[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:08] All right. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to this regular meeting of the Rancho Santa Margarita City Council.
[0:15] And I'm going to call this meeting to order and we will begin tonight with the pledge of allegiance.
[0:21] And we're honored tonight to have Girl Scout troop 2575 lead us in tonight's pledge of allegiance.
[0:29] take away girls.
[0:54] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States and to the Republic for which it stands.
[1:03] One nation under God in the visible with liberty and justice for all of them.
[1:20] Thank you, girls. We appreciate you being here. That was really special for us.
[1:25] We hope you'll come see us again sometime.
[1:29] All right. Could we please have a roll call?
[1:36] Oh, my apologies, tonight is a special night, and I apologize that we started a few minutes
[1:43] late because we had a lovely reception for our veterans next door, and in honor of veterans
[1:49] day, not only are we doing the pledge of allegiance, but I'm going to ask that we stand
[1:54] once again because we're going to have a performance of our national anthem by Jazzlin
[2:00] so if y'all would please stand in jazling take it away
[3:51] jazling de as beautiful
[3:54] thank you so much
[4:06] all right at this time I'm going to ask for a roll call
[4:09] Mayor Bill Mayor Potemagur council member bear here council member figure oh you're
[4:16] council member hallway thank you brings us to item one which is our schedule a future
[4:21] events miss city manager. Thank you Mayor Bill and members of the city council. The November
[4:27] 26th city council meeting is cancelled as was noted at the beginning of the year when the council
[4:33] approves the city calendar yearly. And then secondly we would like to advise that the city hall
[4:38] will be closed on Thursday, November 27th and Friday, November 28th in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.
[4:44] Thank you.
[4:47] Thank you.
[4:50] Brings us to item 2 council member comments.
[4:55] 2.2 committee assignment reports.
[4:59] Item 1 that is listed is foothill eastern transportation authority.
[5:03] I really have no report for tonight.
[5:06] Excuse me, Mayor.
[5:09] I'm going to.
[5:11] Well, we'll go ahead and do that.
[5:13] So let's begin with Councilmember Comments
[5:16] and I'll turn to the mayor, Protem.
[5:19] Oh, thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[5:22] Since our last meeting, I attended the Troops 7272
[5:25] Court of Honor.
[5:26] That's an all-girl scout troop.
[5:28] Watch those young ladies receive the sort of thicket
[5:31] some badges that they so justly earned.
[5:33] I also attended the 15th Annual Roses
[5:36] and Radishes Award presented by the Orange County Tax
[5:38] Affairs Association, which time Sheriff Don Barnes was honored with a royalty award in recognition
[5:46] of his exceptional leadership and dedication of keeping Orange County safe and in an economically
[5:51] prudent manner.
[5:53] I also, on behalf of the mayor, attended the Orange County Transportation Authority's
[5:57] third district mayors forum along with the City Manager, Jennifer Beal, Jennifer Beal,
[6:03] Jennifer Svantes, Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner was there along with city leaders
[6:08] from the third district, which includes Mission Viejo, Lake Forest,
[6:12] or Belinda, Villaparque, et cetera, where we discuss transportation,
[6:17] priorities, funding sources, and regional mobility projects,
[6:20] currently under construction and occurring in the near future.
[6:23] If I may, Mr. Mayor, there's one other thing I'd like to bring up.
[6:28] Thank you.
[6:30] A resident of Rancho Santa, Margarita, Acute Patel,
[6:33] recently passed away a few weeks ago.
[6:37] He was a co-founder and chief strategy officer of Beyond Green, a mission-driven company rooted
[6:43] in sustainability and innovation, basically environmental innovation.
[6:48] He was a proud resident, an active community member here in Rancho, Acute Carita,
[6:54] a deep love for this city.
[6:56] Beyond Green was founded here in Rancho Santa Margarita and was a member of the Chamber
[7:00] of Commerce here in Rancho.
[7:02] He was passionate about sustainability, dedicating his professional life to reducing plastic
[7:09] pollution and building environmentally responsible systems through his work.
[7:14] He and his father, V.J. and his brother, Rudy, have been great supporters of a variety
[7:20] of causes here in Rancho Santa Margarita, including the Pet Adoption Center of Orange County,
[7:25] donating all of their environmentally friendly dog waste bags that are used and they give
[7:31] back in so many ways on a personal note, Rudy, Vijay, and Acute volunteered with Zero Trash
[7:38] quite often and dedicated, donated, that should say, supplies to me to Zero Trash on a
[7:45] monthly basis. He was only 30 years old and I will ask Mr. Mayer if I may at the conclusion
[7:52] of this meeting that we adjourn the meeting in honor of the memory of Acute Patel.
[7:58] Thank you. Absolutely, thank you. I appreciate those comments and condolences to the family.
[8:06] Any other council member comments?
[8:10] Council member figure.
[8:11] Well, thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to congratulate our mayor and our
[8:16] RSM Chamber of Commerce on outstanding state of the city address last week.
[8:20] Can congratulate all the individuals and businesses that were recognized on the
[8:24] in his restaurant, USAG, Lewis Air, School of Rock,
[8:29] Uncourt, Weinbar, and the RSM neighbors magazine.
[8:33] So just thank you to, I know how much work
[8:35] that event is and think to RSM city staff
[8:38] and all the sponsors that made that event possible.
[8:42] Also, I just wanted to thank everyone
[8:44] who came out to the RSM friends
[8:45] of the library book sale this last weekend.
[8:48] I was reported to me that the sales were an excess of $13,000,
[8:52] which was a record for their book sales event.
[8:56] So thank you to all the volunteers who came out to make that a
[8:58] event possible.
[9:00] And then finally report from RSM CARES,
[9:03] their last food pantry served a record of 340 families
[9:07] that came through.
[9:09] And that was up from 280 from the previous food pantry.
[9:13] And so I just want to thank RSM CARES for taking care
[9:16] of our families and community and just want to invite everybody
[9:20] out for this Saturday there's going to be another food drive at our local pavilions here from
[9:25] 10 to 4 and all non-perishable donations are welcome we hope to see you out there thank you very
[9:31] much Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Mayor last month I attended the League of California
[9:38] City's annual conference along Beach and these sessions were incredibly informative and
[9:43] provided an excellent opportunity for me to learn from city council members and staff from
[9:47] across California. Some of the seminars that I attended, included, included, building at
[9:54] use-centered cities, centralizing communications to increase engagement, and addressing
[9:59] the erosion of trust and local government. A common theme throughout the conference was
[10:03] the importance of building relationships, showing respect, and truly listening to others,
[10:08] especially those with different viewpoints. It was a great reminder to me that at the end
[10:12] the day, we're all human, and we all share a vested interest in making our city the best
[10:18] it can be, and I will continue to strive to build those relationships and earn your trust.
[10:23] Also, just as reminder from October through April, our some residential areas have street sweeping
[10:28] services twice a month. Help keep our some clean by moving your car on the sweeping days. If you're
[10:33] not sure which year sweeping days are, you can find that information as long along with streets sweeping
[10:39] maps on our city website.
[10:42] Then also I wanted to express my heartfelt gratitude to all the brave men and women who
[10:46] have served our country, some of who are here today.
[10:49] Your dedication and sacrifices protect the freedoms we cherish every day and I want
[10:53] to thank you for your service.
[10:55] Thank you.
[10:56] Thank you.
[10:58] I just also wanted to make reference to our recent state of the city event that Council
[11:04] I remember Figueroa mentioned, thank you to the Chamber of Commerce for putting on that event.
[11:09] And it was my honor to deliver that speech on behalf of our city.
[11:13] And I know many of you weren't there.
[11:17] And just real briefly, because it's always a team effort.
[11:22] I want to share with you just a couple highlights.
[11:24] Public safety has always been this city's number one priority.
[11:29] It continues to be.
[11:30] Once again, this year, according to the FBI,
[11:33] Rancho Santa Margarita has been ranked the number one safe
[11:36] city in the state of California.
[11:40] Number 15 in the entire United States.
[11:44] We finished the last year from a financial standpoint with a balanced budget.
[11:48] We had a significant surplus actually.
[11:51] And we have now saved more than one entire year's budget in terms of funds in our reserves.
[11:59] So, we are financially strong and stable, and that financial position allows us to deliver a very high level of services for the benefit of all of our residents.
[12:10] And I had the privilege of highlighting a number of those programs and events that we hold through the year.
[12:19] And they truly, I believe, and from what I hear from our residents, it creates an unparalleled quality of life for all of our residents.
[12:27] For example, next door in our Bell Tower Regional Community Center, we always intended that we would offer all sorts of programs in there, but they weren't to be provided by the city.
[12:41] They were going to be provided by a volunteer organization, a nonprofit called the Bell Tower Foundation.
[12:47] But after a few years, they just weren't able to do it. So the city decided we're going to pick that up and we're going to start providing the level of service in programs there.
[12:56] We have, and the number of those programs has increased dramatically, and there are programs
[13:02] and activities for people of all ages, from mothers and babies to literally dozens and
[13:08] dozens of programs for the benefit of the youth in this community, everything from science
[13:14] and STEM programs to arts, dancing,
[13:22] physical activities like martial arts.
[13:24] There's literally something for every interest for our youth every day next door in the Bell Tower community center.
[13:31] We have programs for adults and seniors and those are provided in sponsored by our city.
[13:37] We put on a series of free summer concerts in the park and we have activities throughout the years,
[13:44] such as our Patriot Day celebration or commemoration or flag day commemoration.
[13:50] And we put on a really big New Year's Eve event for all of our residents free of charge.
[13:57] And it's those type of things that help make our community the place that it is.
[14:02] One of the absolute best places to live, to raise a family or to own a business.
[14:09] And I want to say thank you to my city council colleagues because I mentioned it's a team
[14:13] effort.
[14:14] To our city staff, you do a lot of the heavy lifting every day of the year, we're grateful
[14:18] for your efforts and for all of our residents.
[14:21] Working together, we have a great community
[14:23] a city that we could all be very proud of.
[14:26] So thank you for that.
[14:29] All right.
[14:29] So that brings us then to item 2.2,
[14:33] which is committee assignment reports.
[14:35] First up is the foothill Eastern Transportation Authority.
[14:39] I happen to be our cities representative
[14:40] on the toll road agency, and I'll be very brief.
[14:43] At our meeting in October,
[14:45] We approved a new pension funding policy to proactively address future pension liabilities of that agency.
[14:56] The budget there is substantially larger than ours here.
[15:00] It's the difference between 20 million and hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars. And so we are trying to bring that same sort of fiscal responsibility that we have in Rancho Santa Margarita to the transportation corridor agency.
[15:15] We also approved the comprehensive system-wide traffic study to support our strategic planning for future growth and capital improvement projects.
[15:26] And we're also looking at possible ways to reuse some of the toll
[15:31] clauses that were utilized before we went to all automatic tolling.
[15:38] And as I've mentioned, to prior meetings, we already do certain experimental or pilot programs,
[15:44] for example, with the Irvine Police Department, they train their motorcycle officers in
[15:49] those facilities because they're to the side of the road, they don't distract people and
[15:53] It's safe for them, so those are the highlights from our meeting.
[15:58] All right, second up, 2.2, number two is Orange County Public Library Advisory Board,
[16:04] and that's Council Member Figaroa.
[16:06] Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor.
[16:07] I intend on the October 23rd Library Advisory Board meeting,
[16:11] which included a presentation on O.C. Labs Capital Improvement Program
[16:15] and their Capital Reserve Fund.
[16:17] And the O.C. Library's Capital Improvement Program provides long-term sustainability
[16:22] for library facilities throughout Orange County, ensuring all libraries are safe, welcoming and modern.
[16:29] And all OC libraries are refreshed about every eight to ten years to reflect updates and technology,
[16:35] building codes, ADA requirements, and we're on terror and flooring and furniture.
[16:41] And for those of you that don't know, our RSM library was actually just remodeled two years ago.
[16:47] If you haven't seen it, I would highly suggest you go over, it's absolutely beautiful.
[16:53] At the end of our meeting, O.C. libraries announced that they received a $100,000 grant from
[16:59] the Senate Assembly, Breakaway Grant Fund that will be used to create programs for children
[17:05] on the autism spectrum.
[17:07] Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor.
[17:08] Thank you.
[17:09] 2.2.
[17:10] The third item is South Orange County Watershed Management Area Executive Committee.
[17:14] That's a council member bare.
[17:16] This meeting was canceled, so we didn't have it. Thank you.
[17:19] Sure, no problem.
[17:23] As you're aware, and as I briefly mentioned, we're having a special day today in honor of veterans day.
[17:30] And so before we get to our veterans day, recognition and presentations,
[17:36] I would like to move, should we do it now or after I'm just announcing from a council
[17:48] calling.
[17:48] What is on our agenda is item 8.1, which is design review and approval to proceed with
[17:56] a final design for the Veterans Monument.
[17:58] I'd like to take that out of order and I'm just giving you notice we're going to move
[18:03] that right after our veterans' day presentation tonight, okay, so just so everybody knows.
[18:10] And for our veterans that are in the audience after our presentation tonight, you might
[18:15] want to just stick around for that.
[18:19] So, let's move on then to item 3 presentations and proclamations and item 3.1,
[18:29] for these presentations,
[18:32] I'm going to ask that the Mayor pretend if you would join me in front of the Dines for this.
[19:19] Okay, this is item 3.1, a certificate of recognition as part of our business recognition
[19:25] to VIP nails, salon, and spa.
[19:30] And at this time, I would like to invite forward Henry Gomez and Nalani
[19:34] when the owners of that great business.
