[0:00] Good evening, everyone. We will go ahead and open our 630 special closed session meeting. We'll go ahead and open and roll call, please.

[0:10] Mayor Munoz, President, Mayor Proto-Muñoz. Councilmember Aguto, let the record reflect. Councilmember Aguto is absent. Councilmember Mendoza. Here. Councilmember King on this. Here. Mayor, you have a quorum. Great. Let's go ahead and stand for the pledge of allegiance, and we'll have John DeMario lead us.

[0:29] The

[0:35] flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God in the visible with liberty and justice for all.

[0:46] Do we have any oral communications at this time?

[0:49] Mayor, we do not.

[0:50] Okay, let's go in and recess into closed session.

[0:53] Thank you, Madam Mayor.

[0:55] Close session item in regards to conference with legal counsel for anticipated litigation.

[0:59] Pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9, subsection D2, one matter.

[1:06] Thank you.

[1:12] Great.

[1:13] Thank you.

[1:13] We'll go ahead and report out of closed session.

[1:16] Yes.

[1:16] Thank you Madam Mayor.

[1:18] In regards to closed session item number one, a report was given, excuse me, a report was

[1:22] given feedback, was provided, and there was no reportable action at this time.

[1:26] Thank you.

[1:27] Great.

[1:27] So we'll go ahead and reconvene or adjourn our special meeting and we'll go ahead and

[1:32] an open our regular seven o'clock session.

[1:35] Roll call please.

[1:40] Madam Mayor for the record.

[1:43] Council member Arguido arrived at 636 p.m.

[1:48] Roll call, Mayor Munoz, present.

[1:50] Mayor Proto-Mclinakis, Council member Arguido.

[1:53] Here.

[1:54] Council member Mendoza, here.

[1:56] Council member Kenyonis, present.

[1:58] Mayor, you have a quorum.

[2:00] Great.

[2:00] We'll go ahead and stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

[2:05] Put your right hand over the heart and begin.

[2:22] I just want to welcome everybody in the audience.

[2:24] It's great to see some new faces and also some established faces, so welcome again to

[2:29] our meeting.

[2:30] We'll move on to presentations, introduction of lead students participating in the city

[2:34] council meeting.

[2:35] We first we have workman elementary, Yareli Lopez and Ariel, is it Alba Vera?

[2:51] So let's start off with Yareli.

[2:53] Is she here?

[2:55] Hi, Yareli.

[2:55] Why don't you come up to the podium here?

[3:17] Good evening, Mayor Valerie Munoz, Council Members and La Puente Residence.

[3:22] I'm Yareli Lopez, your student president and I'm here with my co-president, Ariel Alba Vera.

[3:26] We're excited to share some amazing events and activities we have at Workman Elementary.

[3:35] first we have the friends and family dance coming up on February 13th it is

[3:39] going to be a fantastic evening where you can dance have fun and make wonderful

[3:42] memories with your friends and family last month the student council organized

[3:47] kindness week we had fun spirit days where you could dress up and show you

[3:51] school spirit plus there were kindness challenges and activities to spread

[3:56] positivity and make our school even a better place this week we're kicking it

[4:00] off with our heart challenge where we would get to raise money for a great

[4:03] cost. Student Council will be responsible for handing out all the prizes for the students

[4:08] to earn.

[4:12] Next, we have fun Friday incentives. Every Friday, we have special awards and

[4:16] activities planned during extra recess for those who have shown great behavior and great

[4:21] attendance throughout the whole month. It's our way of saying thank you for being such

[4:25] awesome students. During lunch, we have some exciting fun activities planned. From games

[4:30] to crafts, there's always something for everyone to enjoy.

[4:34] It's a great way to relax, have fun, and spend time with your friends.

[4:38] As the student president, I work closely with my peers and council members to organize

[4:42] these events and come up with fun activities that students would love to participate in.

[4:47] We want to make sure that everyone has a great time and feels included.

[4:52] Thank you for being such an amazing community.

[5:04] Thank you both for the presentation.

[5:06] It was great to see you at the Leadership Conference last week.

[5:12] It's always great to hear what's going on on campus.

[5:15] Thank you.

[5:17] Great.

[5:18] So next, let's move on to Nelson Elementary.

[5:21] And I apologize in advance if I do not pronounce the name correctly.

[5:25] Kitsali Maldonado.

[5:27] Did I pronounce that correctly?

[5:30] Kitsali.

[5:31] Okay, I was close.

[5:33] And then I have the light.

[5:35] Dalia.

[5:36] Dalina.

[5:37] Okay.

[5:49] Good evening, Mayor Munoz, Councilmember, City staff, and welcome guests.

[5:55] My name is Gitali Maldonado, and I am currently a fifth grader at Nelson Elementary and

[6:00] the ASB president.

[6:01] As the ASB president, I enjoyed going through the election process where we made camping

[6:07] posters and a chance to speak and present to students and complete the election process

[6:13] through voting.

[6:14] I've been at the school since preschool, one of my favorite things about this school is that we get to build relationships with other students each day and spending time together.

[6:26] We all come from different backgrounds and it makes me happy when others promote kindness to one another, especially when new students join our school.

[6:35] I am proud that one of our signature programs are, here is Dulla Mergin.

[6:41] This program started in my kindergarten class and has expanded up to my fifth grade class.

