
[1:20:42]
and just saying you shall not, you shall not, you
[1:20:45]
shall not. Because, you know, in the end, it's not
[1:20:50]
the parents, the people who typically read this stuff. It's
[1:20:53]
going to be the teenagers, right? Their kids, um, you
[1:20:56]
know, let's, let's be real. We don't always have control
[1:20:58]
of our, uh, of our youngsters or our teenagers even.
[1:21:02]
And so, um, that would be kind of my direction
[1:21:05]
to staff at this point. There's a ton of information,
[1:21:08]
a lot of good information in here. Um, again, the
[1:21:11]
survey, I think is a good start. I think it
[1:21:13]
gives us a good kind of a peek into, um,
[1:21:17]
the people who are sort of maybe the most motivated
[1:21:20]
to provide a response. Like, you know, older people who
[1:21:23]
are seeing this activity and are, you know, either upset
[1:21:27]
or, or disturbed by it. And I think, um, that
[1:21:32]
may have initiated a lot of those responses. But again,
[1:21:35]
um, back to Council Member Nakawa, they say you had
[1:21:38]
a comment. Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, one of the
[1:21:41]
things I just want to note, uh, cause it's, it
[1:21:43]
was brought up in, in terms of written comment, but
[1:21:46]
also some of the conversations that I had with constituents.
[1:21:49]
Um, and this isn't to make an excuse for us
[1:21:51]
not necessarily having the data, but also explaining the concept
[1:21:54]
of, uh, not reported data. And so I always like
[1:21:57]
to joke that I always hear all of my constituent
[1:22:00]
casework from like Facebook. It's not from my official email
[1:22:03]
or anything. It's, uh, you know, Hey Modico, uh, there's
[1:22:07]
a Paul hole here. Can you have someone go fix
[1:22:09]
it? Yeah. Sure. Thanks for the picture. Appreciate it. There's
[1:22:12]
so much data that is unreported. And so when I
[1:22:14]
see the kids speeding down my, you know, my street,
[1:22:20]
my first concept isn't, I'm going to report it to
[1:22:22]
the non - emergency line. And so I just want
[1:22:24]
us to also see that's a portion of like, I
[1:22:27]
think people are asking for local data. There's plenty of
[1:22:30]
stuff that is not getting reported, right? Um, also the
[1:22:33]
concept of if you look at who's even just emergency
[1:22:36]
room spikes, um, unfortunately, uh, when my sister - in
[1:22:40]
- law got hurt here in town, they didn't send
[1:22:42]
her to somewhere local. They actually took her all the
[1:22:44]
way up to like Scripps. And it was so incredibly
[1:22:47]
far. And I thought it was weird because there was
[1:22:49]
multiple hospitals before then. But that's where she went for
[1:22:51]
her emergency room. And so really just trying to also
[1:22:54]
remind ourselves in the concept of unreported data and some
[1:22:57]
of the stuff that we're not having. Again, I don't
[1:22:59]
want to make an excuse for necessary having that. I
[1:23:01]
think it's just important to discuss as someone that looks
[1:23:03]
on the data. And again, when I first saw this,
[1:23:06]
I was like, Oh, great. Like nobody that I was
[1:23:09]
thinking that the people that I was hoping, which try
[1:23:12]
and participate in this little bit more is again, with
[1:23:14]
those parents, with some of their families that rides kids
[1:23:16]
and everything, we see them all the time during, you
[1:23:19]
know, a lot of these, not parades, but like these
[1:23:22]
bike, uh, parades and everything. And so that was kind
[1:23:25]
of the, the group that I was really hoping would
[1:23:27]
come up front and speak to this. I'm hoping to
[1:23:30]
try and get more people to participate in some way
[1:23:32]
and some capacity in that. Because they have more stick
[1:23:35]
in the game. They're currently with parents. They have four,
[1:23:38]
maybe five, um, eBoy sits in their families, but just
[1:23:41]
wanted to note kind of the unreported data, uh, I
[1:23:44]
think people are interested in seeing, but it could also
[1:23:47]
be in the concept just overall bad data, right? With
[1:23:50]
any form of lack of reporting or just the connections
[1:23:52]
of seeing where people go and potential HIPAA violations, that's
[1:23:56]
just something that we might not be seeing either. Thank
[1:23:58]
you. Gotcha. Great. Um, I did have one of the
[1:24:00]
questions for Lieutenant Galley. Is there currently an eBay sales
[1:24:07]
or a vendor here in City of Imperial Beach anymore?
[1:24:09]
I know there was rad bikes or e - rad
[1:24:12]
bikes. I think they're movie. Okay. Okay. I was just
[1:24:17]
trying to think of maybe there was another source of
[1:24:18]
data that we could mine. Um, you know, whether it
[1:24:22]
be sale. I mean, obviously they can't give away personal
[1:24:24]
information, but, um, another place where we can go to
[1:24:28]
try to draw out that crowd that we're not seemingly.
[1:24:32]
I'd be back shut down. Okay. All right. Thank you,
[1:24:36]
sir. All right. I think it would be good to
[1:24:38]
somehow reach out to the high school district. Sweet water
[1:24:43]
and see if they would be able to help us
[1:24:44]
participate. Maybe pass long surveys. Obviously, you know, they, the
[1:24:48]
majority of people were talking about crafting something for probably
[1:24:52]
attend their schools and to see their insight. Cause I
[1:24:55]
think having the ballots of seeing what they're seeing. Um,
[1:24:58]
is important. Um, and hopefully their high school brain hasn't
[1:25:03]
just mushed out for them completely. If you offer free
[1:25:07]
food, they will come. Free pizza. Just saying. Free pizza
[1:25:11]
and monster drinks. All right. Um, I guess City Manager
[1:25:19]
Tyler Foltz. Do you feel like you have enough direction
[1:25:23]
or are we still looking for, um, more specificity? I
[1:25:28]
think we're good. Obviously. We needed to get more input
[1:25:31]
from the community. From, you mentioned the high school district.
[1:25:34]
We had met with the elementary school district too. But
[1:25:36]
we'll meet with them as well and consider ideas about
[1:25:39]
how to get more input from the community before we
[1:25:41]
come back to the council with additional recommendations. Okay. Sorry.
[1:25:46]
I think just in terms of those additional recommendations, because
[1:25:48]
I know people don't like nebulous, um, concepts or whatnot
[1:25:55]
is just maybe setting expectations of, of the timeline for
[1:25:58]
this. I think we'll also just be beneficial saying like,
[1:26:01]
Hey, this is one we're going to try. I know
[1:26:03]
we got to be flexible. You guys are incredibly busy.
[1:26:06]
Obviously running a city. So just, but I think any
[1:26:09]
terms of where we can be, um, explaining the concept
[1:26:13]
of a timeline and whatnot. I think we'll also be
[1:26:15]
beneficial for people. Cause then they can hopefully plan, uh,
[1:26:18]
to participate hopefully in some way or attend in anything.
[1:26:21]
I think we'll also be beneficial in terms of the
[1:26:23]
whenever we come back to council. Yeah. And I was
[1:26:27]
also going to mention, uh, when the lieutenant and I
[1:26:29]
have, our quarterly meeting in the community, we could certainly
[1:26:33]
bring that up as another topic. And, you know, request
[1:26:37]
feedback as opposed to waiting for someone to mention it
[1:26:40]
to us. Um, try to draw out some information and
[1:26:43]
some, uh, some community sort of, uh, feelings. All right.
[1:26:50]
All right. Anything else do we need to do on
[1:26:52]
this item? No? Okay. We are going to take a
[1:26:59]
10 minute recess. We're awaiting a special guest speaker coming
[1:27:04]
in from Chula Vista. So if you'll excuse this for
[1:27:06]
about 10 minutes, uh, we'll reconvene and move on with
[1:27:10]
our last couple of items. Thank you.