[20:00] So Henry and Nalani, the Mayor Potem has a certificate of recognition from the City of Rancho Santa Margarita that we are honored to present to you tonight.
[20:12] We're also going to share with you certificates that have been delivered on behalf of our Semedy First District Assemblywoman Kate Sanchez.
[20:24] Our 30th District Senator Catherine Blake Spear, and from Washington, D.C. from our Congresswoman, the U.S. Representative Young Kim.
[20:41] But seeing that the certificate of recognition from the city of the Rancho Santa Margarita is the most important.
[20:47] I want to share with you the contents of that one.
[20:52] The City Council of Rancho Santa Margarita desires to recognize and express appreciation for local businesses
[20:59] that exemplify excellence, dedication, and service to both their industry and the broader
[21:06] community.
[21:07] And VIP nail salon and spa offers gel manicures, impedicures, waxing, acrylics, dipping
[21:13] in thousands of colors to choose from, with convenient online booking or walk in service.
[21:20] In VIP, Nail Salon and Spa, was founded back in 2019 by Henry and Nolani, both U.S. Navy veterans,
[21:30] who embarked on this business venture after Henry's 30 years of faithful service and eight
[21:36] years of working for the federal government to ensure that the Rancho Santa Margarita community
[21:42] had the best possible care for their hands and feet while focusing on the delivery of excellent
[21:47] customer service.
[21:48] The IP Nails, their customers experience professional customer service, attention to detail and customer-centered service,
[21:59] as evidenced by stellar reviews by thousands of customers in the past six years.
[22:05] And the reputation established throughout our community.
[22:08] The IP Nail Salon and Spa's emphasis on efficiency, integrity and customer satisfaction reflects the highest standards of business operations and contributes to the prosperity of our great city.
[22:23] The City of Rancho Santa Margarita is proud to be home to this veteran-owned business.
[22:30] That not only provides luxurious personal care services, but also practices the highest level of health and safety protocols, honoring their customers and providing services to our community every day.
[22:45] So as the mayor of this city, on behalf of all my city council colleagues in the 50,000 residents of this great city, it is our honor tonight to recognize you.
[22:55] Thank you for choosing Ranch of Santa Margarita to operate your business.
[22:59] We appreciate everything you do for our community each and every day.
[23:03] Congratulations.
[23:12] Please take a quick picture.
[23:15] If anybody wants to come forward, you're welcome to take a picture.
[23:46] It's one of you come up and get a picture with Mom and Dad.
[23:49] We have referenced it.
[23:50] It is from Congress, some of the young kids off this here tonight.
[23:55] And I just want them to know that I was only joking when I said ours was the most important
[25:00] That brings us to item 3.2 on our agenda, which is our Veterans Day recognition.
[25:08] And I am honored to be speaking with you today on such an important occasion as we're
[25:13] celebrating tonight Veterans Day.
[25:17] We are here to honor our veterans to remember the sacrifices they have made to defend our
[25:24] honor, duty, and our country.
[25:27] At this time, we're going to play a video to honor our veterans in City Clerk.
[30:42] Thank you so much for that beautiful presentation. At this time, I'd like to invite all of my city council colleagues to join me, right in front of the dice, for the next part of this presentation.
[31:21] Veterans Day was originally called Armistice Day, and it was designated as a day to celebrate the end of World War I.
[31:30] The first World War ended November 11,
[31:35] 1918. Congress passed a resolution in 1926 for an annual
[31:41] observance. And November 11 became a national holiday beginning in 1938. President Eisenhower
[31:51] signed legislation in 1954 to change the name to Veterans Day. To honor all those who
[32:00] served in all American wars.
[32:03] Our veterans possessed great courage, pride, determination,
[32:09] selflessness and dedication to duty and integrity.
[32:13] Our veterans left everything they knew
[32:16] as they were called to be part of something bigger
[32:19] than themselves.
[32:21] On veterans day and every day,
[32:23] let us all strive to show them our gratitude.
[32:26] They so rightly deserve.
[32:27] Let us recommit to pledging our full support for them in all they do.
[32:34] So at this time, I would like to invite forward the veterans that are in attendance tonight.
[32:40] Please come forward as I call the branch of service that you served.
[32:46] First up, from the United States Army, please come forward veterans.
[33:01] Welcome.
[33:02] Glad to have you here.
[33:04] Thank you for calling.
[33:07] are veterans from the United States Air Forces,
[33:19] from the United States Coast Guard,
[33:27] from
[33:27] the United States Navy,
[33:47] and last but not least from the United States Marine Corps.
[34:09] We are
[34:10] so honored to have each of you here tonight, and it's our privilege to call you forward
[34:17] to deserve this recognition that you have earned. And we strive, as I mentioned, to try
[34:23] show that gratitude and things every day of the year.
[34:27] People that's have a hand for our veterans.
[34:29] Thank you.
[34:42] Jim Clements was asked me to make reference
[34:44] to and call forward any members of the United States Space Force
[34:49] that may be in attendance.
[34:50] Let's recognize that newest branch of our military.
[34:55] Thank you, Jim.
[34:59] If we could gather nice and tight,
[35:01] let's try and get some nice photos from tonight.
[35:03] And
[35:21] everyone
[35:30] is welcome to take pictures and come forward,
[36:04] of course, on the last.
[36:07] You guys are looking great.
[36:16] Would anyone like to say anything?
[36:18] You don't have to?
[36:20] Yes, sir.
[36:22] On your face.
[36:24] Just want to say, thank you for your support.
[36:30] I didn't ask for it, but it means the world to me.
[36:36] I'm just really grateful that I'm here.
[36:38] And I'm really thankful.
[36:41] I did 12 years near me.
[36:42] I would have done it again.
[36:43] And it's all because also the support and the love that I have here.
[36:47] So thank you.
[36:49] Thank you, Jimmy.
[36:51] Anyone else?
[36:55] Thank you so much.
[36:57] I want to thank RSM through our tough times through COVID.
[37:02] the City Council, everybody helped us so much.
[37:06] We were using our savings to keep a float and thank God.
[37:10] Everything went well.
[37:12] We got made best friends over here with the people that come over to the shop.
[37:16] The RSM fantastic.
[37:18] I always told people if it was for the other generation that helped us keep flowing and being in the military.
[37:27] So we thank you guys for letting us keep continuing on.
[37:30] Thank you.
[37:36] Thank you to all of our veterans, thank you so much for being here.
[37:40] It means the world to us, thank you.
[38:02] Thank you.
[38:02] Thank you.
[38:23] That's going to bring this to item 3.3, which is Veterans of Foreign Wars, post 6024, a special presentation.
[38:32] This time I would like to invite forward, Harry Stilman, Vietnam veteran and Commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars, post 6024.
[38:41] All
[38:54] righty. Well, you know, post 6024 spends some time around here. We are up here for your flag,
[39:02] got retirement ceremonies for up here this evening. You allow us to sit up our buddy poppy tables
[39:08] that venues around the city and we appreciate that very much. So in appreciation of that,
[39:18] I would like to make this presentation to the city of Rancho Santa Margarita.
[39:22] We present the certificate of appreciation and recognition of your continuing dedication, patriotism, and support to the community and to WebberJ currents for 6024.
[39:35] Please accept our thank you from all of our members.
[39:38] They did November 12th, 2025.
[39:46] It's our honor to accept this.
[39:48] Thank you and thank you for all that you do for our community each and every day of the year.
[39:53] Let's take a picture.
[40:11] Thank you, sir.
[40:12] Thank you.
[40:56] That completes item three presentations and proclamations.
[41:02] And as I mentioned earlier, at this time I would like to move out of order and hear item 8.1 given that it's related to our veterans day.
[41:16] And so I'm going to call for 8.1, design review and approval to proceed with final design for the Veterans Monument.
[41:25] Mr. Parko. Good evening. Good evening, Mayor Bill. Members of City Council. I am very proud
[41:32] and honored to give a presentation on this project, the Veterans Monument Project. Very
[41:38] important project for us. This presentation will discuss the design review and approval to
[41:45] proceed with final design for the Veterans Monument.
[41:51] By way of background, the Veterans
[41:54] project was proposed in 2024. The monument is proposed to be located behind the
[42:01] plaza of the flags shown here in red, right behind the parking lot. This area is
[42:08] within Samlark property, so an easement agreement will be required to be
[42:13] executed with Samlark for the construction of this project.
[42:18] There is an existing
[42:19] Veterans Monument constructed in 2015 by the Scouts of America located in this area and can be seen in the lower right photograph.
[42:30] The plaque on the Monument will be saved and salvaged with the new construction.
[42:39] The conceptual design, which is shown here, was presented to City Council at the July 10, 2024 meeting.
[42:47] The conceptual design had a curved arched design, so they could fit between the olive trees
[42:54] behind the parking lot.
[42:55] It was going to be 12 feet in length.
[42:58] And at that meeting city council provided a few comments.
[43:02] One of them was to construct a higher stone veneer at the bottom of the monument.
[43:07] Another one was to install benches in and around the monument area.
[43:11] And the last final one was to propose lighting for the monument.
[43:21] So this concept design was presented and reviewed by Samlark Staff.
[43:26] We received no comments.
[43:28] However, after the review, Samlark Staff requested a field review with city staff in Samlark's landscape and facilities enhancement committee, the LFEC.
[43:39] The SAMLARC LFEC is an advisory board that provides recommendations to the SAMLARC board for
[43:45] ultimate approval on proposed projects, maintenance activities, etc.
[43:50] As a result of the field meeting, the following comments were generated by the LFEC.
[43:56] The LFEC had concern with the placement of the monument between the two existing olive trees.
[44:02] Their concerns were that the footing of the monument in close proximity to the roots of the trees would do damage to the roots and ultimately the health of the trees.
[44:14] The LFC wanted to maintain shade. However, they thought the monument within the canopy of the trees was not very visible and somewhat hidden and out of view.
[44:28] It's one of their comments.
[44:31] So as a result of these comments, staff took the design back and refined the design to address
[44:37] that LFEC comments.
[44:39] The refined design was taken to the Samark Board on October 28th by the LFEC and Samark Board
[44:46] approved the refined design at that meeting.
[44:50] So with that background, I'm going to turn it over to Wilson Lung, Principal Engineer
[44:55] project manager to go over the details of the refined design.
[45:00] Thank you, Joe. Good evening Mayor Bill and members of the City Council on Wilson-Loon and I will be reviewing the refined design of variance of monuments tonight.
[45:08] So after discussions with Sam Lark and comments required by City Council on the previous meeting, the monument was revised and rendered as seen on the screen.
[45:16] The following design considerations include the reorientation of the monuments, which rotates the structure 180 degrees and moves approximately 18 feet closer to City Hall, away from the drip line and the canopy of the olive trees.
[45:30] The design also strains out the monument and takes advantage of the additional space that was available to us and the plaques will be placed facing away from city hall as depicted.
[45:40] There will be higher stone veneer and lights will be furnished and installed to ensure the money will be visible at night.
[45:47] Benches will be installed with a sample of the benches that will be installed on the bottom right over there. There will be somewhere to the ones on the breezeway of city hall.
[45:56] To accommodate these changes, we will need to remove the hedges, adjust the existing drainage
[46:01] on site, and some of the concrete panels will need to be removed.
[46:05] As you can see, the rendering also depicts the potential size of the monument being 15 feet
[46:11] in length or feet in height and roughly two feet in width.
[46:18] This layout is an overhead depiction of the proposed improvements, as mentioned in the previous
[46:23] slide.
[46:23] The benches will be placed under the olive trees to take advantage of the shade divided by the trees.
[46:30] This slide also depicts the proposed easement in relation to the right away within the area.
[46:35] The blue line is the right away between City of Ranch Santa Margarita and Samark.
[46:40] And the red line is the proposed easement, which is approximately 20 feet by 20 feet.
[46:50] This slide depicts the military seals and dedication layout as proposed.
[46:54] The sample verb is shown as part of a touch-and-beator packets.
[46:58] However, staff will ride counsel with a more refined option to choose from a later date.
[47:11] This slide depicts the potential heart and soft cost of the project with design and construction
[47:15] estimated at $50,000.
[47:18] And soft cost and contingency estimate at $20,000 for a total project cost of $70,000.
[47:29] This slide depicts the schedule of the turnaround time of the construction of the Veterans
[47:33] this morning and is contingent on the approval of the easement from Samark, which we hope
[47:38] to obtain in December.
[47:39] We anticipate the completion of the construction in May, 2026,
[47:47] with that open up questions.
[47:49] Thank you for that presentation.
[47:53] At this time, I'm going to open this matter up to my city council colleagues, perhaps before
[48:04] We're doing so we do have a couple people that have asked to speak members of the public,
[48:08] so why don't we hear from them first?
[48:11] So at this time I would like to first call forward Mr. Jim Clements.
[48:19] Welcome right back to your family questions.
[48:25] Good evening, Jim.
[48:26] Welcome.
[48:27] Good evening, Mayor.
[48:28] Through the council, my name is Jim Clements, retired.
[48:30] Chief Petty Officer.
[48:31] Nice to meet you.
[48:33] To understand military veterans, there are a few things that I think you must know as we
[48:36] think about this.
[48:37] We left home as teenagers stepping into the unknown with courage and conviction.
[48:43] We left our country enough to defend it even with our lives.
[48:47] We set goodbye to everything familiar, family, friends, comfort and certainty.
[48:52] We found new friends, new family, and forge bonds stronger than blood.
[48:56] We became brothers and sisters for a guardless of race, religion, and politics.
[49:00] We had our share of good times and plenty of bad ones.
[49:04] We didn't get enough sleep, some of us even smoked and drank too much.