[6:47] It's really helped me improve my Spanish.

[6:51] This year, we created a new way for school-wide announcements called Nelson Night News.

[6:58] Every Monday, we have a school wide zoom where we review our school missions, share our monthly character focus, highlight upcoming events, and recognize students for their achievements through pictures, videos, and flyers.

[7:15] I enjoy being one of the student presenters each week with Mr. Miller.

[7:20] Our school is proud to have teamed up with the American Heart Association and learned how to make happy and healthy hearts.

[7:31] While raising life-saving donations to help others with special hearts, our school has currently raised over $2,049 in attendance for this foundation demonstrating our commitment to come back through a positive school culture.

[7:46] I have also very loved being a project lead student.

[7:53] When I participate, when I participated in the Mox City Council meetings, many of us

[7:59] had different speaking parts that included being a city council member, city staff or an

[8:05] audience member.

[8:07] We also got to learn about how their positions help our city.

[8:11] I am also glad that I was selected for the Leadership Conference last week.

[8:17] I learned more about the different departments and how they helped our city run.

[8:22] Thank you for providing lunch from the city, park, snack bar that included different options

[8:27] to choose from.

[8:28] With that lead project, we wouldn't understand how the city supports us, from looking for

[8:33] to participating in the future project lead activities and events.

[8:38] It has been a pleasure to represent my school and my community at the City Council meeting.

[8:43] Thank you.

[8:50] Good evening, Mayor Munoz, Council Members, City staff, and welcome guests.

[8:56] My name is Alilama Harris and I am currently a fifth grader and also an elementary inserted

[9:02] at the school in kindergarten.

[9:04] Some of my favorite memories so far include the many spirit days we celebrated every year.

[9:09] For example, during our Great Kindness Week Challenge, we had the opportunity to address

[9:15] up with another on Twin Day Promoting School of Spirit and Pride.

[9:19] I'm also excited that our school lunch program has expanded, expanded by creating many

[9:25] more food options for us to choose from.

[9:28] My favorite is still PB&J.

[9:30] A few of the great things we promote at Nelson include college rear days every Thursday

[9:35] where we want all nights to own their future.

[9:38] Each classroom has adopted a different college and each week on our school wide zoom we read

[9:44] a college fun fact that helps students learn more about the many different colleges

[9:49] there are.

[9:51] We are also planning our annual career day on March 13th where every class will get to

[9:56] hear from two different presenters and their professions.

[9:59] I also think about for our boys and girls club after school program, this supports our

[10:04] parents who have to work late and many activities for us to enjoy, including time for us to work on our home Earth.

[10:11] Our site supervision aids also do a great job supporting our students before school during recess time, lunch, and after school.

[10:20] I'd also like to thank you for allowing me to participate at this year's Project Lead Student Conference Day.

[10:26] We were randomly put in student groups from other schools and it gave us a chance to meet new students throughout the day.

[10:32] City officials asked us questions about our city and shared ideas.

[10:40] We were able to tell them things that we didn't like or that we would like to change.

[10:46] I appreciate how they were open to listening and gave us ideas and ways we can make our city a better place to live in.

[10:54] We attended four different workshops and learned more about our city and how important the city council members are.

[11:01] Here are some upcoming Nelson Night events.

[11:05] We're looking forward to this year's color run on February 28th with a gold or

[11:09] raised $15,000.

[11:11] Money raised will continue to fund our student store,

[11:15] provide future opportunities and our school-wide events.

[11:20] Some fifth grade, under the year events that we're looking forward to

[11:23] include, under the year activities,

[11:30] Thank you for giving me an opportunity to share a little about myself and the wonderful things that are happening at Nelson.

[11:44] I want to say thank you to all of our presenters and you guys do such an amazing job.

[11:49] And it was great that I was able this year to participate a little bit in the project lead conference.

[11:55] It was an amazing event, and again, I want to thank Councilmember Mendoza and Councilmember Kenyones for taking the lead and taking the lead program to the next level and expanding our programs and schools.

[12:10] So I've heard there's a lot of great feedback we have.

[12:13] I was talking to our assistant city manager earlier today and he said he has a laundry list of things that he was able to collect during that event.

[12:21] So I rest assured, please understand that your voice matters and what you give us back as council and as staff.

[12:30] We take it to heart so that we're able to make a better lapwent there for all of us.

[12:34] So thank you again.

[12:36] Next we'll move on to our next presentation by the lapwent the county water district,

[12:41] regarding updates on the Boenthe Valley Operable Unit Project.

[12:48] Thank you, Mayor Munoz and Good Even Council members.

[12:51] So my name's Roy Frosso, I'm the General Manager for La Puente Valley County Water District.

[12:55] So I wanted to brief you on a few updates that we have when it comes to respect to the PVOU,

[13:01] IZ, Intermediate Zone treatment plan.

[13:04] So what is the Boenthe Valley Operable Unit Intermediate Zone?

[13:07] So for those of you that don't know water, this is our basin.

[13:12] So if you think about our basin, it's a bull that's underground and we pull from that

[13:16] basin.

[13:17] We have straws that we pull from.

[13:18] And specifically in the orange down there, that's what I'm talking about, the Puente

[13:21] Valley Operable Unit.