[1:38:06]
I don't have to gamble back. You can just call
[1:38:08]
back the. All right. We're going to come back to
[1:38:10]
order right now. Please take your seats. And if we
[1:38:14]
can close the back doors and we'll move on with
[1:38:17]
our last two items on our agenda this evening. Item
[1:38:23]
15B, or consideration of a memorandum of understanding with the
[1:38:29]
city of ChulaVista for Feathery Federal Legislative Advocacy Services related
[1:38:35]
to the Tijuana River Valley cross - border pollution crisis,
[1:38:41]
CAO - Cortez Martinez will present this item. Thank you.
[1:38:49]
Good evening, Mayor Council, Jale Cortes Martinez. This item is
[1:38:55]
an MOU with the City of Cholovista for federal legislative
[1:39:00]
advocacy service related to the Tijuana River Valley Cross Border
[1:39:04]
Pollution. So just a little bit of background. I know
[1:39:09]
everybody knows and is aware of that. We have a
[1:39:12]
sewage crisis. Imperial Beach specifically is the primary affected area
[1:39:20]
with these contaminated cross - border flows reaching the two
[1:39:24]
- one from the Tijuana River into our Pacific Ocean,
[1:39:26]
which is also costing our beach closures for nearly more
[1:39:30]
than five years. It's impacting public health, you know, obviously
[1:39:35]
water quality and economic situations. Our businesses and quality of
[1:39:43]
life are residents. And that visit Imperial Beach as well.
[1:39:49]
We all acknowledge that these are long - term solutions
[1:39:52]
that are required. Some of them have been set in
[1:39:55]
place. Specifically responsibility with the federal government funding infrastructure and
[1:40:03]
investments, policy and legislation. And then obviously some coronation with
[1:40:09]
Mexico as well. Imperial Beach does not have a state
[1:40:15]
or federal lobbyist. And so we feel that it's important
[1:40:19]
for federal presence that is specifically focused on the Tijuana
[1:40:24]
River crisis at the federal level. Before I get into
[1:40:29]
the partnership with related to this MOU, I wanted to
[1:40:33]
give you a little bit of background. It is not
[1:40:36]
uncommon for the City of Cholobus and Imperial Beach to
[1:40:39]
partner for many years. We've partnered on various matters, beginning
[1:40:45]
with the animal control contract. They've accepted our partnership for
[1:40:50]
multiple contracts on several occasions. And we thank them for
[1:40:55]
that. Just a few years ago, chill of awesome Imperial
[1:41:00]
Beach for staffing for their EMT, for REMTs, for their
[1:41:07]
facility when they just had open their ambulance services. And
[1:41:11]
now Imperial Beach is also in discussions with their staff
[1:41:17]
to have mutual agreement also on staffing levels for the
[1:41:21]
fire department at all levels, just given the facts that,
[1:41:26]
you know, recruitments at all CityWILL levels are difficult. So
[1:41:30]
I just wanted to give you a little bit of
[1:41:32]
background that it's not uncommon for agencies to partner. As
[1:41:36]
we have also partner in the past with Chulavista, the
[1:41:39]
port, Coronado, and similar advocacy when it comes to the
[1:41:44]
Tijuana River Valley many years ago. This particular item, though,
[1:41:50]
it's not recent. This has been in discussion with them
[1:41:55]
for the last two years or more. It began with
[1:42:00]
Mammacan, who is present here tonight and former Mayor Aguirre
[1:42:07]
currently supervisor, a yearA for the county. And the discussion
[1:42:11]
continued, obviously, with our current mayor, Mayor McKay. There is
[1:42:17]
a timeline that Chilibusa wanted to follow because they had
[1:42:25]
a state legislation or lobbyist, but their timeline of their
[1:42:30]
contract is about to expire Gene 30th. There were also
[1:42:34]
interested in having a federal lobbyist, which they currently don't
[1:42:36]
have. So the timeline had to kind of lined up.
[1:42:41]
And so that is why there was a little delay,
[1:42:46]
but the discussions and the partnership as far as the
[1:42:50]
priorities on the RFP and the scope of work maintained
[1:42:54]
within the last two years. So I do want to
[1:43:00]
thank staff or Chila Vista specifically for always working with
[1:43:04]
Imperial Beach and having check - in regular check -
[1:43:07]
ins with staff, because, um, we wanted to keep that
[1:43:11]
momentum and for them to understand that this is still
[1:43:15]
a priority for Imperial Beach. And I know both mayor,
[1:43:18]
me and McCann and Mayor McKay also continue that dialogue.
[1:43:22]
Um, so with that said. Tchilavista did proceed to provide
[1:43:28]
a comprehensive procurement for the federal lobbyist, including their state.
[1:43:34]
That is not part of this equation. This is just
[1:43:36]
for the federal lobbyists. They receive a total of five
[1:43:41]
proposals. Uh, we, staff of Imperial Beach along with other
[1:43:46]
staff from Chula Vista appointed both by both city managers.
[1:43:52]
We're part of the process. They review the proposals, the
[1:43:55]
review of the RFP. We sat in the evaluation and
[1:43:58]
the interview process. We then, um, were appointed by them
[1:44:02]
to come forward with the recommendation and both parties agreed
[1:44:06]
to, uh, select thorn run partners TRP to be the
[1:44:12]
federal advocacy firm for Imperial Beach and Cholevista. Again, TILA
[1:44:18]
Vista's having their own comprehensive legislative platform. And as part
[1:44:25]
of the RFP, they added a component related to the
[1:44:29]
Tijuana River. It was a separate response separate cost. So
[1:44:33]
they are going to hopefully consider their argument with TRP
[1:44:39]
at a future meeting. Um, I believe this month, if
[1:44:43]
I'm not mistaken, but this particular MOU is the partnership
[1:44:47]
between TILA Vista and Imperial Beach to enter into that
[1:44:52]
additional scope and reimbursement to the City of Cholevista for
[1:44:57]
these services. So this MOU does allow for Imperial Beach
[1:45:04]
to leverage this opportunity. With the agreement that they're going
[1:45:08]
to host with TRP. Uh, that gives us the opportunity
[1:45:14]
to provide federal priorities related to the Tijuana River Pollution
[1:45:18]
crisis. And obviously Chile Vista will be the lead agency
[1:45:22]
in partnership and Imperial Beach and ongoing communication and meetings
[1:45:27]
and discussions. So instead of each agency having their own,
[1:45:32]
um, representative DC, we felt like it would be more
[1:45:38]
advantageous to have a coordinated regional voice together in DC.
[1:45:43]
Since we are neighboring cities. The scope of service, I'm
[1:45:49]
not going to read all of these bullets, but there's
[1:45:51]
the federal advocacy services. What there are going to help
[1:45:57]
both parties. And then obviously the, uh, priorities that have
[1:46:03]
been indicated in the RFP. So one of the things
[1:46:07]
that I don't want to highlight is that they are
[1:46:10]
required to provide updates to both city councils. So Imperial
[1:46:14]
Beach and also Chill of Esta as well. The cost
[1:46:18]
for the first year, uh, which will begin, hopefully approximately
[1:46:22]
in September, um, so we're talking about 10 months. It's
[1:46:26]
a thousand dollars a month for Imperial Beach. That's approximately
[1:46:29]
10, 000 through the end of June 30th. That's for
[1:46:31]
the first year. Um, this is funding that already exists
[1:46:37]
through our operating budget, specifically in the city manager's budget
[1:46:41]
and the contingency account. Again, those contigenic accounts are set
[1:46:45]
aside for these type of emergencies or priorities. And it
[1:46:49]
is at the discretion and authority under the city manager's
[1:46:53]
level as well. Future extensions will require both parties to
[1:46:57]
agree on them as well. Um, there is a typo
[1:47:02]
on the actually staff report on year three. The agreement
[1:47:05]
actually extends to 231, 2031. So I just wanted to
[1:47:09]
make that correction. The dates that you see on the
[1:47:12]
screen are correct. There is a minor increase year after
[1:47:17]
year. So you'll see that it goes up from 100
[1:47:20]
to 1050. Stays 1050, then 1125. And then, um, 1200.