[49:08] We worked hard, we played harder.
[49:12] We didn't earn much, but we gave everything.
[49:15] We felt the joy of male call and we ate for missing the milestones.
[49:20] We didn't know when or if we would see home again.
[49:24] We grew up fast and somehow never grew up at all.
[49:28] We fought for our freedom for the freedom of others.
[49:33] Some of us saw combat, some didn't, some face physical warfare, most face psychological warfare.
[49:41] We endure things we can't fully explain because not all wounds are visible.
[49:47] We honor traditions, rituals, and ceremonies that forge our unity.
[49:52] We kind of want each other to get the job done. We face victory and tragedy.
[49:57] We celebrate it and we mourn.
[50:00] We lost few brothers and sisters along the way.
[50:03] When the adventure ended, some returned home.
[50:06] Some started over, some never came back.
[50:10] We tell sea stories, some hilarious, and some heartbreaking.
[50:14] We sure have found a bond few will ever understand.
[50:18] We speak proudly of our own branch and rid the others with love.
[50:22] But when it counts, we stand together, always.
[50:27] Being a veteran is earned.
[50:29] It can never be taken away.
[50:31] It holds no price tag, but it is priceless gift.
[50:35] So on behalf of the veterans, I thank you for considering this monument to be a beacon of light for those that have served.
[50:42] Thank you.
[50:45] Thank you, Jim, for those beautiful comments.
[50:51] I'd now like to call forward Harry Stilman.
[51:00] Good evening, Harry.
[51:00] You're welcome.
[51:01] You're really mean.
[51:04] You know Jim pretty well defined who we are and why we stand together.
[51:10] I'd like to speak to a monument because that's what this discussion is about.
[51:15] In addition to serving with the VFWI also, used to ride with an outfit called Run for
[51:24] the Wall, motorcycles that run from Monterey, California to Washington, DC every May, too.
[51:30] visit our brothers and sisters on the wall.
[51:33] Now, that's a big memorial granted.
[51:36] But along the way, we stopped in the small towns
[51:40] and some of the cities and most of those cities
[51:44] have a monument to veterans.
[51:47] Some are dedicated to particular war,
[51:50] be it Vietnam, Korea, or World War II.
[51:53] But so many of the cities have a monument.
[51:57] I'm not from Russia to come on here, I'm from San Juan Capustrano.
[52:04] We have a memorial, at least we did last week, I don't know if it's still there, there's
[52:09] some discussion about taking it out.
[52:12] But I hope they don't, because on occasion, on a memorial day, or maybe, maybe veterans day,
[52:20] if I can't make a run to the wall in DC, or if I'm feeling particularly down,
[52:26] And that happens to us.
[52:29] I know I can go to the memorial.
[52:32] I can sit on the bench and I can reflect.
[52:36] I can reflect on my experiences.
[52:39] I can reflect my brothers and sisters who didn't come home.
[52:44] And it's just a quiet, peaceful place to be.
[52:47] And I think it's high time.
[52:49] The ranch of Santa Margarita also has one for their veterans.
[52:53] Because you see there's at some point after we get discharged from the military.
[53:01] We come to realize that we're never really going to be able to transition fully from military
[53:07] life to civilian life.
[53:10] We're veterans now and we always will be.
[53:14] We stand together and we're never alone.
[53:19] Thank you very much.
[53:20] Thank you, sir.
[53:27] The city clerk, do we have any other request to speak?
[53:31] There are none.
[53:32] Anybody else care to speak on this item?
[53:35] All right, seeing none that I'm going to now turn it over to my city council colleagues.
[53:39] If you had any questions for our staff or any comments relating to this agenda item,
[53:47] would anyone care to begin?
[53:50] Can't remember hallway.
[53:52] Thank you, Mayor.
[53:53] On one of the earlier slides, there's a...
[54:00] I think I had to do with the, I think I saw the root issues that there was issues with roots or was that one.
[54:07] There we go. All of those comments and concerns have those all, I think is probably in here,
[54:15] have those all been resolved to the satisfaction staff. Okay.
[54:20] Damage to roots. Is that, what was that specifically?
[54:23] You know, that wasn't really addressed in the...
[54:27] It had to do it the original placement of the monument,
[54:30] because it was between the two trees.
[54:32] If you were to dig the footings or put in the footings,
[54:36] that it would potentially damage roots of the trees,
[54:39] if you tried to retain the trees and those that location,
[54:43] and rather than risk damaging the roots,
[54:48] or have to remove the trees,
[54:50] the orientation of the monument was in the placement of the monument
[54:53] change. So it's far enough away from the trees to avoid any damage.
[54:58] Thank you. Are there any issues here, any hurdles, any speed bumps, any issues with this particular subject?
[55:06] At this point, no, everything has been worked out. Samark has been very good to work with and provided their committee,
[55:13] their LFEC committee provided some really salient points and helped essentially make a better project.
[55:20] Thank you. Thank you. Mayor Pratem. Yes. Thank you. Very briefly. Thank you for your presentation. Just a couple of quick questions. What is on the if we look at the slide of the new.
[55:31] There we go. What is on the back side if anything. There is nothing proposed at this time. It's just.
[55:37] I can't hear you. Oh, there's nothing proposed at this time. It's a blank canvas. I noticed on the.
[55:44] The last page of our staff report has a number.
[55:49] Thank you.
[55:50] The service plaques.
[55:51] And one that's not on there is the POWMIA missing but not forgotten.
[55:57] Is there a possibility we can have something akin to that,
[56:01] or have that emblem placed on the back side,
[56:03] so that it's just not a blank wall, if you will.
[56:08] I would think that'd be important or any other plaques
[56:11] that represent the various service that is available here.
[56:18] But I think it would be nice at the very least
[56:20] to have a POWMIA emblem on this as well.
[56:24] So if it doesn't mess up the front,
[56:25] I think it would be nice to have it on the back.
[56:27] So then when people come in,
[56:28] they can recognize immediately that this is a plaque
[56:31] that we have determined to honor appropriately
[56:34] the veterans and our communities.
[56:37] Thank you.
[56:38] Mayor Protem, I'll mention that it's my understanding that there has been some discussions
[56:43] about potentially putting the names of certain distinguished Rancho Santa Margarita veterans
[56:49] on the back and that is a work in progress and there are ongoing discussions regarding
[56:54] that as well.
[56:55] Wonderful.
[56:55] Thank you.
[56:58] I think this is a wonderful, wonderful proposal and I want to recognize and salute
[57:08] My colleague, Councilwoman Anne Figaroa, she has been the champion of this particular project
[57:15] since it first began.
[57:17] She has been pushing for this, stuck with it, consulted with numerous people regarding it.
[57:23] And I just want to thank you for your dedication to our veterans and all your efforts
[57:28] in connection with this particular project.
[57:31] So, I've turned over to you at this time.
[57:34] Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor.
[57:36] I was very pleased to bring this item forward a couple of years ago, but due to the timing of
[57:41] budget planning and so forth, it did get delayed a little bit until we were able to budget
[57:46] for it for 2025. And over the years, I visited or had the opportunity to visit a lot of different
[57:51] city halls in South Orange County and many have monuments honoring our veterans. And of course,
[57:57] twice a year, we hold our flag day celebration, our 9-11 observance, two very patriotic events
[58:06] at City Hall and I think having a veteran monument here in Central Park here is really a perfect
[58:13] opportunity to honor all who have served our nation and protect our freedoms. I just really
[58:19] want to thank Sam Warwick and their Board of Directors. They've spent a lot of time going over
[58:24] the design of the monument. And most importantly, this would not have gotten done if they weren't
[58:30] to grant us an easement to get this project started.
[58:35] So my only suggestion would be I think Wilson and Joe
[58:38] would just be to reverse the branches of military service
[58:42] to the other side.
[58:44] So when you're walking down to the bell tower,
[58:47] you can see them more easily.
[58:50] And then I would prefer to have the names on the back
[58:53] of the monument where as adjacent to the benches.
[58:56] So when people are there to, you know, recognize their, their veterans or loved one, that their names are there in front of the bench.
[59:05] So that would be my one comment.
[59:08] And then also I just wanted to let everybody know, and especially our local veterans here that if this item is approved tonight,
[59:16] we'll be holding a meeting for all of our local veterans next Wednesday, November 19th at 5 p.m.
[59:23] at the Bell Tower to discuss details on the veteran name, placement, et cetera. So all of our
[59:29] local veterans are invited to your town. So thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Thank you.
[59:35] Councillor member Bear. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I do have a couple of questions for you.
[59:42] What exactly is in the area between the monuments and the benches? What's the ground cover?
[59:49] It's DG, it's decomposed granite.
[59:52] Okay.
[59:53] And so there's no additional planting or anything around there.
[59:56] Not that's playing right now, no.
[59:59] Okay.
[59:59] Okay.
[1:00:00] I also agree with council member figure out about the placement of the signs, just so we have something
[1:00:07] on the front of it, because it seems like the front of it would be facing the city hall and
[1:00:14] the back, the MIA POW sign, the other items that you're discussing for the back would be good to
[1:00:22] have there, if someone's sitting there and remembers and thought, like one of our residents
[1:00:29] was talking about, and I'm fully supported this sign, and I really want to thank Council
[1:00:37] Member Figurella for her hard work and community outreach with our veterans and her perseverance
[1:00:42] in making this veteran's monument reality. I think this monument will be a wonderful
[1:00:48] addition to our city and a meaningful way to honor those who have served our country.
[1:00:51] so thank you. Thank you. Seeing no other comments from the City Council, we've now provided additional
[1:01:01] direction. I would entertain a motion to approve the staff's recommendation to proceed with plans
[1:01:07] and specifications for bidding and to prepare an easement agreement for the construction of the
[1:01:24] That motion carries unanimously. Thank you.
[1:01:34] At this time, we're going to take a brief recess to our veterans.
[1:01:38] Thank you once again for your service to our country.
[1:01:41] Thank you for being here.
[1:01:43] You're welcome to hang around for the rest of our meeting.
[1:01:45] We're going to get down to the nitty gritty business of the city
[1:01:48] and you're not going to hurt anyone's feelings if you choose not to attend.
[1:01:52] It's been great having you here and we look forward to seeing you next year as well.
[1:01:56] Let's take a few minutes recess. Thank you.
[1:02:31] We're going to reconvene our meeting. We're back now. Item four public comments. This is the first of two opportunities to address the city council on any matter not listed on our city council's agenda. It is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the city.
[1:02:47] Public comments are limited to three minutes per person, a time limit of 15 minutes for this particular segment. There will be a second at the end of our agenda tonight.
[1:02:57] Council members before we call forth the live public comments and we have a number of them tonight.
[1:03:03] I wanted to call your attention to an e-comment that we received from to see a search.
[1:03:10] She wanted to let us know that in her haste to prepare her notes to speak at the October 8 meeting.
[1:03:19] She typed reference to million when she meant to refer to the cost of the Antonio Monument Wall.
[1:03:26] when in fact she meant to have typed and said thousands.
[1:03:29] She was aware of that.
[1:03:31] She just had an inadvertent air.
[1:03:33] She wasn't trying to mislead anybody.
[1:03:36] So those were her comments and we think you
[1:03:39] for that clarification to see them.
[1:03:41] And so at this point, I'm going to begin calling forth
[1:03:47] our public speakers, first up, Amber Blumer.
[1:03:55] Good evening, welcome.
[1:03:56] Good evening. I am here again for I think the second or third time to request that the Council
[1:04:03] consider adopting a formal process by which residents can submit items for inclusion on the
[1:04:09] Council meeting agenda. In addition to the current method where you require two Council members
[1:04:14] to agree to add an item. I think this change would strengthen our local democracy. I think it would
[1:04:19] enhance public trust and I also think it would produce better decisions for all of us. When the
[1:04:25] for it in a way that can result in serious conversation, and when people feel they can have an
[1:04:30] impact, it creates stronger civic engagement as well as pathways for accountability for everyone.
[1:04:36] It helps us all remember that elected officials are public servants of all residents,
[1:04:40] not only those with ready access or representation by council members,
[1:04:45] opening the agenda process signals that the council is serious about listening to the broad
[1:04:49] community, not just those with established relationships inside of access or have opinions that
[1:04:55] line with the Council.
[1:04:57] Residents of this city often live the everyday reality of policy outcomes, commute times, zoning
[1:05:03] impacts, local infrastructure services, neighbourhood quality, safety, etc.
[1:05:08] By allowing public submissions of agenda items that Council would benefit from that
[1:05:12] lived experience, which can surface issues that staff or members might not otherwise know
[1:05:16] about.
[1:05:17] We do obviously have the public comment section like this, but currently there's no way of
[1:05:22] moving items from here to an actual agenda item, unless two city members feel it's important
[1:05:26] enough, and I don't think I've ever seen that happen.
[1:05:30] In addition, I believe that a system that allows public- initiated agenda items encourages
[1:05:35] people to become more engaged to fill their voice matters and to participate in local
[1:05:40] government rather than be passive observers.
[1:05:43] This kind of civic engagement is strongly correlated with positive outcomes for communities.
[1:05:47] When people see that they can bring their issues forward and know they will be considered, trust
[1:05:52] in local government is actually strengthened.
[1:05:55] Enabling more access in this way would create wonderful opportunities for new conversations
[1:05:59] and ideas for the city.
[1:06:01] This potentially challenging these potentially challenging conversations would possibly require
[1:06:06] bravery, openness, and heightened engagement from both the council and members of the public
[1:06:11] alike.