[13:23] It's this area in La Puente, the city of industry, and then unincorporated parts of LA County

[13:28] so which is the avocado Heights area.

[13:31] So we haven't pulled any water from this basin historically because of the high levels of

[13:35] contamination.

[13:37] So this is the first time that we're going to actually build a treatment plant to pull

[13:40] from this basin. Next slide. So what the treatment plan consists of, it's seven wells about

[13:48] four miles of pipeline and then about, it's a 2,000 gallon per minute treatment facility.

[13:54] So give your brief overview of how the system's going to work. We have a total of seven wells

[13:58] that's represented in those dots right there. And then it's going to go through the treatment process

[14:04] which is a two-stage GAC process, ion exchange which we call single-pass ion exchange.

[14:10] And then UV oxidation, which is UV and the addition of hydrogen peroxide.

[14:16] And then lastly, it's going to hit reverse osmosis, which is actually the first reverse osmosis unit in the San Diego Valley.

[14:23] So proud to say that.

[14:27] Next slide.

[14:29] So after it goes to the treatment process, and it's going to come to our district, which is a lot more than the Valley County Water District, from there we can wield it two different ways.

[14:37] We could send into the industry public utilities, which is city of industries water system

[14:42] Or it can go to suburban water system, which is also another neighboring agency that provides water to the city of luck

[14:48] Next slide

[14:50] So our district's been involved so this project's been in the making I mean the the PVOU has been a part of this space

[14:58] Into the 1980s, but as far as

[15:06] In December of 2017, we signed definitive agreements with the local government systems to operate

[15:14] the plan for them. And then in 2022, we finished the construction of the plan. And then more

[15:21] recently in June of 2023, we completed the scenario testing. So what that means is we

[15:26] essentially tested the plant and we're testing the plant right now. We're making sure that it's doing what it's supposed to be doing

[15:31] right. There's a lot of constituents that we're pulling so we want to make sure that all the treatment components are doing what they're supposed to be doing.

[15:38] Next slide. So this was the vacant lot before there was any construction. This is actually right across the street from the Sheriff's Station.

[15:46] Next slide. And this is the plant now. So it's I'm sorry this is the plant during construction. Next slide. And this is the plant now.

[15:53] So it's fully constructed. It's essentially going to the permitting phase, but the permitting

[16:00] phase takes about six months to a year. So, before it goes for portable use, we have

[16:05] to ensure that it's meeting all the state and federal guidelines with respect to MCLs

[16:11] and notification levels. So, next slide. Again, with the permitting, it's called the 97.25

[16:19] We'll fire process.

[16:20] It's a very rigorous process that we go with the division of drinking water.

[16:24] They're the regulatory agency that regulates water systems.

[16:28] Once we get the permit through DDW, but prior due to that we will have a public hearing

[16:33] with DDW, we'll partner with them and then invite the community to have any input with respect

[16:40] to the project.

[16:41] Next slide.

[16:43] So as far as schedule, we're looking to finalize the engineering report with the

[16:49] Division of Drinking Water this month, in April, we'll schedule a public hearing, and then in May, June timeframe, we'll be looking at full portable use for the community.

[17:06] With that, I'll be happy to answer any questions.

[17:08] Great, thank you so much for being here, and this project is extremely exciting for me as well.

[17:14] being part of the Water Quality Authority, the Authority Overseas 7 Operable Units

[17:21] about the San Gabriel Valley, and the City of Lopwenth is, was the one site for over a decades, had no movement.

[17:30] And so that was a project that we were very excited to create the funding and

[17:35] also work with Mark III Grumman.

[17:36] And thank you to Lopwenth the Valley Water Company for taking on the role of overseeing the water in that area.

[17:44] the cleanup efforts there.

[17:46] So these are multi-million dollar projects that are through state and federal funding.

[17:50] And the focus of this is to ensure that our rate payers aren't getting the burden of this cleaning water efforts here in our basin.

[17:58] And so, thank you so much for bringing an update.

[18:00] I want to definitely see the final project.

[18:02] I haven't seen it, so I'm excited for that.

[18:04] And it's just a testament of just ensuring that our ground water, which we have one of the largest basins,

[18:11] that we're able to be water sufficient moving forward.

[18:15] And in addition to that, that's something to consider for lead project, that maybe they may want to see how water is life.

[18:23] And it's important that we continue to maintain our safe water environments.

[18:29] And so something that we can encourage our students and our educators to really start educating on those aspects as well.

[18:35] So thank you so much for being here, I appreciate that.

[18:37] Thank you, Madam Mayor.

[18:44] Madam Mayor?

[18:45] Yes.

[18:46] Roy, I have a couple questions.

[18:51] Thanks for the presentation.

[18:53] This is a very good thing for the community,

[18:57] trying to improve the quality of water that it's

[18:59] underneath our basin.

[19:02] This basin that we live underneath, that's underneath us,

[19:06] is, was considered a superfund, correct?

[19:08] Correct.

[19:09] And super funds are considered one of the most toxic drinking waters in the country, correct?

[19:19] And now I see that the process in cleaning the water, who establishes the quality of water that is at the minimum standard.

[19:30] I'm just trying to figure out what that threshold is and why is it that the drinkability water, why isn't it the most purist water that we could.

[19:40] to provide to our customers.