[1:47:28]
So, um, with that said, there's a contract that is
[1:47:32]
being proposed for five years. Um, again, overall the entire
[1:47:37]
agreement. It's on or about approximately 65, 000 dollars Now,
[1:47:42]
this does not include tribal expenses, but you know, we're
[1:47:46]
in modern years. Everything can be done electronically. So, uh,
[1:47:50]
I think mainly it would be our cost traveling to
[1:47:54]
DC with them coordinating all the meetings and representing. I
[1:48:00]
view that as us traveling more over there than them
[1:48:04]
over here. But again, they are open for that as
[1:48:06]
well. Now the termination, like 30 days, 60 day, 90
[1:48:13]
day. What happens as I explained earlier. TRP in chillavistar
[1:48:18]
entering to an agreement for such service as part of
[1:48:21]
the component, that MOU, it's agreed that TRP will provide
[1:48:26]
the service to imperial beach through chillovista. So at any
[1:48:31]
point, if there wanted to be a termination of service
[1:48:35]
that is an arrangement that Chula Vista will have with
[1:48:38]
TRP and obviously will require an amendment of the MOU.
[1:48:43]
But it's allowable. There's just like no specific timeline. So
[1:48:50]
tonight City staff is recommending adopting resolution 2026, 83, which
[1:48:57]
approves memorandum of understanding what Chelo Vista and Imperial Beach
[1:49:03]
establishing partnership for federal legislative advocacy related to the Tuhana
[1:49:08]
River pollution. And I just wanted to say that obviously
[1:49:12]
Mayor McConnell is here. And then, uh, members of his
[1:49:15]
staff as well in the event that there's any questions.
[1:49:18]
With that, it includes my presentation and available for questions.
[1:49:21]
Great. Thank you, CAO Martinez, Gortez Martinez. I appreciate the
[1:49:27]
detail that you provided there. I did want to announce
[1:49:29]
that we did receive, uh, correspondence written correspondence from Sandy
[1:49:34]
Bilhart on this item. And that was made available to
[1:49:37]
the Council members and the public in the back should
[1:49:40]
you wish to read it. Um, I do have two
[1:49:44]
public speaker cards. If I can give some professional courtesy,
[1:49:49]
I would like to, uh, ask Mr. Mayor John McCann
[1:49:53]
if he would be willing to speak first. And, uh,
[1:49:56]
we'll give you your three minutes and maybe some extra.
[1:50:00]
So welcome. We thank you for coming out this evening,
[1:50:03]
Mayor McCann. Thank you very much. I'm a mayor John
[1:50:07]
McCann from the City of Chula Vista. I very much
[1:50:10]
appreciate the opportunity to be here. And we have a
[1:50:14]
tradition of working together as a region. Uh, as the
[1:50:21]
administrator told, talked about, um, we actually went back to
[1:50:25]
Washington, DC on the TWNA sewer issue, uh, back then
[1:50:29]
when, uh, was, uh, Mayor McGurry. And I remember the
[1:50:34]
city manager was there. And I thought we were very
[1:50:36]
effective working together. Um, and I want to thank you
[1:50:39]
for your consideration on this memorandum understanding, um, to partner
[1:50:45]
on federal legislative C, uh, services that it relates to
[1:50:53]
the ongoing sewer crisis, uh, for decades. The residents of
[1:50:57]
South County, especially the residents of Imperial Beach have had
[1:51:01]
to live with beach closers, environmental damage and public health
[1:51:05]
impacts related to TIWN Assor crisis. Um, I'm going to
[1:51:09]
tell you that I grew up in Chilevista lifelong residence.
[1:51:14]
And I go back so long ago, uh, that my
[1:51:18]
best friend's father was actually an imperial beach police officer,
[1:51:23]
uh, before you guys went to the county. And every
[1:51:27]
once in a while we try to code to Imperial
[1:51:28]
Beach and even back then sometimes the beach would be
[1:51:31]
closed because of the sewer issues. Chula Vista recognizes that
[1:51:36]
this is a regional problem and demands a regional voice.
[1:51:41]
And that's where we can work together and make sure
[1:51:43]
that we're fighting together because we all care about what
[1:51:48]
is going on. The sewage crisis does not stop at
[1:51:52]
the City boundaries. This agreement builds a successful collaboration between
[1:51:58]
the cities. In 2018, Chula Vista joined Imperial Beach and
[1:52:03]
the port of San Diego in a federal lawsuit against
[1:52:06]
the International Boundary and Water Commission that resulted in a
[1:52:11]
comprehensive settlement. So we have been a good partner. Additionally,
[1:52:15]
the City of Chulavista has long tradition of leadership and
[1:52:18]
sustainability, environmental action. So this partnership before us by sharing
[1:52:25]
federal legislative agacy services are leveraging resources. And we can
[1:52:33]
better coordinate priorities engage federal decision makers and the pursuit.
[1:52:38]
The resources needed to accelerate the long - term solutions.
[1:52:43]
We're advocating for accountability and urgency our residents deserve clean
[1:52:47]
air, clean water, and safe beaches. Um, so I'm really
[1:52:52]
appreciate everybody's consideration on this, um, together we're stronger. And
[1:52:58]
we all agree that we all want safe water, safe
[1:53:01]
air. And I'm also available for any questions, um, as
[1:53:05]
well as I have staff here to answer any questions
[1:53:07]
if you do. Great. Thank you, Mayor McCann. We do
[1:53:10]
have one other speaker. And so, um, if we, if
[1:53:12]
we do have some questions during, uh, the council, uh,
[1:53:16]
consultation will certainly, uh, make you available to us. Um,
[1:53:21]
next speaker I have is, uh, uh, Lynn Fisher. So
[1:53:25]
Lynn, if you can come forward. Welcome. Thank you, Mayor.
[1:53:32]
Um, as I said earlier, I am a retired government
[1:53:35]
analyst. So I can tell you from experience item 15A
[1:53:39]
is bad for IB. It's a duplication of effort and
[1:53:44]
thus wasteful. These are things I'm trained to notice. First,
[1:53:50]
the Citizens by B hired you our own counsel to
[1:53:52]
provide advocate services. Just like other councils before, we send
[1:53:57]
you our counsel to Sacramento or DC when needed. The
[1:54:03]
citizens of IB do not need to help pay the
[1:54:06]
salary of someone already hired by Julevista that is doing
[1:54:10]
legislative work from TULIVISTA. This is a very poor use
[1:54:14]
of IB's financial resources. When we have other critical budget
[1:54:20]
issues facing our residents. I don't care where you say
[1:54:23]
the funds currently sit. If you say the room in
[1:54:26]
the City manager's budget, these funds belong in I. B.