[1:06:12] When you think about it, requiring two council members to sponsor an agenda item may limit
[1:06:17] new or less-connected voices from being heard. Especially residents who might not know council members
[1:06:23] well, represent underserved neighborhoods or work schedules that limit outreach. By enabling
[1:06:28] public initiated items, the process becomes more inclusive and equitable, aligning with best
[1:06:33] practice frameworks that call for engagement of traditionally underrepresented groups. And it's
[1:06:38] my belief that this could do nothing but benefit our city. Thank you for your consideration again.
[1:06:43] Thank you for your comments.
[1:06:46] The next step is Bre and Boyle.
[1:06:55] Good evening.
[1:07:00] Hi, everybody.
[1:07:03] So we didn't plan this, but pretty on theme here.
[1:07:09] I attended as far as transparency and being open to the public.
[1:07:13] So I attended the RSM State of the city address last week that featured Mayor Bill.
[1:07:19] For folks at home, did you know about this?
[1:07:21] I assume you didn't because I was one of six, six members of the public that showed up to an event that was basically pay-walled.
[1:07:30] So, and I will say that Tony had to say highlights tonight because he knows that the public wasn't there, basically admitted that today.
[1:07:39] So, Tony Biel had this event tied into the Chamber of Commerce's Business Awards, so cute, right?
[1:07:45] Except in order to attend this event, you had to either pay $80 for a ticket or pay $310 to be a member of the Chamber of Commerce, which is a specific organization for businesses and not regular folks.
[1:07:57] Or wait outside and be left in once the big fancy people were done doing their big fancy stuff that they paid to do.
[1:08:03] And this event was also held at the Dove Canyon Golf Club, a neighborhood behind a gate.
[1:08:07] That doesn't sound accessible to me.
[1:08:10] Shouldn't a speech given by the mayor be accessible and open to the public?
[1:08:13] And yes, those of us not paying money to eat salads on white tablecloths could wait outside
[1:08:17] and be let in right before the actual speech, but look at the hurdles there.
[1:08:22] There were enough hurdles that only six members of the public were there.
[1:08:26] As a mayor in a council who also definitely gave full eye contact to the veterans who were speaking,
[1:08:32] but not to people like me.
[1:08:34] As a mayor in a council elected by people of the city,
[1:08:36] You should be horrified and disappointed that so few constituents were there, but I don't see that reaction now, and I didn't see it last week when I listened to Tony Speak.
[1:08:45] He had plenty to say about how much money the city was spending on things and even touted the hundreds of thousands of dollars they've yet to spend but have committed
[1:08:51] to the new fancy fences to be installed on Antonio Parkway so we can look as pretty as Rancho Mission VA Hope. This is something Tony is super concerned about.
[1:08:59] This annual speech used to be held in a city center, welcoming anyone to attend in a public space.
[1:09:05] That is no longer happening.
[1:09:06] And I would like the city council to tell us of where the video of the speech is.
[1:09:10] Maybe I missed it, but I did look online.
[1:09:13] So online the arson site only has some general info about the event and photos of Tony and his cronies smiling into the camera.
[1:09:19] In his speech last week that people didn't know what was happening and so can't find online he said that knowing what the American flag stands for is important.
[1:09:27] that's which considering he's treating his elected position like a member's only event.
[1:09:33] Now, PS, I know, SNAPs, PS, Tony also highlighted today the community programs that
[1:09:39] are some provides, but as a reminder, the same city got rid of the Boys and Girls Club that
[1:09:43] was a program. Thank you.
[1:09:51] Thanks for your comments, Brian. I'll just mention this is an annual event
[1:09:58] that has always been sponsored, at least in recent memory,
[1:10:02] by the Chamber of Commerce, and it was videotaped,
[1:10:06] and I'm certain that that will be shared publicly.
[1:10:09] I think it's currently being put together
[1:10:11] by those that taped it.
[1:10:13] They're editing it to include the full speech,
[1:10:16] but with all the slides, so that members of the public
[1:10:18] that couldn't be in attendance can see the entire event.
[1:10:23] And it will be shared as soon as it's available.
[1:10:25] That is done, not by the city, because this is a private event.
[1:10:28] And again, that belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and the city just for purposes of clarification
[1:10:35] did not get rid of the boys and girls club.
[1:10:38] They terminated negotiations with the city and they left at an August at the expiration
[1:10:43] of their contract and they informed the city and the public as such but just want to make
[1:10:50] that clarification for you.
[1:10:52] Next up is Mike Evo.
[1:10:59] Good evening, Mike.
[1:11:00] Welcome.
[1:11:01] How are you guys?
[1:11:02] Great.
[1:11:03] Thank you.
[1:11:05] So we got that monument.
[1:11:07] Veterans monument down out there.
[1:11:09] That's the monument I can get behind.
[1:11:12] So I wanted to talk about the in favor of getting an RFP out,
[1:11:17] but the city getting an RFP out, the update or a current audio system here,
[1:11:22] and to add a video feature.
[1:11:24] As mentioned before, we would like to
[1:11:25] our city to be as transparent as possible to our 50,000 residents, which all might not be able
[1:11:32] to attend in person. Residents who are new to the area, elderly or living abroad can still
[1:11:38] follow the community matters. In addition, this would save the city's staff time by reducing
[1:11:44] the number of public records requests by creating a digital history available online as well
[1:11:50] reducing misinformation. I've also done some research on this issue and I found that in 2018
[1:11:57] Lake Forest contracted a three-year term with prime government solutions of Utah for a cost of
[1:12:04] $69,600 for a three-year contract, so that's $23,000 a year. I also spoke with a general manager
[1:12:12] I have had detects solutions in Lake Forest,
[1:12:19] they're a audio visual company.
[1:12:21] He gave me a rough estimate starting at 50,000
[1:12:24] for a bare-bone system and up from there.
[1:12:28] Michael has offered to demonstrate a system here
[1:12:31] if to show the systems is already installed in other locations.
[1:12:36] I think at least our cities should make a good faith effort
[1:12:40] to explore the cost benefit of having such a system available
[1:12:44] for the people in the city.
[1:12:46] Thank you.
[1:12:46] Thank you, Mike.
[1:12:47] Appreciate your comments.
[1:12:50] Next up is Jacqueline Martin.
[1:13:01] Good evening.
[1:13:06] It's very meaningful to me, Veterans Day, because I have veterans
[1:13:09] and my family going all the way back to the Revolutionary War.
[1:13:12] They fought in every war for this country to protect and defend our freedom.
[1:13:18] That was talked about a lot tonight.
[1:13:19] about how the people who came, who we honored, and the monument, is for people who defended
[1:13:25] our freedom.
[1:13:27] And I find that ironic, because at this same time, this city council is actually supporting
[1:13:33] the eroding of those freedoms in our city.
[1:13:38] You know, I heard about the speech that you gave as well, that I wasn't able to attend.
[1:13:43] And public safety was one of the items as was the flock system.
[1:13:48] These past few weeks, there have been more news reports coming out about those systems being misused in other cities, including their AI systems, causing a woman to be falsely accused of committing crimes.
[1:13:59] The fortunately she had her own video system in her vehicle that demonstrated she was not where the
[1:14:05] flock systems AI said that she was when a crime was committed.
[1:14:10] This is an opaque system.
[1:14:11] I asked you guys a few months ago when I spoke about this system, what the audit process
[1:14:16] looks like and if you have access to that, if you can provide data to the taxpayers who
[1:14:22] are funding this system in our city, with demonstration that there is an ROI for us that
[1:14:28] that's actually reducing crime,
[1:14:29] whether it's helping convict people who commit crimes,
[1:14:33] and to make sure that the privacy and freedoms
[1:14:36] and rights of your citizens who you are representing
[1:14:40] are being protected, and I haven't received an answer
[1:14:43] from anyone on this council about those items.
[1:14:46] And I find that also ironic,
[1:14:49] because this same council won't agree to have
[1:14:52] these meetings videotaped, you won't agree
[1:14:55] to have transparency and accessibility for the public in the city.
[1:15:00] If you're representing and making these decisions about, so you are fine with continuing to
[1:15:05] road our freedoms and not give us the information about the system that is invasive. It is an
[1:15:11] invasion of our privacy that these cameras are all over our community. That most people in the city
[1:15:16] don't even know where they're located. The only way to find that out is to do what I've been doing, which is
[1:15:20] walk around and look for them. And yet you won't agree to the same level of transparency and
[1:15:29] for your constituents. Thank you.
[1:15:35] Thank you for your comments. Next up is Ruslan and Apologines.
[1:15:40] Push Carl.
[1:15:44] Good evening. Welcome.
[1:15:44] Hi. Thank you.
[1:15:47] So a good question about...
[1:15:49] So next is the lake.
[1:15:51] There's like a promenade, like a huge walkway
[1:15:54] between restaurant and everything else.
[1:15:58] I know it's a similar property. It's not a city property.
[1:16:01] But I was spoken, maybe a month ago, I'd be shit, you know, can be pressure washed.
[1:16:07] I know it's not a city property, but for sure, maybe you can address to someone like a
[1:16:13] council member or whoever.
[1:16:15] So they, some of who know, maybe like a manager of the Sandlark, so they can get it
[1:16:20] attached to see, maybe they've got scheduled something, maybe not, if not, I can help.
[1:16:26] Yeah,
[1:16:28] SamLark is the organization and charge of doing that and I know that they do do that.
[1:16:34] I don't know if they do it often or not for your life.
[1:16:36] It was likely not often, you know, not often and usually you can see how, you know, guys from
[1:16:43] Metin as they do push-ups.
[1:16:45] Like these, and you've got stripes and everywhere, you've got to be done nicely.
[1:16:51] We could share your concerns with our friends at SamLark.
[1:16:54] And I would urge you, if you haven't already, send them an email or give them a call as well.
[1:16:59] No, I just do. Can you assign someone?
[1:17:01] Yeah, we'll be happy to pass that along.
[1:17:03] The pool, Samlark, a executive director, we can contact them and let them know.
[1:17:08] Oh, yeah. But I want to first see you, like see the progress, maybe participate.
[1:17:17] You want to volunteer to help?
[1:17:18] Yeah, of course. Yeah. Well, we'll mention that as well.
[1:17:21] Yeah, sure, but who will get in touch with Samlark?
[1:17:25] The city.
[1:17:26] I mean, like, who specifically, so I can get in touch with this person?
[1:17:32] If you want to leave us your phone number, we could follow up with you and work with you.
[1:17:35] Yeah, please, please.
[1:17:36] If so, it's, you can give it to our city clerk.
[1:17:39] Yeah, thank you so much.
[1:17:39] Thank you, sir.
[1:17:40] I appreciate your comments.
[1:17:42] Last up tonight is Chris McLaughlin.
[1:17:48] Welcome, Chris.
[1:17:49] evening mayor city council.
[1:17:54] I wanted to touch base about the news this week.
[1:17:57] Election integrity slash voter registration problems are in the news again.
[1:18:03] The Orange County District Attorney announced and it was picked up by the Orange County
[1:18:06] Register and some other media outlets. The current president of the molten
[1:18:10] Miguel water district has actually been living in the Santa Margarita water
[1:18:14] district for the past three years and agreed to resign rather than go to jail and I think
[1:18:21] you'd agree to 160 hours of community service and the key thing I want to think of is
[1:18:27] he's actually living in the city of Rancho and the issue seems to be prevalent because I've
[1:18:31] seen it happen again where people move and they don't re-new the registration and it only
[1:18:39] takes about 10 minutes. I did it for our youngest daughter this year online. You just
[1:18:44] You say where you live and you use the DMV info for your signature and then they send you a ballot and it's pretty easy.
[1:18:53] So the bar to re-register if you move, particularly within Orange County, is really low if you're still in the state of California.
[1:19:01] You actually go to the same state website.
[1:19:04] So I guess my question is, when someone moves, it's supposed to be assumed that you want to vote where you live
[1:19:13] because that affects your life more, and I think it's designed to be sort of self-inforcing.
[1:19:18] They figure people won't want a vote, but they don't live anymore.
[1:19:21] But there's cases where people are like, well, I still care more about those elections, even
[1:19:25] I don't live there, so I'm going to pretend I still do.
[1:19:30] So I don't know.
[1:19:31] I know the Orange County District Attorney is currently prosecuting someone in Stanton for a similar
[1:19:36] crime within the city of Stanton.
[1:19:38] I think the next court date is on Tuesday.
[1:19:41] And I'm interested because I want to know what it takes to bus somebody for committing this crime.
[1:19:48] I think what they do is they talk to your neighbors and say, have you seen this person living here?
[1:19:53] It doesn't matter where they want to vote, it doesn't matter where they say they live,
[1:19:57] where you actually spend more time is where you're only legally allowed to vote,
[1:20:02] which is what I guess what happened was the current president of the Multinal Water District.
[1:20:07] He's been running out as a permanently so to his ex-wife.
[1:20:10] And the other question I have is, every time you get stuff for voting, it says, if you
[1:20:15] get mail for a voter to deliver your address, you're supposed to basically, you know, report
[1:20:20] them to the registrar, they don't live here.
[1:20:22] So the person who was getting this person's ballot at their address, so they don't live,
[1:20:29] how was it getting to the person who doesn't live there, is there a crime in that, you know,
[1:20:33] area two in terms of not, you know, turning in someone who doesn't live there.
[1:20:39] the same thing happens for our older daughter right now. She doesn't live with us anymore.
[1:20:42] I asked her today. I'm not to report you as you don't live here anymore because we've got
[1:20:45] a ballot for this year and didn't commit fraud and turn it in. But that's just an update. Thank you.