[19:42] We're taking a lot of water out of a highly contaminated area and I see the process that

[19:52] says reverse osmosis only as needed.

[19:57] Can you elaborate as to what determines that reverse osmosis as needed?

[20:03] Yes.

[20:04] So to answer your first question, so we have federal guidelines that are set by EPA and then

[20:09] And the state also has its own guidelines.

[20:11] So typically the states have more stringent guidelines, but by default any state has

[20:16] to follow EPA guidelines on the federal level.

[20:19] To the second question, whenever you treat for any constituents, right, there's a soup

[20:24] of constituents when it comes to EPA sites.

[20:27] There's VOCs, there's rocket fuel, there's a whole bunch of different mixes of contaminants

[20:32] that are in the basin.

[20:33] So the importance of an EPA superfund site, it targets those constituents that are specific

[20:39] to that contamination.

[20:41] So those are all treated to non-detect.

[20:44] So those are basically, you don't see any detection when it comes to those levels.

[20:49] Now there's also naturally occurring constituents that are regulated, and there's not an enforceable

[20:55] action by any type of regulatory agency to say, hey, this person or this entity is responsible

[21:00] for this.

[21:01] The biggest example is nitrate, right?

[21:04] Nitrate is present because of previous agricultural efforts that were done in the early 1900s.

[21:11] And they can pinpoint a certain person or entity as a responsible party for nitrates.

[21:17] So nitrates is at one constituent that is not treated to non-detect levels.

[21:23] But if you're talking about perchlorate, which is a component of rocket fuel, that is treated to non-detect.

[21:29] On top of that, the state has a topic called MCL equivalence, and MCL equivalence essentially

[21:38] takes all these constituents and says, okay, if you put a portion of all these together,

[21:45] how does that factor into a person potentially getting cancer in one million?

[21:51] And they have to minimize that by like 99.99%.

[21:54] So that's what they're working with.

[21:55] When you talk about MCLs, you're looking at the potential of that one case.

[22:01] So when you do that for these specific projects, that's what that 97.005 project is looking at, is making sure you have an MCL equivalent below one.

[22:10] So that one person out of a million is it impacted by this drinking water source.

[22:15] And that's how they're regulated.

[22:17] Got it.

[22:18] So I thank you, but once again, what kicks in as needed reverse analysis?

[22:24] So that reverse osmosis is treating for TDS, total dissolved solids.

[22:30] So in this base and the punta basin, it has high levels of TDS.

[22:34] And TDS can be different metals, organics, they can be minerals.

[22:39] It's a combination of different things.

[22:41] But there's a secondary MCL at 500 parts per million, so we're treating below that.

[22:46] Anything below that is drinking water level, safe, established by EPA and California.

[22:50] So that's when we say as needed is because that we're treating it to below 500 on the TDS level.

[22:57] Got it. Thank you very much. I've had the opportunity to visit and tour the facility.

[23:02] It's an amazing facility and if everything works, all that nasty junk that's underneath our ground water will be removed.

[23:12] Yes. Thank you.

[23:13] And I just want to reiterate what we're drinking now is clean water.

[23:16] This is just an added source of water that we'll be cleaning to add to our water source in the future.

[23:23] Thank you so much.

[23:24] Of course.

[23:27] Next we have presentations of employee service awards.

[23:33] Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of the council.

[23:36] Tonight we are recognizing Mr. James Richard.

[23:40] Can we have him come up?

[23:45] Thank you.

[23:51] So James has been, excuse me, today we're celebrating his five years of dedicated service.

[23:58] to the city of La Puente. It's just a little history on James. He's a character out the yard.

[24:05] I'm sure everybody's met him out there. He started here in September of 2019 as a park maintenance assistant part-time.

[24:16] A year later, October 2020, he got promoted to park maintenance worker where he still is to this day.

[24:24] He's always out there working, he's always a trusted member, working on different things within the maintenance, he does not only maintenance at the park, he does a lot of maintenance here, he's just a great asset to have.

[24:40] So, if you want to come up, so will Sanchez as a maintenance supervisor, he can share some thoughts about James as well.

[24:46] All

[24:53] right. Good evening, Madam Mayor. Honorable Mayor Pro Tem, fellow members of the City Council.

[24:57] I'm here tonight to personally thank Mr. Richards for the years of hard work he's put in as far.

[25:03] The skills and knowledge he brings to the maintenance department is invaluable.

[25:06] The knowledge he possesses is not available in a book.

[25:09] It's learned a years of service on the job by dealing with the unexpected.

[25:12] James, again, thank you, sir.

[25:14] I look forward to tackling many projects in the future with you, people at the good work.

[25:21] So we have a go ahead, John.

[25:24] I'm just going to add to that, hopefully Council and staff in the community have seen the

[25:29] decorative lights that are on the trees down Main Street.

[25:33] The mayor wanted a little more festiveness along Main Street year round, so I asked Saul and

[25:39] Ricardo, who's the best person for the job in his James?

[25:43] So James was sent to me or sent to us, and I said James make them perfect, make them symmetrical, make them match, make them look pretty, and hopefully you can see that now because they do look very nice.

[25:55] So thank you James for taking that request directly from the mayor and beautifying our downtowns with thank you.

[26:05] Well first of all, I want to point out as well, the shirt is great.