[1:54:30]
not paying a two ofistic contract salary. Not to mention
[1:54:34]
IBNTivista are not the only affected cities in the South
[1:54:38]
Bay. In addition and very importantly, the county already pays
[1:54:44]
a very well - known legislative firm that is currently
[1:54:48]
working these sewage issue in Washington on behalf of the
[1:54:52]
entire Southpay. So why would we do this. And San
[1:54:57]
Diego. So this proposed expense is a duplicative and wasteful
[1:55:03]
MOU. Please do not vote this in. It is not
[1:55:07]
in the best interest of I. residence. Thank you. Thank
[1:55:12]
you for your comments. All right. Let's move on to
[1:55:17]
staff discussion. I'll first wrecking. We have a. Oh, I'm
[1:55:22]
sorry. We have an online speaker. I'm sorry. Please, please
[1:55:25]
proceed. Um, we do have truth available to speak. Um,
[1:55:29]
please begin. You have three minutes truth. Well, thank you
[1:55:34]
so much for that. Um, for the record, I timed
[1:55:38]
it and John spokes for less than three minutes. I
[1:55:41]
was not trained to notice that. I'm just experienced on
[1:55:44]
these things. I find this an interesting proposition on advocacy,
[1:55:49]
which is indeed a difficult word. Thorn run is definitely
[1:55:52]
a giant lobbying firm with over 200 clients. So, and
[1:55:56]
it also looks like they have federal connections, which is
[1:55:58]
really, really important. Uh, I'm actually really happy to see
[1:56:01]
this MOU because it's been bothered me for a very
[1:56:04]
long time that I. B. doesn't have a law being
[1:56:06]
firm like Cornado does. Uh, if you were going to
[1:56:09]
talk about duplication, well then you could have made the
[1:56:11]
coronado argument. That would have made a lot more sense.
[1:56:14]
I have shared my thought on this lassi duplication necessary
[1:56:19]
duplication, uh, with so many people, even recently telling someone
[1:56:23]
that if it wasn't for coronado making their legal investment,
[1:56:26]
there's so much that wouldness happen for I. B. regarding
[1:56:29]
sewage solutions. POM 100 percent of this opportunity that the
[1:56:34]
city of CLISTA is very graciously offering. It is a
[1:56:38]
wonderful contribution from Chula Vista to helping to finally stop
[1:56:42]
the sewage coming 100 percent for Mexico as Mr. Joan
[1:56:47]
Duncan has said that has been negatively impacting the entire
[1:56:51]
South Day, especially at this time when SanDeg is planning
[1:56:55]
another border crossing that will increase development thereby increasing the
[1:56:59]
traffic in sewage pollution coming from the main bid and
[1:57:03]
fitter Mexico, which is also the main offender. This is
[1:57:08]
a critical time. There is no more time where unity
[1:57:12]
is needed than right now. So I am grateful to
[1:57:15]
those that made this opportunity happen for the benefit of
[1:57:18]
the entire South Bay, not making this investment outside of
[1:57:21]
IB. I mean, there may not be an IV in
[1:57:24]
the future. And that is not anything to risk. This
[1:57:28]
is a time you need to take advantage of this
[1:57:31]
type of opportunity and other types of opportunities that come
[1:57:33]
up. Because a thousand bucks, that is nothing out of
[1:57:36]
the budget. Let's be real. That is a wise investment
[1:57:39]
for future. Thank you. And thank you for your comments.
[1:57:44]
We're going to move on to City Council discussion and
[1:57:47]
I'll recognize Councilmember NakaUada State first. Thank you, Mayor. I
[1:57:52]
just wanted to highlight some, uh, just my personal experience
[1:57:54]
in terms of lobbying for the city earlier this year
[1:57:56]
in Washington, D. C. and just really think, um, if
[1:58:00]
we didn't have the relationships that we had with the
[1:58:02]
port, uh, any of those meetings, all that great data,
[1:58:05]
those relationships we started building out, the report out that
[1:58:07]
you guys all heard were not going to happen because
[1:58:10]
we didn't have those lobbying relationships. And so for me,
[1:58:13]
when I, when I first heard this, I was like,
[1:58:15]
Oh no, like another lobbyist, another person outside of the
[1:58:18]
city. And I started advocating for it. Um, I was
[1:58:21]
really a fortunate to hear that part of the scope
[1:58:23]
of work again is that report out to the city
[1:58:24]
to see if it's actually really beneficial for us. And
[1:58:27]
my favorite saying of trust, but verify, I think is
[1:58:30]
really important. I would really hope that the port, um,
[1:58:34]
in regards to this also helps us in stepping up
[1:58:37]
and building up our lobbying activities. I think it's really
[1:58:39]
fruitful. Um, again, every time a meeting got canceled, like
[1:58:43]
there was a meeting at the concept that was established.
[1:58:45]
And they're like, Hey, that's not happening. I remember looking
[1:58:48]
with director helmer and I'm saying, okay, so who can
[1:58:50]
we meet with next? Because we didn't fly all the
[1:58:52]
way out to DC to not have meetings and not
[1:58:54]
have conversations. And those established relationships are really good. And
[1:58:58]
obviously for full in regards to getting us, I know
[1:59:00]
that we all hear on this DIS have, um, have
[1:59:04]
other jobs, other stuff we're got. We have going on.
[1:59:06]
It's hard to consistently advocate and being that squeakywhel. And
[1:59:10]
it would be beneficial in any capacity for us to
[1:59:13]
keep having the continuation of these conversations. If we're constantly
[1:59:17]
in front of them, if we're advocating for them, again,
[1:59:20]
a lot of my conversations, I think in DC, uh,
[1:59:24]
you know, everyone kind of gets lost in the numbers,
[1:59:26]
but was again, what was really important was like the
[1:59:28]
emotional stories, right? The stories about, um, our military, our
[1:59:31]
families, um, you know, military personnel not being able to
[1:59:35]
train here anymore, border patrol boots melting children who live
[1:59:39]
here, who have never gotten to experience this beach at
[1:59:41]
all. Those were the stories, in my opinion, that moved
[1:59:43]
people in those rooms. That was really my personal experience
[1:59:46]
in terms of lobbying in DC. And so I'm, I'm
[1:59:48]
really, you know, for this kind of concept. I know
[1:59:53]
in regards to the county federal lobbyist, I would love
[1:59:57]
to be invited to any county discussions, press releases or
[2:00:01]
anything. As I've asked, like, Hey, I would love to
[2:00:03]
be in support of this or whenever we have any
[2:00:05]
press conferences or anything. Would love to be invited as
[2:00:08]
well and be part of that conversation. Um, since appointment,
[2:00:11]
I haven't. So that would be something I would be
[2:00:13]
interested in as well. Thank you, Mayor. Great. Thank you
[2:00:16]
for those comments and observations. Mayor ProTEM. Thanks, Mayor. No,
[2:00:23]
I think this really is a good thing for us.
[2:00:26]
You know, I've been to DC and it really is
[2:00:28]
all about the relationships that are had. It has nothing.
[2:00:32]
If everything in Washington was only based on need, this
[2:00:35]
problem would have fixed decades ago. Absolutely without a shout
[2:00:39]
out. There's no other thing in this country. This is
[2:00:42]
devastating as this. You know, I understand that we see
[2:00:46]
the travesties that happen when we have natural disasters. You
[2:00:51]
know, I saw some video from Hawaii and it's unbelievable
[2:00:54]
what has happened to that state. Um, and they throw
[2:00:56]
every resource they possibly can so that people can sustain
[2:00:59]
their lives and rebuild. You know, we've been fortunate they
[2:01:03]
just eroded away our quality of life over the last
[2:01:06]
three decades or and more. You know, it was slowly
[2:01:10]
killing us. You know, and people don't realize that. So
[2:01:13]
I think that having somebody who's there full - time
[2:01:15]
really does make a difference. I know that, um, Sandag
[2:01:19]
uses somebody in DC who's very good at what he
[2:01:23]
does. And it helps a lot to get grand funding
[2:01:25]
and stay relevant. So I appreciate the partnership with the
[2:01:28]
City Chulatis and for Mayor McCann taking the time to
[2:01:31]
come out this evening. Um, you know, again, this is
[2:01:34]
a conversation that started years ago. Uh, the next item,
[2:01:39]
even farther past that. And so, you know, we do
[2:01:42]
rely on things. I wish we had our own money.