[1:20:53] Bye. Thank you for your comments, Chris. Thanks also for your military service and for
[1:20:59] being with us here tonight for Veterans Day. Appreciate that. That's the last of my
[1:21:09] that concludes item four, we're going to move to item five, the consent calendar, all matters on the consent calendar are to be approved in a single motion unless a member of the city council staff remember of the public ask for separate action on any item.
[1:21:24] Do we need to remove any items from the consent calendar tonight?
[1:21:29] All right, seeing none, then I entertain a motion to approve the consent calendar.
[1:21:32] So move motion in a second from council member Halloway, all in favor, please say aye.
[1:21:40] Aye.
[1:21:41] Motion carries unanimously.
[1:21:42] Thank you.
[1:21:44] Bringing us tied in six public hearing items tonight.
[1:21:47] We have none.
[1:21:48] So we now are at item seven.
[1:21:49] New business.
[1:21:50] 7.1 is the city side fiber high speed internet infrastructure construction within our city limits.
[1:22:00] Mr. Parko, once again, good evening.
[1:22:01] Good evening, Mr. Mayor.
[1:22:04] Members of City Council.
[1:22:05] For this presentation,
[1:22:08] representatives from City Side Fiber,
[1:22:10] a fiber-based digital infrastructure
[1:22:12] developer and internet provider.
[1:22:14] We'll be providing a presentation
[1:22:16] on their upcoming fiber deployment project.
[1:22:28] All right, good evening.
[1:22:29] Mayor Bill and council members.
[1:22:30] My name is Pat Thomas,
[1:22:31] and I'm the Director of Government Relations
[1:22:33] for City Side Fiber.
[1:22:35] Hi, Pat.
[1:22:35] Welcome.
[1:22:36] Thank you.
[1:22:36] I've got some slides I wanted to share with you and run through with you and explain who
[1:22:43] city side fiber is and what we do.
[1:22:46] So city side fiber is as a Mr. Parko mentioned, we are a developer operator and service
[1:22:52] provider for high speed internet service.
[1:22:54] We build an all fiber optic network and our mission is to build a network that makes the cities
[1:23:01] that we provide service in, some of the most connected communities and cities in the country.
[1:23:06] We're a locally owned company, we're based in Irvine, and we're primarily working in Orange County, South Orange County, at this time, we're actually looking at expanding out beyond the South Orange County, but that is our home currently.
[1:23:20] We were founded by veterans of the telecommunications industry, and our network that we construct is 100% privately funded, so it's a completely private investment in the cities that we're serving.
[1:23:32] It's 100% fiber optic network and I'll provide high-speed internet up to 10 gigs and that's 10 gigabits per second.
[1:23:41] So it's a very high speed and robust internet service.
[1:23:44] We are a CPCN license public utility.
[1:23:48] I've got a little slide in the next one here that'll talk a little bit more about that.
[1:23:52] And we're very focused on customer service.
[1:23:54] It's a we're still a small company, but we really highly value our customer service morale
[1:24:02] and want to provide the best experience for all the customers that we serve.
[1:24:08] So our CPCN, that's something that we applied for and we're issued by the California Public
[1:24:13] Utility Commission stands for Certificate of Public Convenience and Accessibility. Essentially means
[1:24:19] that we are a regulated utility in the state of California.
[1:24:24] we were issued that when the company was first started, that does allow us to construct infrastructure
[1:24:30] as other utilities within the public right of way.
[1:24:36] Next slide, please.
[1:24:37] So why fiber?
[1:24:39] Several reasons, fiber is a very robust media for telecommunications and data transfer.
[1:24:47] Bandwidth has really a very high bandwidth, high capacity to transfer data.
[1:24:52] But the system has no data limits, essentially you're able to transmit an unlimited amount
[1:24:59] of data over the fiber optic network has a very high speed both for the download and
[1:25:05] the upload of the data.
[1:25:09] Like I said, we've got a service that will go up to 10 gigabits a second, or kind of
[1:25:14] our base level for residential services, one gigabit per second, and that's both the download
[1:25:20] and the upload speed, the cable systems can get you relatively high download speed, but are very
[1:25:27] limited as far as the upload speeds go. So the fiber network really serves as a symmetrical
[1:25:32] system that allows for the data transfer to occur both on the download and the upload.
[1:25:37] It's a very secure system, very reliable, whether it will not affect it, it's a very stable
[1:25:44] and reliable system. And we think it's future proof. We think the fiber infrastructure is something
[1:25:49] that will provide for the data transmission for current needs as well as any of the other
[1:25:54] future needs with all of the AI applications and things like that.
[1:25:59] Next slide, please.
[1:26:00] So the layers of connectivity, so the types of service that we provide currently in our
[1:26:06] focus is the fiber to the home market.
[1:26:09] We intend to build the fiber optic network to be able to provide that surface to the homes
[1:26:13] in the community.
[1:26:15] We also are going to be starting a small media and business service plan, so once we have
[1:26:19] the infrastructure in will be able to actually extend it in and provide service to commercial
[1:26:24] businesses, small and medium size.
[1:26:28] Wireless infrastructure, so once the fiber network is in place, you can also support wireless
[1:26:35] or small cell antennas.
[1:26:36] You may have heard the wireless carriers were planning to deploy their systems using, they
[1:26:45] called them 5G or small cell antennas a few years ago.
[1:26:49] They kind of stopped that practice because of the cost of doing that.
[1:26:54] And it wasn't so much the cost of the towers.
[1:26:55] It was the cost of being able to get connectivity to the towers.
[1:26:59] So our plan is to actually have that connectivity in the ground
[1:27:03] and be able to make that available with the cell carriers
[1:27:07] or looking to site new cell sites that this can then connect to our fiber network.
[1:27:12] And then smart to community applications, so if the city has any applications, they're looking
[1:27:17] at deploying throughout the community, we'll have a fiber network in place that can support
[1:27:21] those applications as well.
[1:27:25] So we call it the gig life experience that is what we refer to for our network and our service.
[1:27:34] It's a super high level of service.
[1:27:37] One of the things that we found is actually throughout the country communities that have a fiber
[1:27:41] infrastructure in place that actually increases the value of properties in the community.
[1:27:46] And the statistics show that that number is around 3% increase in property values.
[1:27:53] The slide below there shows the speed levels of the different levels of service.
[1:27:58] And you can see that in a cable system that download speed can be up to a gig,
[1:28:06] but usually not that high, and then the upload speed is usually a very slow, whereas the
[1:28:11] fiber service, it's the same upload and downloads speed.
[1:28:17] Next slide please.
[1:28:18] So this slide shows kind of where we are currently, again, started in Orange County, and
[1:28:24] are building in numerous cities in Orange County.
[1:28:28] The first cities that we started in were testing the data point.
[1:28:30] We've built out those two cities, currently under construction in Irvine, Lake Forest,
[1:28:35] Mission VA-HO, and we're getting ready to start in Laguna and Negale, Laguna Hills,
[1:28:43] Lisa VA-HO, and Rancho Santa Margarita.
[1:28:46] So we're hoping to start construction in Rancho Santa Margarita right after the first
[1:28:50] of the year, and I'll touch it a little bit more on that in just a few slides.
[1:28:56] So this slide shows basically the different types of connectivity we can provide.
[1:29:02] I've mentioned that a little bit earlier.
[1:29:03] we can provide, our main focus is the fiber to the home service.
[1:29:08] We can also provide connectivity for other Wi-Fi needs, for cellular coverage for the
[1:29:14] small cell antennas.
[1:29:16] We've talked to the city about the possibility if there's any need to provide connectivity
[1:29:21] for any of your traffic signals in the community, we can hook those up to our fiber network,
[1:29:26] and we'll also have the small and medium business program in place.
[1:29:33] So how we're planning to build out the City of Rancho Santa Margarita, we've worked with the city and we're hoping to be able to construct our network somewhat in concert with your road maintenance program.
[1:29:46] Our plan is to start in your zones that you're going to be doing road maintenance in next, which are the 1A, 1B and 2, and then work throughout the rest of the community.
[1:29:58] Next slide.
[1:30:00] So this is a map. It's just just colors on a map there, but it actually shows what our fiber optic network will look like. If you were to zoom in on this, you can kind of see the purple lines are the backbone part of our network and then the other lines if you were to zoom in, you can see those deploy out into the various streets within the city.
[1:30:23] So our plan is to start as I mentioned in those zones one A1B and two and that's basically all the neighborhoods on the north or west side of the canyon.
[1:30:35] So our plan is to start in those areas just after the first of the year.
[1:30:39] It's about a six month construction process to build out the fiber in those communities.
[1:30:45] So we intend to have that done about the middle of next year.
[1:30:48] We could then put those communities online onto our network.
[1:30:52] Our, our, our, the way we construct our network is we build the, the infrastructure in, in the road, we then put
[1:31:00] laddles off of the road. We go under the curb and under the sidewalk. And then we leave a connection point there.
[1:31:06] And then as people want to subscribe and connect to our service. We'll take it from there. We'll run it over into their house.
[1:31:15] We'll put a box on the side of their house. And then we'll provide the equipment and sides.
[1:31:20] So we provide the router and all the equipment they need,
[1:31:22] and then get them set up on the network,
[1:31:24] and then we actually are the internet service provider.
[1:31:27] So it's a turn key system with our system.
[1:31:30] We go all the way from the actual infrastructure.
[1:31:33] We operate that, and then we provide the internet service.
[1:31:39] So we really spend a lot of time and effort
[1:31:42] on communications to the residents in the community.
[1:31:46] We do several notifications to the residents,
[1:31:49] And initially, notifying them as to when the construction is going to take place, what's going to happen, what to expect.
[1:31:56] We do that with mailers, write up to the right at the beginning of the construction.
[1:32:00] We'll do door hangers for all the residents because the construction actually takes place in the street.
[1:32:06] We need to have the cars off of the street on the day of construction.
[1:32:09] So we'll put out no parking signs, 72 hours before the construction.
[1:32:14] And it's actually a very quick construction process.
[1:32:18] We use what's called micro-trenching.
[1:32:20] It's a piece of equipment that cuts a very narrow trench in the road, and then moves forward
[1:32:25] and then that trench is back filled on the same day that that work is done.
[1:32:30] We can do about one piece of equipment, can do about a thousand feet a day.
[1:32:34] So it's a very, very fast construction process, much faster than conventional excavation
[1:32:39] and trenching.
[1:32:41] And then we keep that communication up as the work takes place and then we use that essentially
[1:32:48] kind of as a marketing tool too because once we've got the construction completed and
[1:32:53] the network available we do hope that as many people are interested in and sign up for
[1:32:59] the services possible.
[1:33:02] Next slide.
[1:33:03] So this is one of our marketing pieces, this is what we would send out to the residents and
[1:33:10] neighborhoods. Basically shows the three different plans that we have. We have what we call the
[1:33:17] connecting control. That's the one gigabit speed plan. That's currently priced at $80 a month.
[1:33:23] The two gigabit plan. That's what we call the work hard. Play hard plan. That's currently priced at $95.
[1:33:28] Dollars a month. And then we have a very robust five gigabit plan. That's called everything in
[1:33:34] everywhere. And that's priced at $195 a month. So those are the levels of the service that we provide
[1:33:39] in the community. And that concludes my presentation and I'd be happy to answer any questions.
[1:33:45] Thank you, Pat. Council members, any questions for city side fiber or staff?
[1:33:54] To my left. Council member Halloween. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[1:33:57] Those are in the audience that couldn't see that. I couldn't see it. The audience have a
[1:34:09] They don't have it right now, but we can certainly make this act.
[1:34:12] I couldn't read it even from here.
[1:34:14] I don't think they probably could either, but I'd have been a good idea to have this available because.
[1:34:18] Excuse me, can't we have it?
[1:34:19] All the way.
[1:34:20] There are copies in the back of the room.
[1:34:22] Yeah, and I don't have a copy here.
[1:34:23] And it's on our city website too.
[1:34:25] It's much bigger point if you want to type as you want to see it.
[1:34:29] Okay, so just a million questions, but this is a public utility that we can build on public right away.
[1:34:38] Correct. So in terms of the city's involvement with this, this is obviously this is a
[1:34:43] receive and file report. So you're letting us know that this is going to be happening
[1:34:49] and you're selling a product. You're going to be advertising a product and selling a product.
[1:34:55] Are you the only entity that will be offering this product or is there competition?
[1:35:02] So our business model is that we construct our infrastructure and then we own it and we operate it and we offer the service.
[1:35:11] Excuse me.
[1:35:13] So we are essentially an alternative to your existing internet service providers here.
[1:35:19] So the cable companies they provide that service will be an alternative to that.
[1:35:26] Or are you the only provider of this specific service?
[1:35:31] Are there any other entities that will be competing with you?
[1:35:35] Not on our network.
[1:35:37] We are the only provider of the service on our network,
[1:35:42] on our fiber optic network.
[1:35:44] Well, that's not my question.
[1:35:45] Are there other competitors that are going to be coming
[1:35:47] and doing the same thing that you are
[1:35:49] and try to offer maybe a lower price
[1:35:51] that you know on?
[1:35:52] Well, there certainly could be.
[1:35:54] There are other, oh, thank you very much.
[1:35:58] There certainly could be, there are other companies
[1:36:00] that are essentially doing the same thing
[1:36:02] that we are in other communities
[1:36:04] throughout the state and country, for that matter.
[1:36:08] I don't know whether any of other companies
[1:36:12] have approached City of Rancho Santa Margarita,
[1:36:16] they can, and they can, they're certainly welcome to.
[1:36:20] We typically don't pursue locations
[1:36:23] that already have fiber optic infrastructure in place.