[26:10] Maintenance man because I'm way too awesome to our suit and tie.

[26:14] I like that, yeah.

[26:16] So we should put that as our model in our maintenance department, so yes.

[26:21] So we have a certificate of recognition presented to James Richards,

[26:25] Park Maintenance Worker, and recognition and appreciation of your five years of dedicated service and commitment to the city of La Puente.

[26:34] Thank you very much.

[26:37] And we also have a little five years of service thing for his garage desk.

[26:46] You don't have a desk because you're in the maintenance guy.

[26:49] Can we have you up for a picture?

[26:51] May we have the honor to have a picture with you?

[26:53] Thanks.

[27:18] Okay, ready?

[27:19] One, two, three.

[27:37] Right.

[27:40] Thank you so much.

[27:42] Shows we have no Sheriff's Department or PROS team announcements today, so we'll go ahead and forego that.

[27:51] We'll move on now to oral communication.

[27:55] Our first speaker is Betty Moore.

[28:07] Hi, good evening mayor and other members of the council.

[28:10] My name is Betty Moore.

[28:12] I'm from the Lapland Church of Christ here on Anru and Amar.

[28:19] Yes. Absolutely. Other members and I have been here before we started back in

[28:26] October I think it was coming on a regular basis trying to give you a little

[28:32] information about things that we have going on down at the church maybe some

[28:37] of the same things that you guys have going on that we could piggyback or you

[28:41] could use us to assist things like that. Tonight though I just wanted to inform

[28:47] you about an event we have going on happening on Saturday March 1st 2025. It's at

[28:58] the church. It's a free event. It's actually a seminar on end-of-life planning. So

[29:06] we'll have a special people there giving information on how families can

[29:14] navigate in the life decisions. I have flyers in both Spanish and English. I'd like to leave

[29:22] them with you if that's okay. That we can share with the community. Everyone's invited.

[29:29] If you get there early, we have a continental breakfast. The actual event starts at 9 o'clock and ends

[29:37] at 12 okay information full information is on the flyer you have my information on

[29:45] your little registration and the information and telephone number to the

[29:49] churches on the flyer okay thank you so much sure I would appreciate it

[29:55] Madam Mayor. Yes, Betty.

[30:00] Yes. Thank you for sharing that information. I just want to ask staff if we can put that on

[30:08] our social media and help advertise the event for Saturday. And maybe you guys could provide

[30:16] our staff some digital copies as well so they could be uploaded into our social media. Perfect.

[30:25] Okay.

[30:26] Okay.

[30:27] Okay.

[30:28] Fantastic.

[30:29] Thank you so much.

[30:30] Thank you.

[30:31] Next speaker.

[30:33] Next, we have a representative from La Puente Valley Women's Club.

[30:41] Good evening.

[30:43] Mayor Munoz and City Council Members, the reason we are here, well, first of all, I want to thank

[30:49] you for all your help that you have given us, and I'm a little nervous my first time.

[30:56] And for the floor, and it's beautiful, you need to come by and see it.

[31:01] We're not finished, but it's still, you know, it's still in works.

[31:05] And I just wanted to remind you also that we are the only historic, register historical landmark

[31:12] in the city, the only one.

[31:16] And on February 1st, we had some vandalism.

[31:22] and we called the Sheriff Department.

[31:24] They said they'll be out in three hours.

[31:27] I'm still waiting and it's been over three hours.

[31:35] And so because of this, we wanted to know

[31:39] if you can install some cameras on the light post across.

[31:42] You have them all over the place.

[31:44] You know, maybe you can install them in front of our place

[31:47] on the light post.

[31:52] And also, in front of our building, it's paying it red.

[31:57] We want to know if you can paint it blue for the handicap, because there's a lot of elderly members who are handicap.

[32:03] Those are the only two things.

[32:05] Great, thank you so much.

[32:06] We'll have our assistant city manager and John DeMario take some notes down so

[32:11] we can do an assessment on that curbside as well.

[32:14] And we do have our sheriffs here and our sergeant.

[32:17] So if you wanted to meet with them, you know, at this time, I'm sure they're happy to meet with you

[32:22] as well.

[32:24] Thank you. Next speaker.

[32:28] Next speaker is Manuel Maldonado.

[32:32] I thought this was over. That chairs were doing a good job. Well, it is what it is. Good evening.

[32:38] Manuel Maldonado. Now in reference to the change of time of City Council meetings, shame on you guys.

[32:46] Shame on you guys that you bus people to the first morning meeting, just to prove your

[32:54] right.

[32:55] That's not right.

[32:57] That is not right.

[32:58] That's unacceptable.

[33:00] And it's not right that you're spending taxpayers' money to bus people from homes to city

[33:07] council meeting.

[33:08] It is not right.

[33:09] Shame on you.

[33:11] Whoever got the stupid idea should be a shame of yourselves.

[33:14] This is wrong.

[33:16] Residents should not be brought to a city council meeting.

[33:21] It should be a voluntary decision by their citizens,

[33:25] by the voters to come speak their minds, just like I have in over the past 50 years or so.

[33:31] Spending taxpayers money is unacceptable without citizens consent.

[33:37] To feed people just because they're coming, you're looking more like Venezuela,

[33:41] by La La Cuba, bringing people and feeding them just to show that you're right, just to gain some votes.