[2:01:45]
But again, the voices that we joined up with are
[2:01:48]
just as big in our favor. Uh, cause it's a
[2:01:50]
genuine partnership and the care and concern is there. If
[2:01:54]
the chill of us are trying to fleece the city
[2:01:56]
of being prayer reach for a thousand dollars a month
[2:01:59]
just for their fund money, I would beg to differ
[2:02:02]
that's definitely not the case. This is something that's a
[2:02:05]
genuine partnership. And I'll be supporting this item. Great. Thank
[2:02:10]
you. Um, I just wanted to comment that, that I
[2:02:13]
think, uh, duplicity is one thing, but when you're leveraging
[2:02:18]
from, from multiple angles, you got multiple prong approach, um,
[2:02:22]
it's great that the county's doing something. We also work
[2:02:25]
with, we've worked with the port. We work with Coronado.
[2:02:28]
We've worked with Jule Vista before. So I don't think
[2:02:30]
this is an unusual request or arrangement. I think in
[2:02:34]
fact, it's probably the smartest arrangement because now we've got,
[2:02:38]
uh, folks coming at multiple angles, um, their hearing stories
[2:02:42]
from, uh, from partnerships, uh, of, of cities that maybe
[2:02:47]
aren't as, uh, as impacted as others. Um, but I
[2:02:51]
think it just shows that there's a, an aggregate, you
[2:02:55]
know, dissatisfaction and need for, for resolution of the problem.
[2:03:00]
Um, and I welcome the partnership with, uh, Chulavista again.
[2:03:04]
It's, it's historical. I mean, you can go back to
[2:03:07]
Mary Salas. And I mean, we're talking generations, um, with
[2:03:11]
the City of Imperial Beach. So this isn't something Mayor
[2:03:14]
McKay dreamed up in, you know, over the weekend. So,
[2:03:17]
um, I really think we're, we're moving in the right
[2:03:20]
direction. Uh, we need to continue to pursue, um, you
[2:03:25]
know, having a voice in Washington, D. C. It's great
[2:03:28]
that it's coming from multiple directions at the county at
[2:03:32]
City of Coronado, uh, and now, uh, with us in
[2:03:36]
this arrangement, the City of Imperial Beach will be back,
[2:03:39]
um, with, with a voice. So, uh, I, I very
[2:03:42]
much, uh, support this. Again, I appreciate Mayor McCann coming
[2:03:46]
out and, uh, spending time with this evening. Um, I
[2:03:49]
don't think there's any other questions of my council. And
[2:03:53]
so I'm going to look, uh, for a motion and
[2:03:56]
a second. I'll make a motion mayor. Fish for a
[2:04:00]
second. All right. Let's please vote.
[2:04:15]
Motion cared unanimously by those present CB Epson. Thank you
[2:04:20]
for that review. All right. We're going to move on
[2:04:23]
to our next and last item under reports. Oh, excuse
[2:04:31]
me. Presentations. And that's, uh, item 15B resolution 2026 081
[2:04:36]
approval of an agreement between the city of Chula Vista
[2:04:39]
and the City of Imperial Beach for the provision of
[2:04:42]
Bridge Shelter and Associated Services for the Homeless. Housing and
[2:04:48]
neighborhood services manager, uh, Mr. Rolf will make the presentation.
[2:04:53]
Evening, Mr. Mayor and Council Members. Um, yeah, I'm here
[2:04:58]
tonight to, oh, my presentation disappeared. It's back. Um, uh,
[2:05:05]
to make a presentation tonight at item 15b, as was
[2:05:08]
mentioned, Resolution 2026 081. And this is about an agreement
[2:05:12]
between the City of Chulavista and Imperial Beach that will
[2:05:16]
allow us to take unsheltered members of the public here
[2:05:19]
in Imperial Beach and place them into the shelter that's
[2:05:22]
run over in ChulaVista off Main Street. Um, to begin
[2:05:26]
with, let's go back a little bit and look at
[2:05:29]
some of the, um, the things that have happened up
[2:05:32]
to date. In May of 2023, I think actually most
[2:05:36]
of us in the room were at the opening of
[2:05:39]
this shelter when they did their ribbing cutting. The village
[2:05:42]
at Otay is 62 individual pallet shelter, like kind of
[2:05:47]
bungalow, small units. They have a separate cafeteria bathroom shower
[2:05:51]
and laundry facility. Each unit has its own separate heating
[2:05:56]
and air conditioning. They're lockable units. Uh, they provide on
[2:06:00]
site wraparound services that consist of things like health care,
[2:06:04]
mental health, counseling, drug and alcohol treatment programs. And the
[2:06:08]
big thing is assistance with the moving forward in their
[2:06:11]
life, securing employment and finding a permanent housing solution. The
[2:06:15]
program is designed for 18 years individuals of 18 years
[2:06:20]
of age and older. And currently over the last couple
[2:06:23]
of years, they've been averaging about 80 percent occupancy in
[2:06:26]
there. So there is a little bit of room for
[2:06:28]
some of our people to participate in this program. Recently
[2:06:32]
in the recent past, they've done some ADA improvements also
[2:06:35]
to the facility since I've last been there. Um, in
[2:06:39]
the city of Imperial Beach, uh, we've had a lot
[2:06:43]
of success. And I owe a ton of, uh, gratitude
[2:06:46]
for our successes to my outreach, uh, my outreach, uh,
[2:06:51]
worker, um, V .. Ramirez. And there she is with
[2:06:55]
her van. Um, just in the last couple of months
[2:06:58]
here, this is since the beginning of 2026, we've moved
[2:07:02]
three adults into permanent housing. Two of those are into
[2:07:04]
supportive housing, which is sometimes tricky to arrange. Two adults
[2:07:09]
have been reunited with family. One adult with two minor
[2:07:12]
children have recently gone into, uh, permanent shelter and they're
[2:07:16]
pending permanent housing, but we're working through that. One adult
[2:07:20]
was placed in BVSD, veterans village, San Diego. And we
[2:07:25]
have one that's in Safe parking now and also working
[2:07:27]
towards a permanent housing solution. So she's been fantastic. But
[2:07:32]
as you can see all the different avenues, we have
[2:07:35]
to pursue to get people housed. We have to go
[2:07:38]
into different places. It's not a one size fits all
[2:07:40]
for anybody. And that's where the pallet shelter opens up
[2:07:43]
to us additional opportunities to help us and get people
[2:07:47]
housed. Um, the bridge shelter itself has been quite successful.
[2:07:52]
Uh, since they've opened 210 individuals have gone through the
[2:07:54]
program in fiscal year of 25, 26, they saw 124
[2:07:59]
participants. And they've had basically a one third success rate
[2:08:04]
with getting those people moved into permanent housing, which is
[2:08:06]
fantastic. Um, permanent housing is, is the ultimate goal. And
[2:08:11]
it's a difficult goal. So the scope of participation between
[2:08:16]
our cities would be as follows. The term of this
[2:08:18]
agreement is for a period of two years. And the
[2:08:21]
numbers of people that we would be able to send
[2:08:23]
is going to be based on capacity. We're going to
[2:08:26]
only send the people we think that would be very
[2:08:28]
successful in their program that are a good fit because
[2:08:31]
we want to add to that success. We don't want
[2:08:33]
to see that third drop. We want to help them
[2:08:34]
up to the next level. Um, so that's going to
[2:08:37]
vary. It'll also vary on, uh, some. Financing. We'll have
[2:08:44]
to look at what it's going to cost. And we'll
[2:08:46]
get into numbers on the next slide. But that's also
[2:08:49]
going to be a limiting factor for us. We have
[2:08:50]
to make sure that this is something that we're not
[2:08:53]
entering into lightly. We're taking it, uh, with a lot
[2:08:56]
of consideration as far as what it will, how it
[2:08:59]
will affect our community. The process is really pretty simple.