[1:36:28] If there's cable infrastructure, we will construct our fiber network in locations where
[1:36:33] there's cable infrastructure, because, quite frankly, it's better.
[1:36:37] It's more robust, it's more state-of-the-art than the cable infrastructure.
[1:36:44] What's the difference in price of cable and you guys roughly, is there 10% 20% 2% is there
[1:36:50] a number?
[1:36:50] You know, I don't have that, those numbers kind of vary depending upon what level of service
[1:36:58] they're providing, the speeds, and the pricing that the Verizon's and the Cox and the
[1:37:06] spectrum, they're pricing plans.
[1:37:10] I believe we're very competitive with their pricing plan for the level of service that we
[1:37:15] provide.
[1:37:19] You talked about that if I ever would be on the roadway and also sidewalk, I think you mentioned might be some sidewalk.
[1:37:28] Well, so our main line will run in the roadway and then we lateral off of that to get to the homes.
[1:37:35] So our main line will be in the roadway.
[1:37:37] We do that using the micro trenching and then our lateral wing.
[1:37:40] We do that using essentially like a micro tunnel.
[1:37:43] So, we'll drill under the curb, under the sidewalk, and then back to the property line.
[1:37:50] And then when folks want to subscribe, we'll actually trinch that up to their home.
[1:37:56] The trinching process that you describe narrow, a narrow error at 1,000 feet at one time,
[1:38:02] and you seal it right away is that if someone were to look at that, the work that you just did, the construction,
[1:38:08] and could they tell that there had been a disruption of the street there, or is it perfectly
[1:38:15] exactly what it was before you did it?
[1:38:18] Well, you'll be able to tell, because it actually did it.
[1:38:22] Well, we do that micro trench, and then we do a restoration after that's done.
[1:38:28] So we've cut that micro trench, and then we do an 18 inch wide grind of the street, and then repave over the top of that.
[1:38:37] So you'll see the new paving, but it will be new pave over the top of the trench.
[1:38:42] So you'll have a new paving for a distance on top of around old pave, old paving.
[1:38:50] Correct.
[1:38:51] And our strategy is to coordinate with the city so that hopefully our construction is done in
[1:38:57] advance of your road maintenance.
[1:38:59] So when you're doing slurry seals with the neighborhoods, we're trying to get ours done
[1:39:04] right ahead of what your resurfacing projects after after a slurry seal is done you
[1:39:12] won't see it it goes under the sidewalk so you don't you don't there's no disruption to the
[1:39:18] sidewalk as one of your advertising notes you'd mentioned that a 3.1% increase in my home value
[1:39:28] if I have this where where do you get that that's some national data that the national associations
[1:39:35] the track installation of this type of infrastructure have published.
[1:39:40] What national association?
[1:39:41] They're called the National Association.
[1:39:43] Well, we belong to an organization called the Fiber Broadband Association FBA.
[1:39:48] That's a national association that has 700 members throughout the country that do infrastructure using fiber optics.
[1:39:59] And they've done studies and data collection that have provided that data.
[1:40:05] So the zero organization higher that entity to come up with that number?
[1:40:11] No, now we're just a member of that operation.
[1:40:14] Okay.
[1:40:17] That's all I have right now.
[1:40:18] Thank you.
[1:40:19] May I pretend?
[1:40:20] Thank you.
[1:40:20] Thank you, Pat.
[1:40:21] Very quickly.
[1:40:23] I see from the map that the first recipients of fiber would be what we call the Melinda Heights area
[1:40:30] and then another area across Santa Margarita Parkway right off Bonifaceo.
[1:40:35] that whole area of the hilly.
[1:40:37] Yeah, for lack of a better term.
[1:40:39] And I believe I heard you say that you
[1:40:42] try to coordinate maintenance projects,
[1:40:45] meet maintenance projects with the installation
[1:40:47] of the fibers, that is accurate.
[1:40:50] So when it comes to the remaining zones,
[1:40:52] three through six, would that be dependent upon
[1:40:55] what the city is doing with regard to street maintenance?
[1:40:59] Well, we're trying to coordinate that.
[1:41:03] And I believe your schedule, I know this is very not precisely defined yet, but as to work through the rest of the city, kind of in that two, three, four, five, six, so it would be kind of going from on the other side of the canyon, they're kind of going from south to north.
[1:41:27] I'm not sure exactly when those streets will be resurfaced, but I believe it's kind of in that order over the next, say, I'll call it three to five years.
[1:41:37] I don't know if Joe's got any more council member, McGur. Pat Thomas came in a couple months ago and so the first thing that we did was we provided our seven year CIP to them so that they could go ahead and plan their projects ahead of our seven year CIP.
[1:41:54] Okay, took some of my mouth, I mentioned the seven year CIP.
[1:41:58] So right now the seven year CIP shows that the Melinda Heights
[1:42:02] and the Bonifacio area, I can say Bonifacio,
[1:42:04] but I think everyone knows where I'm talking about,
[1:42:08] is currently getting street maintenance.
[1:42:11] And we're talking about mid January or 2026
[1:42:15] to complete the basic fiber installation
[1:42:19] and then thereafter residents would then say,
[1:42:22] I want to get this. I can tell you right now there's a gentleman who's been sending me messages back and forth for quite a while regarding his desire and he happens to live in that area to the best of my knowledge.
[1:42:33] So it would take until mid January of twenty twenty six to have the installation of the main fiber.
[1:42:39] And thereafter if a resident wants to have it for their home, you would then install it and hook up a box or something to the right.
[1:42:46] Right, how long does it take when Joe Blow calls up and says, you know, I'd like to take advantage of this, how long does it take for the installation from the street to their home?
[1:42:59] Well, that can happen pretty fast. That's we call that a drop or a service connection and that's all done by our personnel. So once we get the main line in, we create in our database all of the serviceable addresses.
[1:43:16] And then anyone can look up whether their address is serviceable if they are they call we'll usually get a drop or a service done within two or three weeks
[1:43:25] When they request it
[1:43:27] See you would anticipate by mid January of
[1:43:30] 2026
[1:43:30] This zone one would have something online that would show whether or not it's accessible
[1:43:38] Our plan is to start construction in January of 26 in that zone.
[1:43:43] It's about a six month build for that zone so I would say by June or July we would then have that service available in that zone by June or July.
[1:43:53] I got you.
[1:43:59] And then our plan is that as the zones are completed we would put them online at the time that they're done and then just work through the city so that we wouldn't wait until the whole city's done to put the network online.
[1:44:12] And as far as tunneling under a sidewalk, that wouldn't happen to the list, somebody said,
[1:44:16] hey, I want this.
[1:44:17] No, that happens when we do the main line, the main line.
[1:44:19] So we actually do the main line and then we do the laterals under the sidewalk and then we
[1:44:24] leave a locator, basically, for the cable that's under that's on the back side of the sidewalk.
[1:44:31] So it stops at the property line.
[1:44:32] Yes.
[1:44:34] We do all that as part of the initial build.
[1:44:38] Okay.
[1:44:38] Thank you.
[1:44:41] To me, right?
[1:44:42] Can some member figure around?
[1:44:43] Hi, Pat.
[1:44:44] Thank you for being here.
[1:44:46] What percentage of mission VAO have you installed already?
[1:44:50] So we've done about 40% of mission VAO.
[1:44:53] Yeah, I just want to say everybody that is using
[1:44:55] your mission VAO is very happy.
[1:44:57] So we're glad you're going to be here in real time.
[1:44:58] Thank you so much.
[1:45:15] It's just one side of the street and then we actually do a smaller tranche going across to reach the other side of the street.
[1:45:24] Okay, so the no parking would be on one side of the street?
[1:45:26] It would be on both actually when the construction done.
[1:45:29] Okay, and when you're talking about
[1:45:31] doing trenching from the locator point over the sidewalk to the home,
[1:45:36] are you actually having to dig trenches then?
[1:45:40] We do, and we coordinate that with each individual
[1:45:42] resident as to where the best location to do that trench would be.
[1:45:46] If they've got some landscape areas or some place where that would be
[1:45:51] least of true symptoms to be able to do that into their home.
[1:45:54] Okay, and what assurances do we have that there's not going to be any gas lines or other lines impacted or cut during this process?
[1:46:06] Well we do a pretty extensive review of where the existing utilities are.
[1:46:10] So we reach out to all the utility companies and ask for their existing record information.
[1:46:15] We show that on our plans we locate our trench to not be in conflict with any of those existing utilities.
[1:46:23] We typically like to have our trench somewhere close to the to the gutter line, but not right on the gutter line a little ways off
[1:46:30] If there's an existing utility there, we'll move it to a different location
[1:46:34] So we do a pretty extensive review of where the existing utilities are in our planning phase and then and then and then we also
[1:46:41] Mark everything out when we do construction and that's another another thing I think I failed to mention
[1:46:46] But prior to our construction start and this is typical for any underground construction
[1:46:51] you're required to call, dig alert, and then all of the existing utilities or their providers
[1:46:59] will come out and mark where all the existing utilities are located, paint that on the ground.
[1:47:04] And so when our construction starts, you'll see, and the residents will see a lot of paint
[1:47:09] on the ground where the existing utilities are, and that's another way to just avoid any potential
[1:47:14] conflict.
[1:47:15] And once we're done, we come out and send water blast all that off the street and where it was marked.
[1:47:22] Okay, and you're talking about that your local company and customer service.
[1:47:27] And how do you, what's the ability for customers to reach out to you?
[1:47:32] Do you have, obviously, I would assume, phone, but do you have text, website, chat, all that stuff?
[1:47:38] Yeah, we have a website, and I hope it's on here somewhere, but we definitely have a website.
[1:47:47] The Edmetre Effect, that's kind of the primary means of contacting us and checking to see if the
[1:47:53] service is available and requesting the service.
[1:47:55] We've definitely got phone service available.
[1:47:57] We do have tech service.
[1:47:59] Our call center is in our office in Irvine, so you're going to talk to a person when you call in.
[1:48:05] and the matter of fact, our call center is right outside of our CEO's office, so we
[1:48:08] get to hear all of that come in and very high priority for the company to have, we call
[1:48:17] our Concierge team that provides that service at the call center.
[1:48:22] Okay, and then one final question, I mean, I've heard from several residents that they're
[1:48:26] really looking forward to this and I actually happen to live in the first area.
[1:48:32] When you are doing these projects, one of the things that I'm concerned about because you
[1:48:38] did mention street parking is that we do have some schools and other businesses that would
[1:48:44] be impacted, not businessism will indict, but in the other areas, how do you schedule
[1:48:49] those things to reduce the impact on, say, a school because you have, you're taking the way
[1:48:55] parking for the families, et cetera, and the route.
[1:48:59] They can still drive the road or no.
[1:49:01] They can't drive the road.
[1:49:01] The road will be open.
[1:49:03] So the road will still be open.
[1:49:04] They just get a park.
[1:49:07] And that no parking really in any given area is really just one day.
[1:49:11] OK.
[1:49:12] So like I was saying, the trencher can do about a thousand feet a day.
[1:49:17] So with that, it'll be where the no parking is on one day.
[1:49:20] The next day, it will be the next thousand feet.
[1:49:22] And the trenches is cut, it's back filled, the conduit goes in, it's back filled, it's all done
[1:49:28] on the same day.
[1:49:29] So we don't leave any open trench, anything open on the road after the work is done.
[1:49:34] How loud is it cutting?
[1:49:37] I don't know the decibels, it is a piece of heavy equipment, so there is no more hand though
[1:49:42] you said.
[1:49:43] This is not going to be happening.
[1:49:45] Then there is a little bit of a time delay between when the trenches cut and the back
[1:49:49] and everything is done and then we come through and restore or resurface over the top of the trench.
[1:49:54] That's usually about a week or two after the trenching is done so that we can have enough work for the asphalt contractor to come in and do their repaving.
[1:50:03] And then the slurry seal would happen a couple weeks, couple months afterwards, is that what the plan is?
[1:50:10] That's what we're hoping and that's what we're attempting to coordinate with Joe and his team as to our work being done ahead of their project.
[1:50:17] Yes, the answer to the question counts when we're prepared.
[1:50:21] The project is going well ahead of the construction that's going to be happening in this area.
[1:50:26] And they are also aware we do have a street moratorium.
[1:50:30] So after we slurry seal the street, there's minimum two years before any utilities can come in and trench or cut the street up.
[1:50:38] And for our materials, it's five years.
[1:50:40] So once we're done, Patrick has missed his opportunity and he's got to come back.
[1:50:45] Okay, thank you.
[1:50:49] Hi Pat, thanks for your presentation.
[1:50:52] Could you just clarify for me what city side fiber is, you know, looking at your first slide,
[1:51:00] the first part of the bullet points indicate like it's locally owned operated and focused,
[1:51:07] own privately funded, it sounds like a private company,
[1:51:10] but then you mentioned that it's CPCN license public utility.
[1:51:15] Are you a governmental entity or are you a private company where a private company where a one on our private company?
[1:51:22] It's a private equity firm that provides all of the funding for the company.
[1:51:26] So they are technically the owners of the company the CPCN is is just the license that we obtained from the California Public Utility Commission.
[1:51:36] Okay. Thank you for that clarification.
[1:51:39] You've indicated that you're intending to start rolling out the construction and your first phase.
[1:51:44] in just a matter of weeks, January of next year.
[1:51:50] And I'm curious to hear both from our staff and from you.
[1:51:56] What interactions has your company already had in terms with our city,
[1:52:02] staff, the details that would relate to everything that you just described
[1:52:06] and commencing all these activities?
[1:52:08] Yeah, so we've had initial meeting with Joe and his team,
[1:52:12] And we're just ready to begin submitting plans.