[33:48] Shame on you, shame on you.

[33:52] I just also want to take the opportunity to thank the Sheriff's Department and the City staff for

[33:56] allowing the students at La Puente High School, Los Altos and Workman for expressing their constitutional rights of expressing their views over the stupid ideas that the criminal Donald Trump has brought into our country.

[34:13] As you know with Donald Trump, I'm not saying that he's a criminal.

[34:16] It was a court to fund them criminally charged.

[34:19] It's a shame that we have a representative, that's why our cities are like this.

[34:23] That's why some of our states are the way they are, because we have a criminal directing our country.

[34:30] And when the head is ill, the whole body gets sick, so that's why.

[34:36] Now, I really applaud the students, their ability, their organization, their direction,

[34:44] and their willingness to come and protest the wrongdoings of our federal government.

[34:50] We have a broken immigration system that needs to be repaired and nobody wants to take

[34:55] the lead.

[34:56] Typical of the federal government, they point fingers, but nobody wants to take the blame.

[35:02] We need unity, we need representation, and this is one of the things we're teaching our students, and I'm very happy to have been here on Friday because we're picking the best of those students to cater them, to prepare them to be the future leaders of our city.

[35:21] Those kids have a lot to give to our city, and I could see it.

[35:27] I could feel it in the words and their speeches, and in the way they carry themselves.

[35:32] It was very simple, they left the city premises clean, and I really applaud those students for doing so.

[35:38] Thank you.

[35:41] Next speaker.

[35:42] Madam Mayor.

[35:42] Oh yeah.

[35:43] Sure.

[35:45] Just here, I'm not for the votes, but I just wanted to chime in about whoever's listening in.

[35:52] and for the audience here, we

[35:58] just literally had the daughter of the guy that just spoke

[36:03] be proud of a program that is within our city.

[36:09] And that's just the first amendment, right, right?

[36:12] You get to say what you want.

[36:14] And so for tonight, we have two different spectrums, right?

[36:19] And I just want the audience listening in and the people here knowing that we are capable

[36:25] in willing to understand what the issues are, and we're going to move forward.

[36:31] But yes, to speak on what just happened this past week, we did have three of the high

[36:38] schools within the Hassan Al-Apranthi Unified School District come out to the, walk literally

[36:43] to the city hall, and because of our staff, we made sure that they were safe.

[36:49] We literally had law enforcement,

[36:53] code enforcement, public safety,

[36:57] literally walking them through to our location.

[37:02] So, there's a lot going on,

[37:04] and I just want to make sure that everybody's well aware,

[37:07] that we are aware, and we are being proactive.

[37:11] But I just wanted to make sure that everybody listening in,

[37:15] You know, here's what we're working with, right?

[37:20] And we're going to make sure that we're going to be a part of a solution.

[37:26] Thank you, Mayor.

[37:28] I'm going to piggyback off of that as well.

[37:30] And in regards to, you know, the common of shame on you, sheriffs.

[37:37] We all are aware that in the past month, we've had devastations of fires in our state.

[37:43] And under the jurisdiction of the county and resolutions,

[37:48] sheriffs from all over California were required to address those needs in those residential and burn areas.

[37:58] That included sheriffs in the city of Wabwenthe.

[38:01] So it is true that some of our services may have been inhibited, or

[38:06] there was lack of, but that's because of lack of physical officers that were available because they were required.

[38:13] So, thank you for doing your work, I will definitely make sure that we're all on the same page because public safety in our community is a priority, it is a priority, but there are times when there is natural disasters that even cities do not have any oversight on that or authority because it comes down from the state and county levels who will oversee those things.

[38:38] So I want to also thank our sheriffs for not only protecting our community during those times on a very thin staff, but also working those 12, 14 hours shifts daily to support the needs of our burn victims and then in our local neighboring cities with that being said, we'll move on to the next comment, please.

[39:07] Hi. Good evening mayor and council members and staff. I'm Jeanette Friels and the librarian

[39:12] from across the street back again to tell you more. You may know that we've been loaning

[39:19] out Chromebooks to the customers to take home since the pandemic and it's a popular service

[39:27] but it does have a limitation in that the Wi-Fi only works on that device. And so the county

[39:33] is added a new service of hotspot loans. Each library was given about 10 hotspots.

[39:43] There's 85 libraries so if you do the math it's close to 900 hotspots that are in circulation.

[39:49] They come by shipments each day and these devices then can be used by entire families.

[39:57] on their telephones and, you know, whatever device that they choose to use it.

[40:04] And it's portable.

[40:06] They can take it to work or to school as needed.

[40:12] Anybody 18 or over can check one out.

[40:15] You can put in a request for one yourself, if you'd like,

[40:19] or ask us to, and we'll do it for you.

[40:23] If you keep the kit for six weeks, and if you need longer, renew it, if there's not one

[40:30] available right away for renewal, then we'll put you back on the list, you're back at

[40:34] the top.

[40:36] And there's no late fees, as long as you bring it back, you're golden.

[40:42] If what happens is after it's two weeks late, then it gets bricked, as they say, so it won't

[40:48] work.

[40:48] but bring it back and you're back in perfect status with us.

[40:53] And I think that's it.

[40:56] Okay, thank you so much.

[41:00] Any other speakers?

[41:02] We have no more speakers.