[2:09:02]
Imperial Beach will put together a written request and send
[2:09:05]
it to their hot team. They're homeless outreach team. They
[2:09:08]
have three days in which to review our requests, they
[2:09:12]
can come back with an approval, a denial, or a
[2:09:14]
request for more information. They may also request that the
[2:09:17]
individual sit down with their hot team and do a
[2:09:20]
face - to - face. Um, transportation to and from
[2:09:23]
there would be provided by our city. We'll take people
[2:09:25]
over and take people back. Um, as was mentioned, I
[2:09:29]
believe by, uh, one of the council members just in
[2:09:32]
the prior item. This is not something that has just
[2:09:34]
come to light overnight. Uh, when the shelter opened three
[2:09:37]
years ago, we said, well, when can we start getting
[2:09:39]
people over here? And about a year after that, the
[2:09:42]
serious discussions have happened. So this has been a process
[2:09:44]
of a couple of years to get to where we
[2:09:45]
are today. Expenses. The cost for the shelter stay while
[2:09:51]
they're actively in the shelter participating in the wraparound services.
[2:10:00]
Then if they go from that position into one where
[2:10:04]
they're looking at permanent housing, we look at assistance for
[2:10:08]
those individuals in their housing goals. And that is all
[2:10:12]
done through a program called TBRA, which is tenant -
[2:10:16]
based rental assistance. They, tool of vista has staff who
[2:10:20]
are very well versed in it. They deal with it
[2:10:23]
all the time with their staff currently. So they would
[2:10:26]
go ahead and do that administrative portion for us. And
[2:10:30]
we would pay their hourly rates, uh, for that assistance.
[2:10:33]
And then the other portion that comes along with TBR
[2:10:36]
is the rental assistance on the back end. And it
[2:10:40]
can be for a period of up to 24 months.
[2:10:43]
And there's no average. It's really difficult to pin down
[2:10:46]
an average because it depends on where they get housed.
[2:10:50]
Some parts of the county are less expensive than others.
[2:10:53]
Um, and what you're looking at is a difference in
[2:10:55]
between. It kind of works a lot like a housing
[2:10:57]
choice voucher. The old section 8 program. Where they pay
[2:11:00]
a percentage, 30 percent roughly of their income that comes
[2:11:04]
in. And then the rest is handled by a TBR.
[2:11:10]
Um. That's really it for my presentation. The staff's recommending
[2:11:15]
tonight that you authorize the city manager to go ahead
[2:11:18]
and enter into the agreement with the City of Tulevista
[2:11:21]
so that they can provide to us, uh, these pallet
[2:11:25]
shelter and the associated services that come along with it.
[2:11:29]
Uh, I am here and available for questions as well.
[2:11:33]
I have the director of, um, homeless services, Stacey Kurtz
[2:11:37]
from the City of Troll Vista. And she can answer
[2:11:39]
questions as well. Great. Thank you very much for that,
[2:11:42]
um, presentation. We do, I do have to announce that
[2:11:45]
we did receive written conversation, or excuse me, correspondence from
[2:11:50]
Sandra Brilhart on this matter. Uh, and again, it was
[2:11:53]
made available to the council and available in the back
[2:11:55]
of the room for those wishing to read it. Um,
[2:11:59]
I do have one public speaker. And strangely enough, it's
[2:12:03]
Mayor John McCann. So John, if you want to come
[2:12:07]
forward and address us, we appreciate your time. And again,
[2:12:09]
this evening. Thank you very much. Um, again, I appreciate,
[2:12:14]
uh, Imperial Beach's collaboration. And I remember when, uh, when
[2:12:20]
McKay was there when we opened up the Bridge Shelter.
[2:12:24]
And it really homelessness is a regional issue. And we've
[2:12:28]
seen many times when we went ahead and created a
[2:12:33]
homeless encampment ban and suddenly everybody went up to different
[2:12:37]
cities. And we've seen it when San Diego City of
[2:12:41]
San Diego cracks down on homeless and people come down
[2:12:45]
to the South County. But we ultimately want to make
[2:12:48]
sure that we can get home us off the streets
[2:12:52]
and get them into a situation where they can get
[2:12:55]
back into society. Um, last night the city of Chula
[2:13:00]
Vista approved the agreement, um, you do agree with this
[2:13:07]
for uncheltered housing services. The action will strengthen relational collaboration
[2:13:15]
between the Stu Cities and help address the needs of
[2:13:18]
individuals experiencing homelessness. Through this agreement, the city of Chulavista
[2:13:24]
will work with Imperial Beach to support the delivery of
[2:13:27]
housing related services connected to individuals with available resources and
[2:13:33]
help create pathways towards stable and permanent housing. Our palate
[2:13:38]
shelter, we have a nonprofit that does a great job.
[2:13:42]
They provide rapound services. Um, it's not the traditional, uh,
[2:13:47]
tent where people go in. They sleep there. And then
[2:13:50]
they go out. We actually have them pretty much stay
[2:13:54]
in the shelter. If they want to go find a
[2:13:57]
job or work, uh, we have our workers be able
[2:14:02]
to help with them there. But this isn't a drop
[2:14:05]
in, dropout, um, place. And that's why I think we've
[2:14:09]
had such a high rate of ability to get over
[2:14:14]
30 percent of the people in permanent housing. The partnership
[2:14:19]
recognizes that homelessness, again, is original problem. And that requires
[2:14:24]
coordination and shared solution among neighboring communities. Uh, we look
[2:14:29]
forward to our collaboration and efforts with Imperial Beach. I
[2:14:34]
also want to just again, uh, thank Stacey Kurtz, our
[2:14:40]
director of housing and homeless services. She has done a
[2:14:43]
tremendous job. And I just really believe that, uh, with
[2:14:48]
her leadership, uh, we've been so successful. I also want
[2:14:52]
to thank Mayor McKay. Tony Rolf and Tyler Volts for
[2:14:58]
coming to the meeting last night to show our collaboration.
[2:15:03]
And again, we want to continue to have a great
[2:15:05]
relationship with Imperial Beach. Thank you. Thank you very much,
[2:15:09]
Mayor McCann. We appreciate, uh, the kind words and also
[2:15:12]
the willingness to continue, uh, this collaboration, uh, across multiple
[2:15:17]
different disciplines. And I think it is, uh, like you
[2:15:20]
mentioned very much a regional issue. Um, and it was
[2:15:24]
even discussed at your council meeting about movement subpopulations between
[2:15:29]
jurisdictions and, um, you know, it's, you can't just say,
[2:15:33]
well, the line's here and the line's there. Um, you
[2:15:36]
know, we, we need to look at this more holistically
[2:15:39]
and more as a region. And I think this is
[2:15:41]
part of that solution is, is working together collaboratively. And
[2:15:45]
sharing some of these resources, um, obviously we're, uh, we're,
[2:15:50]
we're not asking for, for free. We're more than willing
[2:15:52]
to cover the costs for those individuals that we vet,
[2:15:56]
that we think, as Mr. Rolf mentioned, are going to
[2:15:59]
be success stories. Cause, you know, we want to contribute
[2:16:02]
to that, um, that success of Chula Vista's Bridge Shelter
[2:16:08]
City. Um, so, um, again, thank you very much for
[2:16:12]
your comments this evening. I'm going to now, uh, go
[2:16:15]
to my own council. Oh, we do have a speaker.
[2:16:17]
I'm sorry. I keep forgetting this new SB707. It's just
[2:16:22]
not in there yet. Anyways, please initiate the online speaker.
[2:16:27]
Sure. Uh, Mr. Mayor, we have one, um, speaker and
[2:16:30]
it's truth. Truth, please begin. You have three minutes. Hi,
[2:16:37]
truth. Um, I want to throw a theory out there
[2:16:38]
because that's always the best part of, uh, any political
[2:16:41]
meeting. Was the MOU offer and the cabins offer a
[2:16:46]
bundled deal. As in you only can only choose both.