[1:52:15] We'll actually prepare full improvement plans that show all the existing utilities,
[1:52:20] the roadways, the location of our trench, all the details on those plans.
[1:52:24] We go through the plan check process with the city and then once they're satisfied with the plans
[1:52:31] and ready to issue us a permit, the issue of the permits, the city will provide inspection
[1:52:35] as the work is taking place.
[1:52:38] So we're kind of in that process now and we're hoping to get through that process
[1:52:41] by the first of the year and be able to actually start the construction right after the first
[1:52:46] year.
[1:52:46] You're anticipating my next question.
[1:52:48] It was going to be whether it's required that you obtain permits to do this type
[1:52:53] of work through the city and it sounds like it is.
[1:52:56] That's correct, Mayor Bill.
[1:52:57] They need to acquire what's called an accrosion permit.
[1:53:00] Any work in the public right away needs an accrosion permit.
[1:53:03] Patrick has told me he's close to submitting the detailed plans.
[1:53:06] Once we receive those, we will review the plans and make sure that they abide by all
[1:53:12] do any of those permits, or any of what we've just discussed, is it anticipated that it would require any city council action or approval?
[1:53:25] No, that permits ministerial.
[1:53:34] It's a big undertaking. As you mentioned, you know, you had your competitor, the cable industry.
[1:53:39] And we have with the cable company a franchise agreement that spells out the terms and
[1:53:50] conditions by which they get the right to operate that.
[1:53:53] Is it anticipated that we would have a similar franchise agreement with this company?
[1:53:57] No, because of that CPCN license with the PUC, that essentially is our franchise to work
[1:54:06] throughout the state.
[1:54:07] And actually all the cable companies franchisees all were rolled up under the state several years ago as well.
[1:54:16] Question for our city's staff, do we currently receive any sort of franchise fee from our cable company today?
[1:54:23] We do, and it's under as representative indicated it's under a state franchise that was passed, I believe, like in 2006 or 1996.
[1:54:34] And I took a while until those franchises sort of fell off of cities, but yes, the cities get a residual franchise fee or a franchise revenue.
[1:54:46] But it's still a state held franchise license at this point.
[1:54:50] And I can also tell you that the franchise fee, you know, as it used to be, and currently is,
[1:54:56] and this goes back to the days of cable TV, the franchise fees based on the cable companies video or TV service.
[1:55:05] They don't pay a fee based on our internet service.
[1:55:08] We're just providing internet service.
[1:55:10] So that's why we don't fall under that category.
[1:55:13] Is it anticipated that any fee whatsoever would be payable to the city
[1:55:18] for the benefit of you operating within our city?
[1:55:22] No, other than the fees that we pay for our permits and for our inspection for our construction.
[1:55:30] Okay. Going back to the cost of installation, after your main laying of all your lines,
[1:55:38] homeowner by homeowner, and you would have to do additional trenching and installation on each home
[1:55:45] that needs it.
[1:55:49] Can you address just the relative costs, the...
[1:55:52] So, homeowners pay for the country...
[1:55:55] No, that's all part of the service.
[1:55:56] There's no installation cost.
[1:55:58] Any cost associated with getting the service to the home is all part of our cost.
[1:56:03] So, there's no cost to the resident for that part of the service.
[1:56:06] They sign up.
[1:56:07] Their obligation is the monthly charge, and that's all they pay.
[1:56:11] Okay,
[1:56:14] Council member Holloway had raised the relative cost cable versus the fiber, and I was just a little unclear of the answer.
[1:56:23] I think you said it's competitive, so it's not as if you're coming in and you're going to undercut cable, it sounds like it's going to be a same ballpark cost.
[1:56:32] So our baseline costs for that one gigabits speed service is $80 a month.
[1:56:38] I don't have all of the cable companies internet service pricing,
[1:56:42] but I believe it's all somewhere in that range I'll call it.
[1:56:46] However, our service is going to be faster.
[1:56:50] They're not going to provide that speed of service.
[1:56:54] Sometimes they have data limits, data caps, things like that.
[1:56:57] So we think our service is better, and we think it's competitive with the cost of the cable
[1:57:05] providers.
[1:57:07] Going back to your timing schedule for your project, I think I heard you say six months
[1:57:13] per zone is about what is average.
[1:57:15] How many zones are there altogether?
[1:57:17] So in rental center market, we've got three zones, three.
[1:57:21] Are you anticipating that you would do zone one, take six months, then immediately begin zone two?
[1:57:30] Yes. So for purposes of our slurry seal program, I believe our cities cut into seven different districts,
[1:57:39] right, and it takes seven years to reslurry the entire city. So we're going to be not going to be able to coordinate with our slurry seal program unless you're waiting.
[1:57:49] Right, right. Yeah, our plan at this point is we're going to be ahead of that. So, but we do restore the street after we're done with our trench.
[1:58:04] When you, thank you. When you complete your main installation, I'm assuming that your intention is that you're going to repair the street to the same level and condition that it was same type of slitter ECL. So it will be good as new.
[1:58:19] Yeah, well, it's actually an asphalt. We actually do, you know, the, over the top of that two inch
[1:58:23] trance, we actually grind the street, the asphalt down two inches in depth, and then repave
[1:58:31] with actual asphalt for that 18 inch wide stretch. How does that work if we have like rubberized
[1:58:38] slurry seal on our streets? How, won't, won't there be different materials then? Well, we use a hot
[1:58:49] I believe it's similar to the, the paving material that the city would use, it's not a slurry seal.
[1:58:56] We're doing, we're actually doing an asphalt paving over the top of the trench.
[1:59:02] So Mayor Cummings from staff.
[1:59:03] Yes, so Mayor Bill, that little 18 inch width will be new asphalt essentially.
[1:59:10] And how about a aesthetic standpoint, I would expect it's probably better than new,
[1:59:15] because you're putting new asphalt in as far as durability.
[1:59:19] But what are the residents going to see in the middle of their street?
[1:59:23] Is it going to weather the same, look the same?
[1:59:26] It'll, I would say that what we're trying to do is coordinate our projects so that ahead of our
[1:59:34] slurry seal and overlay projects.
[1:59:37] So eventually, you know, it could be two, three years after city side fiber comes in,
[1:59:42] we will either have a slurry seal or an overlay
[1:59:45] over those micro trenches.
[1:59:48] Okay, so no concern from staff.
[1:59:50] No concern.
[1:59:52] Okay.
[1:59:52] I think that there were pair will definitely last
[1:59:54] until we do a new overlay or slurry seal.
[1:59:59] It sounds like you move pretty-
[2:00:00] Be quickly.
[2:00:03] Are there any public safety concerns when you've got the street dug up? Do you interact
[2:00:09] it all with the fire department, the police department, so they could have access in case of an emergency?
[2:00:17] They should have access at all times. And we're certainly willing to communicate and coordinate
[2:00:24] with those folks as to the locations and the time, there will never be in a time where the road
[2:00:31] is completely closed. We're over off to the one side of the road, typically.
[2:00:37] And it moves pretty fast.
[2:00:39] Like you're saying, you know, we actually move through the neighborhoods pretty quickly.
[2:00:44] I appreciate that. I appreciate all of your comments. I mean, faster is better. And I think
[2:00:49] All the residents would greatly appreciate to have that option, so I appreciate you being here and answering all of our questions.
[2:00:56] I think Councilmember Holley, may I have a follow-up?
[2:00:58] Thank you. This is real quick for the City Attorney. We're just, we have no say, obviously.
[2:01:07] That's a simple, that's a simple statement. Yeah, I agree.
[2:01:10] Great to the point, Mr. Holley. That's exactly correct. This has been preempted by state law.
[2:01:14] The Public Utilities Commission is essentially there are authorities over arching and preamps anything at the state at the local level.
[2:01:24] This company like Verizon, AT&T, Cox, Spectrum.
[2:01:29] They have a legal right under state law to work on our right of way without our permission essentially.
[2:01:36] From a regulation standpoint, this is a private entity for profit, right?
[2:01:42] theoretically, or they could 20 companies come in and do the exact same thing.
[2:01:48] I think theoretically limited.
[2:01:49] It is controlled by the PUC, so there is a very complicated political process related
[2:01:55] to the Public Utilities Commission, and it's regulated and controlled, so I don't know
[2:01:59] how the numbers are actually set forth statewide, but there are any number of telecommunication
[2:02:05] companies that have PUC authorization to work in right of ways.
[2:02:09] Well, I can tell you too.
[2:02:11] I was going to add, there's also an economics standpoint to it.
[2:02:14] You wouldn't have a significant number of companies coming in because the market share would have already been taken by the number of homes.
[2:02:23] So to have, you know, more than just a couple companies may be a handful at the best.
[2:02:29] It's you're not going to get 20 companies or even a significant number coming in.
[2:02:34] And one other thing, and I'm not here to advocate one way or another for the company, I will say they recently did the area I live in in another part of the county other than seeing their checks out there, I didn't even know that they were doing work or digging in the street.
[2:02:53] It was very quick and there was no residual effects afterwards.
[2:02:59] So in terms of looking at how they would treat Rancho Santa Marguerita,
[2:03:03] they've met with the city.
[2:03:05] They are committed to working in advance of our slurry seal projects.
[2:03:09] There may be a little bit of a lag with that.
[2:03:13] You might have maybe 18 months to years as Mr. Parko said before that next slurry comes through.
[2:03:19] but I think it does show a willingness to work with the city to have as a minimal disruption as possible.
[2:03:26] Thank you. Along with your street dug up.
[2:03:30] You know, I don't even know that I ever noticed it actually being dug up.
[2:03:33] Okay. The benefit to the residents for the city of Rancho Santa Margaret is increased market choice
[2:03:40] and increased market competition. If Rancho residents are unhappy with the current internet provider,
[2:03:45] this is a new market participant and it will drive competition and it will, you know, obviously through market forces
[2:03:52] presumably improve internet capability and speed up.
[2:03:56] Where I live, I'm frustrated with my internet provider.
[2:03:58] I can't wait to see if perhaps in my city, I get a choice.
[2:04:03] So, a choice is coming to the residents of the city of Ranch of Santa Maria.
[2:04:09] A couple other questions here.
[2:04:11] And I understand, it's coming, and I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I mean, my internet is pretty fast.
[2:04:18] One of your bullet points said that you're blinding fast speed.
[2:04:23] I guess there's a way to quantify that, but I'm not going to even go there.
[2:04:26] That's a great sales point.
[2:04:28] I guess the sum that wouldn't ask any other quiet, blinding speed.
[2:04:34] The mayor brought a great point.
[2:04:36] This is coming, but what we have to be ready for is the questions, and this is the first
[2:04:43] I've heard of this, okay, I was fine, but there's going to be a lot of questions,
[2:04:46] hey, why are they trenching, what's going on, and man this has been going on for seven
[2:04:50] years, and we have to have those answers, but in reality, you said you were going to work
[2:04:56] with the city, but in reality, you don't have to do that.
[2:04:59] Well, yes, we do.
[2:04:59] No, no, it's the yes or no.
[2:05:01] You don't really have to work with us.
[2:05:02] Well, we do, we do, we, we, we, we, we have the right to be in the right way.
[2:05:07] However, the city can control, I'll call it time-place and matter.
[2:05:10] Say that again.
[2:05:11] And that time-place and matter.
[2:05:13] And that is the, of the actual construction.
[2:05:16] Because we are obligated to go to the city to obtain permits to be able to do the construction.
[2:05:20] So in your perfect world, you start on day one.
[2:05:23] Let's just say it's January 1st of any year.
[2:05:24] Okay.
[2:05:25] You're finished with your work in Rancho as far as trenching and stalling when.
[2:05:32] If I would have to guess that the complete build out of the city, I would say somewhere between 18 and 24 months.
[2:05:40] And yet we have a seven year IP plan on why am I missing this?
[2:05:45] How could this possibly, you're saying that you're going to try to work with the city in that regard.
[2:05:52] But your numbers don't, that doesn't drive. It doesn't make sense.
[2:05:55] So if you're done, and frankly, if I'm wrong, you're going to be trenching every street in the city.
[2:06:02] No, now we will trench many of the residential streets where the actual lines to the homes would go.
[2:06:09] But we're not going to trench, I'll call it the majority of your arterial or major rows.
[2:06:14] Only where we need backbone lines to connect the neighborhoods.
[2:06:18] By how many trenches are we talking about?
[2:06:21] Streets that will be trench.
[2:06:22] Yeah, I can tell you, in our zone one, we're going to do 101,000
[2:06:28] linear feet.
[2:06:29] Say that again.
[2:06:30] 101,000 linear feet, which is 19 miles.
[2:06:34] How many streets is it with my question?
[2:06:37] I don't have the names of all the streets.
[2:06:38] Not only names of just how many streets, out of all the streets that we are.
[2:06:43] So, you're not going to put fiber in every street?
[2:06:45] Well, we are going to put fiber in, I'll call it every residential street.
[2:06:49] Yeah, that was my question.
[2:06:50] So, you're going to be on every street?
[2:06:51] Primarily yes, and you will you have fiber that goes to this to the side walk if you will of every house
[2:06:57] It'll go to the back of the sidewalk the ladders will will will serve two homes
[2:07:02] So it'll be every other home. There'll be a line. They'll go under the curb under the sidewalk to the back side of the
[2:07:08] Sidewalk and then that can split off the serve two homes and those are don't have sidewalks. What happens?
[2:07:13] We'll go to probably add to the back to the property line and we'll put a way to slow down
[2:07:19] You're gonna take you're gonna take your fiber
[2:07:21] to the property line or through the property line.
[2:07:24] Just to the property line.