[41:03] Great, let's move on to board commission and committee reports.

[41:06] Do you have anybody to report at this time?

[41:08] Nothing to report.

[41:09] I see none.

[41:10] Next minutes of the previous city council meeting.

[41:12] Motion to approve.

[41:13] I have a motion.

[41:13] I'll second, please vote.

[41:17] Mayor Munoz?

[41:18] Yes.

[41:19] Mayor Proton-Clinacos?

[41:21] Yes.

[41:21] Yes. Council Member Aguto. Aye. Council Member Mendoza. Yes. Council Member King Onus. Yes. Motion passes. Next public hearing we have none unfinished business of the City Council. There is none. I have D1 consent calendar. Do I have a motion to prove all and that would be items. I have a motion and a second. Please vote. Mayor Munoz. Yes. Mayor Pro-Tamclinakis. Yes. Council Member Aguto. Aye. Council Member Mendoza. Yes. Council Member King Onus. Yes. Motion passes. Next business. We have

[41:51] none, we'll move on to ad hoc and committee reports.

[41:54] Do I have anybody report at this time?

[41:56] I will go.

[41:58] Can we?

[41:59] Absolutely.

[42:01] Well, we're going to tag team this one.

[42:04] We had our second annual, it's project lead, right?

[42:09] But we call it the lead, dership conference.

[42:13] And we hosted it at the community center.

[42:16] And it was a great event.

[42:17] We actually had, you know, some of the students come out tonight to speak on it.

[42:20] But the purpose of this project, or this event, is to bring all the schools within the city limits of La Puente, and kind of really understand what the students want from the city, but also get them engaged with knowing what's going on with the different projects and also getting to know staff and getting to know the mayor and council members and what the roles that we play in.

[42:50] And just really engaging on civic engagement.

[42:54] But it was, this year was amazing, because last year we were, it was great, like the staff did an amazing job.

[43:01] But this year I think we finally found our footing and we were able to really help the students in our schools that actually live in our city really be a part of like what's going on and really pull ideas because within this program we're able to do things right.

[43:19] we want to hear from the students to find out how we progress in the city on the local

[43:26] level. So it was really cool to engage with the kids and have them give us ideas. I'm

[43:34] sorry for staff because we're going to go back to the drawing board and elevate the program

[43:39] come next year. But what was really amazing for everybody listening in and everybody in

[43:45] room as we, like the students said earlier in the presentation, we were able to bring

[43:53] kids together from different schools and different groups to get to know each other to find

[43:59] out what's going on on campus and what I want to highlight.

[44:04] And I hope it's not the elephant in the room, but I feel like what we're able to do is bring

[44:12] the high school and Bassett High School together and actually have the same ideas that these students have in the group sessions that's relatable and we're able to support these kids that are going to be our next generation but I just wanted to highlight the event that we had had and it was a successful event thanks to our staff putting it together.

[44:39] And just so you know, what it is is the kids come in like a full on conference they have name badges

[44:46] They're welcomed and yet we have these workshops and stuff

[44:50] But yeah, thanks again to the love of the high. I'm sorry love went the

[44:55] Community foundation for hosting the the food as well

[45:00] I'll pass it over to a councilwoman. Thank you, Mayor, Madam Mayor, if I may. Just to add to that, I have to say thank you to our staff, of course. Just very engaging and involved workshops for the students where I do believe that I observed their level of comfort the students had talking and hearing and going back and forth to making sure they understood what they're being informed of. But there's just really a nice flow to the morning.

[45:29] And it was important that they understood that they were doing something important for their community.

[45:36] And I think that was a sense that we all could see in their confidence in how they interacted with us, with staff, with each other.

[45:46] Have to thank our council.

[45:49] Thank you for everyone showing up on time and being there because there's a lot to be said that there's so many things going on

[45:58] in daily lives of, you know, our roles as council members and the daily, day to day, within the day activities the city health staff is working on in the community center staff and everyone in the city including our parks and our maintenance crews, you know, it's just so important that we showed them that we are here for the young people in our future leaders in this city, but I think they hopefully can identify that this is their city, this is their city hall,

[46:28] this is their community center, and it was just awesome to have the presence of every council member there and their input to the students and their interaction with the students because it's important for them to realize we are all different.

[46:41] We're all hopefully working towards a common purpose for each of ourselves as well as them, so it's just really powerful.

[46:50] The dialogue that was shared amongst all these different ages of young people is just

[46:55] really impactful to me, also I think to our staff just seeing how they really wanted

[47:02] to relate to the students to make sure they understood what they were talking about.

[47:06] And it's just something you want to see constantly being revisited with anybody really.

[47:11] You know, you get why we're here, you get what we're trying to do, can you give us some

[47:16] input to tell us if we're on the mark or not or what else can we improve upon, it was

[47:21] very, I don't even know what the right word is, but the students definitely left an impression

[47:26] on me of how much they care so deeply about their community and their peers, their friends,

[47:31] their families, in their city, in their neighborhoods.

[47:34] And I hope anyone that's listening or here tonight, you understand, they're not just kids.

[47:41] And I will be the first adult that will tell anybody, watch it.

[47:45] They're listening, they're watching, they're experiencing and they're living through this just as much as we are.