[2:16:49]
Like you can't choose one. Not that either bad for
[2:16:53]
IBI. I don't think so. But somebody's been through the
[2:16:55]
question out there. Can't let you get away with that.
[2:16:57]
Um, I want to know what is the current vacancy
[2:16:59]
rate of the cabin. Do you need more residents to
[2:17:04]
justify being open. There's another theory. I've been also legitimate
[2:17:07]
questions. Um, I, I, I have seen this a little
[2:17:12]
bit online of TILA VISTA resident seeming to be mixed
[2:17:15]
about this topic. Of IV getting in the mix. So
[2:17:19]
however, I didn't watch the meeting yesterday. Sorry. So I'm
[2:17:22]
sure there's opinions I'm unaware of. Uh, the hourly rate
[2:17:26]
of 133 dollars for a management analyst two and the
[2:17:30]
senior fiscal office is just crazy. I'd like to know
[2:17:34]
what's the average timeframe that they work. You just hire
[2:17:37]
them for one hour on average or is it 10
[2:17:40]
hours. Or does it depend on the case? And do
[2:17:42]
you have an average range. Um, I like to know
[2:17:45]
what is the more affordable areas that people can pick
[2:17:49]
that they're just going to move to. Cause I've heard
[2:17:50]
something to that effect. Like why, why don't they get
[2:17:53]
a pitch? Is this the goal housing. You're just trying
[2:17:55]
to get housed, but you're giving them a pick. I
[2:17:58]
said doesn't tell you that we have a good in
[2:18:00]
America. I don't know what does. And here's another question.
[2:18:03]
Can they take and Hero Beach. There's an option. Cause
[2:18:07]
sounds like being homeless would be okay to be. Like
[2:18:09]
you just kick wherever you want to go. And then
[2:18:11]
you say, Oh, 30 percent get rehoused. Okay. That technically
[2:18:17]
true. But that say that people can be on taxpayer
[2:18:21]
funded rental assistance for two years. Two years. I mean,
[2:18:28]
I'm sure some people got some tough cases, but that
[2:18:31]
is a long time. I don't know. That's, that's very
[2:18:34]
questionable in itself. But here's another important question. Is this
[2:18:38]
a low barrier facility. I legitimately do not know the
[2:18:41]
answer to that. And low barrier, we know means I
[2:18:45]
drug you. No barrier, right? No barrier to enter. You
[2:18:48]
could just come as you are and do whatever you
[2:18:50]
want, no regulations. At least sometimes they do put regulations
[2:18:53]
on right, but it actually follows because it enforced. That
[2:18:57]
matters for the people, not for imperial speech when you
[2:18:59]
drop your people off, which is by whoever, that's fine.
[2:19:02]
But I want a real solution. I don't want people
[2:19:05]
to just get rehoused. I want their lives to be
[2:19:07]
changed. I want job training. I want life changes. I
[2:19:11]
do like regional strategies. Absolutely. That's just no brainer. It
[2:19:15]
makes sense as long as it's not low barrier. And
[2:19:18]
also make sure you've never ever ever ever work with
[2:19:22]
accounting on homelessness strategy. Because you will find yourself in
[2:19:26]
a bad situation like the City of Lehmingrove and Saturn
[2:19:30]
itself. Other than that, and I seem like I'm in
[2:19:33]
support, I suppose. Thank you. Great. Thank you for those
[2:19:37]
comments. Well, now I'll move on to Council comments and
[2:19:42]
we'll move to my far left to Council Member Nakawa.
[2:19:46]
Thank you, Mayor. Um, I have had the great pleasure
[2:19:48]
of doing lots of great community outreach with, um, homelessness
[2:19:53]
in regards to in my day job with the county.
[2:19:55]
One of the things that I found really interesting about
[2:19:56]
this property, and I haven't had the great pleasure of
[2:19:58]
being there or was, wasn't the opening, being animal friendly.
[2:20:03]
I'm a dog owner. I couldn't imagine partying with my
[2:20:07]
pet. So I thought that was really cool. And just
[2:20:09]
the, the communal spaces regards to on that property. For
[2:20:12]
me, I, I think we, we had a scenario happen,
[2:20:15]
you know, unfortunately last year where the person that needed
[2:20:19]
resources didn't have the resources, um, available to them and
[2:20:22]
didn't get the help in the end. I think this
[2:20:25]
being another tool in the toolkit is a great idea.
[2:20:28]
We don't have to send anyone. And if we don't
[2:20:31]
send anyone, it's not necessarily costing the city anything, but
[2:20:34]
again, having that extra tool of like, do you want
[2:20:37]
those support services and whatnot? I think something that really
[2:20:40]
opened my eyes is participating in the point in time
[2:20:42]
count in some more rural areas across the county, um,
[2:20:45]
also in just denser areas like alcohone, not everyone wants
[2:20:49]
these services. There are barriers to a lot of the
[2:20:52]
services that are out there in regards to maybe some
[2:20:54]
kind of religious component or anything like that. And so
[2:20:56]
the ability to have again, just this tool is of
[2:21:00]
interest to me. I was also skeptical in terms of
[2:21:02]
data. I'm always a skeptic and a lot of things
[2:21:05]
I just usually try to say with a smile. Um,
[2:21:07]
for me, I am interested to see more of the
[2:21:10]
data in regards to the housing and just what it
[2:21:13]
might look like in terms of timeline, uh, for people.
[2:21:17]
But I thought this was a really interesting proposal. Just
[2:21:19]
again, this is something that we can now offer. Like
[2:21:21]
if you do need this, this, um, this leg up
[2:21:27]
or anything in regards to that I was, I was
[2:21:28]
appreciative that we could provide this, um, to our constituents.
[2:21:31]
I just saw another lovely Facebook post today that people
[2:21:35]
felt that there's more homelessness and an imperial beach. And
[2:21:38]
then there was a bunch of comments about homeless getting
[2:21:40]
dropped off here. But ignoring on that side, um, it's
[2:21:43]
just one of those more things like, yeah, if we
[2:21:46]
are seeming to experience seeing more is the situation tool
[2:21:49]
we could provide to them to help them out. So
[2:21:51]
I'm in support of this item. Thank you. Great. Thank
[2:21:54]
you for your comments. Councilmember Labor Gonzalez. Thank you, Mayor.
[2:21:57]
Um, Tony, I have a question. So, um, prior to,
[2:22:04]
um, so yourself and your staff, you guys will be
[2:22:09]
involved with interviewing the perspective, um, unsheltered prior to deciding
[2:22:18]
if they're a good candidate for this location as opposed
[2:22:23]
to, say other locations that are available. Sure. Um, the
[2:22:31]
way our outreach is structured currently, we typically don't start
[2:22:36]
to recommend pathways until we've met with an individual probably
[2:22:41]
in a less than three times. The main reason is
[2:22:44]
there's a transient population. If we dive in and spend
[2:22:47]
an intensive 24 hours on somebody only to find out
[2:22:50]
they walked away, that was 24 hours wasted on somebody
[2:22:52]
that we could have spent somewhere else. So after we
[2:22:55]
engage with them several times when we start to see
[2:22:57]
what they're in need of some people aren't ready for
[2:23:00]
this. This is a program that's trying to get you
[2:23:03]
almost back mainstream. It's for people who are ready to
[2:23:06]
start working, ready to be on a schedule ready to
[2:23:08]
find housing. Um, we have individuals in town who their
[2:23:12]
first need is rehab. Um, we have good connections with
[2:23:16]
rehab facilities. So we would rather see them go to
[2:23:18]
a rehab, go through a rehab. And then when they
[2:23:22]
come out on the back end, if they haven't gone
[2:23:24]
to a sober living house and down housing, that path,
[2:23:27]
that would be an opportunity, something like that. So our
[2:23:30]
goal is always to try and fit the client to
[2:23:33]
the right path for them based on their circumstances. And
[2:23:37]
obviously they have input to that. We aren't forcing anybody
[2:23:41]
to do anything against their will. We're presenting opportunities and
[2:23:45]
hoping that they'll trust us in our judgments of the
[2:23:48]
programs we work with in what we recommend to them.