[2:07:26] So, from to it, right, right, and then we'll leave it there until the homeowner
[2:07:32] requests the service and at that point, we'll run it from on their property from
[2:07:37] the right of way line up to the home.
[2:07:40] And where does it connect into the home?
[2:07:43] So, we'll work with the resident as to where they would like to have it connected.
[2:07:46] We'll put a box on the outside of their home.
[2:07:49] We'll go in, drill into the home, have a connection point there.
[2:07:53] We provide the equipment, the router.
[2:07:56] You've probably got a router now from your service provider.
[2:08:00] So we'll go in and put a router in there or put a line and a connection point inside their
[2:08:05] home.
[2:08:06] Give them a router and then set them up on the network.
[2:08:10] Okay, last words to disacquisify.
[2:08:12] You hope to be done of all these streets 18 to 24 months.
[2:08:17] yet we have no way to pay our streets in that time frame
[2:08:23] correction.
[2:08:24] We don't have, we don't have the means or the do that.
[2:08:29] We can't, we can't keep up with that 24 month page, correct?
[2:08:33] So, the schedule that Mr. Thomas has proposed is ahead of all of our
[2:08:38] slurry seal projects and the residential streets.
[2:08:41] So, we rotate those neighborhoods.
[2:08:43] So, he will be at least two to three years ahead of some of the slurries seal projects.
[2:08:51] So, we will, like Mr. Vontta said, we will probably, we may have some lag of, you know,
[2:08:57] three, two to three years before we get a slurry after they come in with their micro trench.
[2:09:02] The longest would be three years.
[2:09:04] Yes.
[2:09:07] I'm going back to your communication with the residents.
[2:09:10] I'm sorry to get them, but do our hangers, male.
[2:09:16] So we do males and do our hangers.
[2:09:18] We'll do a couple of different associations.
[2:09:21] We're all over social media.
[2:09:23] What's the social media do you use?
[2:09:25] Well, we're on that.
[2:09:26] In fact, I'm going to turn to our senior VP of Mark and he will never answer the fine.
[2:09:31] No, no, no, no.
[2:09:33] I see a lot of feelings.
[2:09:34] I see a lot of feelings.
[2:09:34] One or two word answer please.
[2:09:36] I see a lot of feeds on LinkedIn.
[2:09:37] Whatever social media is prominent in today's culture, we use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram.
[2:09:45] We also have our website.
[2:09:47] People can go to.
[2:09:48] For a highly accessible art intention.
[2:09:51] I appreciate your concern.
[2:09:53] Our intention is to communicate with the citizens to not disenfranchise them during our process.
[2:09:58] Our intention is to partner with them so they can see that there's an alternative to what they have today.
[2:10:02] It's to our benefit to over communicate and make sure that they understand when and how we're coming
[2:10:08] So our communication cadence starts about 90 days. Well, 60 days before construction
[2:10:13] As soon as permits are issued, then we start our communication cadence and it's a several touch point from direct mail door hangers and community outreach and engagement
[2:10:22] Also work with any of the private communities
[2:10:25] We also work with the HOA communities and letting them know and they have the option to also sign it up and then allow
[2:10:32] and us to provide services into their communities as well.
[2:10:35] Yeah, that's what.
[2:10:41] We work with all of them on the timing of that to the best they're working.
[2:10:46] Yes.
[2:10:47] We've already been talking with you.
[2:10:48] Hold on.
[2:10:48] Let me finish.
[2:10:49] You'll be telling people it could be three years before we repair history.
[2:10:52] Well, the streets are prepared after we're done with the community.
[2:10:54] No, no, no.
[2:10:55] They don't look the same.
[2:10:55] We already talked about that.
[2:10:56] It's not going to look the same at all.
[2:10:59] Let me finish.
[2:11:00] He's already said it's not going to look the same until we go and do
[2:11:05] what we do so that's on the public streets and we'd be happy to coordinate our communication
[2:11:11] with the residents to let them know how long it'll be before they'll there's a whole
[2:11:14] use of that same way. We'll use the sending them that they just got the work done on their
[2:11:19] street. It could be three years before it gets repaired. We can certainly make that part of
[2:11:23] our communication. Is that something you can give us in writing? Sure. Okay. And I just wanted
[2:11:29] clarify too. So what we've been primarily talking about are the public streets, the public
[2:11:35] right of way. We also provide the service into the private communities and those communities
[2:11:40] because they own the streets. We worked directly with the HOA to hopefully obtain their approval
[2:11:46] to be able to work in their streets and we again attempt to coordinate that with their plans
[2:11:50] for doing their resurfacing on their streets. We're willing to host a town hall. We're willing to,
[2:11:57] We do a groundbreaking ceremony.
[2:11:59] We have loved to partner with the city and the chamber, whoever else would like to participate.
[2:12:03] We make ourselves highly accessible.
[2:12:05] We do a groundbreaking ceremony in the city of Urbana, where we launched out there.
[2:12:09] We're doing one of the 20th in the city of Laguna Hills.
[2:12:13] So we're partnering with their chamber and their city and their government officials.
[2:12:16] We want to be highly accessible and highly approachable.
[2:12:19] Our intention is to be part of the community, not just a service provider trying to grab a bunch
[2:12:23] money and in services, we're actually viewing this as we're providing value to the citizens
[2:12:30] of Orange County.
[2:12:35] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[2:12:37] Mayor, I know we're not voting on this.
[2:12:39] This is a receive and file, but I just wanted to, after hearing all the questions and the answers
[2:12:44] in the comments, if there's one perpetual concern that I've heard over the years is a dissatisfaction
[2:12:51] with the choice of cable providers here in Rancho Santa Margarita.
[2:12:55] People are not happy with their cable providers that they have they want a choice. I think this is great and
[2:13:02] I'm looking forward to I wish we could do it as quickly as possible notwithstanding the seven years CIP
[2:13:11] I we see emails all the time or messages from people saying when are we gonna get this and
[2:13:16] I also have heard from folks in Mission VA who that they just can't believe how great this is
[2:13:21] how quickly they can download and upload,
[2:13:23] compared to what we have right now.
[2:13:27] It's just been very,
[2:13:30] obvious to me for years.
[2:13:34] How dissatisfied people are with,
[2:13:35] and I'm not gonna mention the names
[2:13:37] with the offerings that we have for cable providers.
[2:13:40] So anytime that the citizenry
[2:13:43] you can have more options available to them,
[2:13:46] more choice, all in favor of it.
[2:13:49] So thank you for your presentation.
[2:13:50] I look forward to seeing you get to work as quickly as we can.
[2:13:54] And we're available any time, any other questions come up.
[2:13:58] Let us know, like, start a mention, we'd be able to come out and do a town hall or
[2:14:03] whatever we can to answer any questions that may come up.
[2:14:05] Anything else to mind, right?
[2:14:09] One other question relative to like, homeowner installation.
[2:14:15] When people bought their homes, they're, I think there were already easements recorded, you know,
[2:14:19] for the benefit of like the cable providers.
[2:14:22] Do you have to record new easements on each homeowner
[2:14:25] that hires or engages your company?
[2:14:28] Or do you have those easements?
[2:14:29] How does that work?
[2:14:30] No, we typically do that just at the permission
[2:14:33] of the property owner.
[2:14:34] Those laterals, those connections into the homes.
[2:14:36] I don't believe the cable lines are actually
[2:14:38] in easements from the public right of way back to the home.
[2:14:44] OK, and are you able to just tap into and use
[2:14:48] like the same conduit that might be there from the cable provider
[2:14:51] of you laying just your own new typically just lay our own.
[2:14:55] If there is conduit that is available, we can potentially use that.
[2:15:00] That usually is owned by the homeowner, because it is typically not in an easement, and so we can utilize
[2:15:08] that if the homeowner would like us to.
[2:15:12] It's been a long time since we bought our house. I seem to recall that there was a recorded easement, but
[2:15:17] it likely not for your cable provider.
[2:15:21] I know there was for unexploded military ordinance and all kinds of things. It's been a while since I looked at it.
[2:15:27] Well, it's an exciting opportunity I think for our residents and I'm happy to have city side
[2:15:35] fiber coming in to our community. I appreciate the comments that you made that you're looking
[2:15:41] to come in here and be an important stakeholder for years to come.
[2:15:48] I remember the chamber and we have the sponsored several chamber events prior to us even
[2:15:52] lighting a single fiber or a single home, we started that process early because we wanted to be a part of the community.
[2:15:59] And we are genuinely we have dedicated resources that attend a chamber of meetings and we'll continue to do that with any other entities and associations within the community.
[2:16:07] I appreciate that and I was going to invite you to do just that sort of thing.
[2:16:11] We just recently had last month the big rancho family festival apology.
[2:16:15] Were you already there?
[2:16:17] That's a good opportunity for you to share with the community what's going on.
[2:16:21] That's for the benefit of our residents as well as for your company, so we look forward to having you in the city for years and if there's something that we can do we're all ears to try and make this as seamless
[2:16:35] A process for you and for our residents, so I hope we could work together closely for years to come in and you enjoy great success and our residents enjoy better options. Thank you
[2:16:47] Thank you.
[2:16:48] Thank you.
[2:16:49] Thank you very much.
[2:16:50] Thank you.
[2:16:50] This is a receive and file call.
[2:16:53] I don't believe we have to take any action tonight on that.
[2:16:55] So that concludes item 7.1.
[2:16:58] 8.1 we dealt with earlier.
[2:17:01] So we now are down to item nine public comments.
[2:17:04] This is the last opportunity tonight to address the city council on any matter not on our agenda.
[2:17:10] I have one request to speak.
[2:17:12] and Brian Boyle has asked to speak to us again.
[2:17:17] So, Brian, if you want to come forward once again?
[2:17:26] So, I think we do like capitalism here.
[2:17:31] Like that's the vibe I get.
[2:17:33] So, having competitors seems like a good thing.
[2:17:38] So, it's all remember listening to your next time.
[2:17:40] So, I wanted to address the decorum of these meetings,
[2:17:43] based on my last comment.
[2:17:45] I'm bummed I have to bring this up again.
[2:17:46] but Mayor Bill does often interrupt public comments
[2:17:50] or give us a lecture following them based on his opinions.
[2:17:53] He did that today to me again.
[2:17:55] So according to Council's own rules,
[2:17:57] the Mayor and Councillor not allowed to do this.
[2:17:59] I'm just gonna read this again from the rules that were approved.
[2:18:03] At the January 24th, 2024 meeting.
[2:18:07] So if a member of the public addresses the City Council
[2:18:09] on a matter that is not on the agenda,
[2:18:12] City Council members shall neither engage
[2:18:14] and extend a discussions nor deliberate
[2:18:15] on the map that's like arguing. On the matter, if a council member so wishes, the council member
[2:18:20] made during the council member comments, that's a different time. Portion of the meetings
[2:18:25] requested the matter be placed on the next agenda. We don't usually see that happening here, though.
[2:18:31] So highlight here, no action or discussion shall be undertaken on any item not appearing on the
[2:18:36] posted agenda except the city council member staff may briefly respond to statements made or
[2:18:41] questions posed by the person making those comments, but otherwise that's something they're
[2:18:46] supposed to do in their own comments. So I just seems like we forget this a lot, so I just
[2:18:51] wanted to remind folks, also yay, fiber. Thanks. Thanks for your comments, Brian. My comments
[2:18:59] and reply to you are in full conformance with our policy. And if I hear a question from you or any
[2:19:06] member of the public during public comments, we try and provide a quick answer as our policy permits,
[2:19:14] or if I hear something that is obviously incorrect or misleading, I try and help guide the speaker
[2:19:22] or for the benefit of those listening so that they aren't misled. So thank you very much.
[2:19:30] Item 10 is our City Manager's report. Do we have anything Miss City Manager?
[2:19:34] I have nothing this evening. Thank you.
[2:19:37] Okay. Thank you. Item 11 matters presented by the mayor or council members. I'll start to my left.
[2:19:44] Mayor Putin.
[2:19:45] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[2:19:46] I would just once again request that we adjourn in honor of the memory of
[2:19:50] Akite Patel. This family members are here tonight as well.
[2:19:55] I won't go through everything I had said before, but he was a wonderful young man,
[2:20:04] a wonderful
[2:20:04] very pleased that we were to adjourn a his honor. We'll do that. To my right.
[2:20:11] Councillor Mayer. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thanksgiving is almost
[2:20:16] upon us and I want to wish our Rancho Santa Margarita community a very happy
[2:20:20] thanksgiving. I'm especially thankful for the opportunity to serve on the City Council.
[2:20:26] I'm grateful for our wonderful hardworking city staff and especially to our City Manager who's
[2:20:31] It's always available to answer my many questions and explain complex matters.
[2:20:36] Jennifer, your wisdom and knowledge continually amazes me.
[2:20:39] I'm also thankful to my colleagues for their kindness, advice, and grace as I continue
[2:20:43] to learn in this role.
[2:20:45] And finally, I am thankful for the incredible residents and volunteers of this community
[2:20:50] who stay engaged and truly care about baking, ranch, and Santa Marguerita, such a special
[2:20:55] place to live.
[2:20:56] I wish all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by your family, friends, and great food.
[2:21:02] Thank you.
[2:21:03] Thank you very much.
[2:21:05] So that brings us to adjournment.
[2:21:08] The next regular meeting of the City Council will be held Wednesday, December 10,
[2:21:12] 25, 7 PM right here in our City Council chambers.
[2:21:16] And as previously mentioned, we're going to adjourn tonight in memory of Mr. Patel.
[2:21:22] May God rest his soul. This meeting is adjourned.