[47:51] And it's just so awesome to have them all come together with Project Lead and hopefully

[47:55] have that instill in them that they will take over and lead us into a better day.

[47:59] So just thank you guys, thank you for everything.

[48:03] Thank you so much. And again, Kudos to the ad hoc committee for

[48:09] leading our teams into the growth of that program, so really appreciate that.

[48:16] I'll report last Thursday, myself and Mayor Pro Tem did meet for the Senior Citizens Advisory Committee.

[48:23] We met with our assistant city manager as well as on staff.

[48:29] And we did a preliminary review of our local aging disability action plan that day.

[48:35] And also started the parameters to set up our Senior Advisory Committee.

[48:40] So as you know, we have a lead program that focuses on our youth in our community and

[48:45] highlight their needs and wants.

[48:48] And so we have never considered a Senior Advisory Committee here in the city of Lopwenthe and

[48:54] another integral part of our community.

[48:57] So creating this committee with representatives to have a voice at the tables extremely important.

[49:03] And so these are the very first steps in creating the bylaws, the process of participation.

[49:13] And our goal is to have this up and running with applicants by end of April.

[49:19] So we're working in addition with our preliminary view of our local aging disability action plan,

[49:24] which is a plan that we did get funded through a grant that will provide the city and

[49:29] and advantage when we go for federal or grant funding for senior programs or senior needs,

[49:35] we have that established.

[49:37] So our focus is to really do that.

[49:40] And this also goes hand in hand with our morning meetings.

[49:44] Our goal is to really access and allow abilities for all ages.

[49:50] Our communities, our businesses to participate.

[49:55] So yes, shame on me for allowing our seniors a seat at the table, and shame on me for acknowledging them and feeding them just like we do the lead programs.

[50:06] So I will take that shame because we're doing a great job and encouraging our seniors to have a voice.

[50:13] So at the end of the day we did meet and we started the preliminary view of that preview and I'm looking for future meetings as well.

[50:21] Thank you.

[50:23] Any else to report at this time?

[50:26] I see none.

[50:27] I know we have hands up, but we can't, as we can't have public comment,

[50:31] it's not, we're not allowed to take it, but we can definitely talk after the

[50:35] meeting if you have any questions as well.

[50:38] With that, we'll go on to AB 1234 reports.

[50:41] Anything to report at this time?

[50:43] I see none.

[50:44] Comments from Council.

[50:48] Madam Mayor.

[50:48] Yes.

[50:51] I want to thank staff for that great new year's, the new year lunar festival that we had

[50:59] last Saturday was just a fantastic event.

[51:03] I want to thank everyone that participated, staff did a great job.

[51:07] I also heard that Volvo, I think, contacted us shortly thereafter asking if they could come

[51:15] back next year.

[51:15] year. So it goes to show what a great time everyone had. Also, I want to thank everyone

[51:24] over at St. Joseph School. I was there last week for a career day, but also this past Friday,

[51:32] I attended the 75th anniversary of St. Joseph School. It was a great event, and I'm looking

[51:41] forward to more of those. Also the past Saturday I was over at the park because

[51:49] Little League was telling the kids basically what teams are going to play on

[51:54] and to my understanding they got about 350 kids signed up for this year so it's

[52:00] really very impressive so I'm glad to see that the kids are coming out in the

[52:04] community also to show what a little part our city played even in the in the region for the

[52:13] fires over at a Casa Sanchez Frank Sanchez establishment. There was several hundred individuals

[52:21] there all week long training for Hasmat which they've all been released because I think I

[52:27] seen on TV yesterday if they've released the Hasmat people that go start cleaning up the property

[52:34] So it seems like a lot of those individuals had training over here in our city, naturally had a private business.

[52:42] But it was nice to see that we were able to accommodate them to help the whole entire region.

[52:53] Thank you.

[52:54] Great, and I did want to say we did have our fire chief Robertson in the building, but he appeared to have left side.

[53:01] I just want to say thank you for being present while you're here.

[53:03] comments from staff.

[53:07] Yes, thank you Madam Mayor, members of Council.

[53:09] Just a few quick announcements from community services.

[53:12] Our city run youth T-Ball League, which is beginning in March, ended their registration.

[53:18] And we had 219 participants sign up for our T-Ball League that will take place.

[53:23] Practices will start this month and then games will start in March.

[53:27] The senior center is hosting their Valentine's Dance on Thursday, February 13th, from 11 a.m.

[53:33] to 4 p.m. if you're available to stop by.

[53:37] And then continuing with Project Lead, we are running our next Mox City Council meeting

[53:41] and youth and government day on Tuesday, March 4th.

[53:45] That'll be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. here at City Hall.

[53:48] And that will be our high school edition which will feature students from La Puente High

[53:52] School and Bassett High School.

[53:54] And then finally, the community foundation is hosting their Valentine's Day paint and

[53:59] sip this Friday the 14th from 7 to 9 p.m.

[54:02] It is a family friendly paint and sip this year at the LP Perk Cafe families of all ages are welcome

[54:09] And there will be a friendly instructor guiding them through the process of creating a masterpiece and they'll be able to enjoy

[54:17] Refreshments from the Perk Cafe

[54:21] Okay, with that being said, we'll go ahead and join our meeting

City Council and Successor Agency Special Closed Session and Regular Meeting

Agenda

Transcript