[2:23:52]
And, um, I remember when you first started and I
[2:23:57]
had more time and I would go with you on
[2:23:59]
Thursdays to do the outreach. You and your team do
[2:24:03]
a phenomenal job because you guys know all the unsheltered
[2:24:08]
all nine unsheltered and imperiled beach. Don't tell the mayor
[2:24:11]
from Chula Vista, but they don't want to go to
[2:24:13]
Chula Vista. They want to stay here and coastal utopia
[2:24:16]
because of the weather, the beach, you name it. But
[2:24:19]
I appreciate the great job you and your entire staff.
[2:24:24]
You guys perform like, like I had mentioned about this
[2:24:28]
Saturday being the horseshoes and you're, you already gave me
[2:24:30]
the insight on, you know, who I may be having
[2:24:33]
to deal with or whatever. But it's, I appreciate it.
[2:24:37]
Thank you very much. No, you're very welcome. Mayor Pracham.
[2:24:42]
Thanks, Mayor. Now great presentation. Again, I remember as a
[2:24:45]
young council member in the conversation for this started this
[2:24:48]
partnership. So it's been, you know, five, five years or
[2:24:51]
so. Um, I remember, you know, we talked about pallet
[2:24:54]
homes and we're like, where could we put them in
[2:24:55]
IBA? And it was deemed that it wasn't a feasible
[2:24:58]
idea, but, uh, again, with the saves, she'll Vista kind
[2:25:01]
of working on their budget's a little bit bigger than
[2:25:03]
ours. Uh, so it's always good to kind of piggyback.
[2:25:09]
Um, you know. Whenever we talk about homeless, everybody wants
[2:25:13]
to say, what does it cost. You know, I ask
[2:25:18]
myself that a lot because. Regionally in the state of
[2:25:21]
California is a whole, I feel like it's very ineffective
[2:25:26]
as a program. Multitude of reasons. There's so many different
[2:25:29]
aspects to it. Um, but you know, Ulicit eight people
[2:25:33]
that you've helped this year. What's the cost. Does it
[2:25:39]
make any difference? You know, I see there's an individual
[2:25:42]
has kids. What's the cost? Doesn't matter. To me because
[2:25:47]
we're helping people, you know, we're, we're, we're not a
[2:25:50]
business. We're a public agency. And we look out for
[2:25:54]
the betterment of our, our residents. We could always make
[2:25:57]
judgment calls. We could ask a lot of questions. But
[2:26:01]
ultimately comes down to these are people who are in
[2:26:03]
our community. They may have wandered and drifted and just
[2:26:07]
kind of pounds out their feet. They may have been
[2:26:09]
here second, third, fourth generation. It doesn't matter. They're still
[2:26:12]
residents. To finally have this opportunity to do this is
[2:26:17]
amazing to me. Um, is it sustainable for the next
[2:26:22]
five, 10 years? I don't know. We don't know. There's
[2:26:24]
a lot of unknowns at this point. But for the
[2:26:26]
foreseeable future, there's options for somebody that's going to have
[2:26:31]
a new option that they've never have had. It was
[2:26:37]
something a little bit easier for them to, you know,
[2:26:39]
I can only imagine what it must feel like sleeping
[2:26:41]
your first night in a place that you're completely safe
[2:26:43]
that you locked the door yourself. And it has a
[2:26:46]
clean bedding, you know, those types of things. I can't
[2:26:50]
even imagine what it must feel like for an individual.
[2:26:52]
Um, and again, to get to that point, they have
[2:26:54]
to go through a rigorous amount of interviews, conversations, um,
[2:26:59]
and what you mentioned was sometimes. So, you know, and
[2:27:02]
just, I just want to make sure that everybody knows
[2:27:05]
that this. The services that are provided are going to
[2:27:09]
be paid for from a fund that we have as
[2:27:11]
a community benefit fund. And I think that's an important
[2:27:15]
part. We're not taking stuff that otherwise, you know, is
[2:27:18]
earmarked for, for any other services, there are going to
[2:27:21]
be not had in our city. So it's, it's an
[2:27:23]
important thing that we look at saying, this will give
[2:27:26]
us an opportunity to help residents. Again, people can make
[2:27:29]
their judgments in life. We see some commonalities why people
[2:27:33]
are unsheltered. Um, but we're trying to help them. No
[2:27:38]
more noble thing that we could do to help residents
[2:27:41]
of Imperial Beach in ways that they need the help.
[2:27:45]
And I know that you and your team do it
[2:27:47]
without judgment. And I hope that our community will look
[2:27:49]
at this as an opportunity to help without judgment. And
[2:27:53]
again, if we can add to that list of eight
[2:27:54]
people that were successes and not look at the other
[2:27:58]
people who don't make it through the param because it
[2:28:00]
doesn't matter. It matters to those people who make it.
[2:28:04]
Because they're a father, a son, a daughter, a mother.
[2:28:08]
There's somebody to somebody and their residents of Imperial Beach.
[2:28:12]
So I really appreciate this coming forward. Thank you to
[2:28:15]
the city of Chula Vista, uh, for, for continuing the
[2:28:18]
conversation for many years and to have it come to
[2:28:21]
fruition, um, is pretty cool. Thank you for those comments
[2:28:26]
and observations. And I think, uh, I think we have
[2:28:30]
a pretty strong consensus on this item. I don't have
[2:28:33]
a whole lot of other comments. Um, except to say
[2:28:35]
that, um, you know, Tony and your team do an
[2:28:38]
amazing job. You know, I, even when I hear people
[2:28:43]
concern about costs, I think, you know, we still control
[2:28:46]
that. I mean, to the, to the, to some degree,
[2:28:49]
we're the ones deciding who we're vetting, who are not
[2:28:54]
necessarily who's ready to go, but you know, so that
[2:28:56]
we can contribute to that success. And so, you know,
[2:28:58]
it's not just an open door. Anybody can go and,
[2:29:01]
you know, they last three days or four days. And
[2:29:03]
then they, you know, they're back out on the street
[2:29:05]
and they come back for another round. That isn't how
[2:29:08]
this is going to work. There's going to be, you
[2:29:11]
know, there's guardrails. And Tony and his team are those
[2:29:14]
guardrails. So I'm very confident that this program is just
[2:29:19]
going to be another tool in our toolbox. And, um,
[2:29:23]
something else we can offer those individuals in our community
[2:29:26]
that need the help. So. With that, I'm going to
[2:29:30]
request a motion and a second. Fish are so moved.
[2:29:37]
I'll second mayor. Thank you. Let's please vote. We have
[2:29:47]
a motion by Fisher with the second by Nakawasay to
[2:29:50]
adopt resolution number 2026 - 081. And motion carries unanimously
[2:29:57]
by those present. Thank you very much. And I appreciate
[2:30:01]
again. I want to thank you, Mayor McCann, for coming
[2:30:04]
out this evening and spending some of your valuable time
[2:30:07]
and your staff. Um, with us. So thanks again for
[2:30:10]
your council's approval of that item. Um, so we can
[2:30:14]
all move forward. All right. Um, real quickly here. Uh,
[2:30:18]
item 16 redevelopment agency successor, uh, agency reports. We have
[2:30:23]
non, uh, we didn't pull any items from the consent
[2:30:26]
calendar this evening. Um, do I have any future item,
[2:30:31]
excuse me, future agenda item requests from Council members.