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Following the invocation, scouting America, pack and troop 371 will lead us in the pledge to our flag. Would you please stand now for the invocation and then remain standing for the pledge?

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trust in your infinite mercy to forgive our failings and your wisdom to solve everyday

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trials and problems we face. Lord bless the leaders of the city, the mayor, the vice

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mayor, the council, and all those who serve. Grant strength and peace to those who protect

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heal and labor for the well-being of liquid. Reward their sacrifices and let your light guide

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their service. We ask Your Heavenly Father to preside over this meeting, guide every discussion

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and every decision according to your goodwill and holy benevolence for the benefit of your people.

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Through the grace and mercies of your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, to whom is due all glory and honor forever and ever. Amen.

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of the United States of America and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

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Thank you, Father Mena, and thank you, Pack and Troop 371, if you'd like to go over and introduce yourself, and then Mr. Johnson has one of our special 250th patches for you.

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Hello, my name is Madeline, and I'm ranked scout, and I'm in Troop 371.

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Hello, my name is Sophia, I'm scout rank and I'm in trip 371.

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My name is Nadine and I'm in scout rank and I'm in trip 371.

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Hello, my name is Sian and I'm in re-beloes.

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I'm a lion scout,

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I'm Noah and I'm a lion scout.

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Hello everyone, my name is Viana.

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Hi, my name is Dominic Ian and I'm a first class scout of trip 371.

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Thank you very much.

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Would the City Clerk please call the roll?

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Councilmember Rogers?

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Here.

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Councilmember Villaria?

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Here.

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Vice Mayor Ariano?

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Here.

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Councilmember Chase?

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Here.

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Mayor Wood.

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Here.

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Now I'm going to go over the public participation guidelines.

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Members of the audience may address the City Council on any item on the agenda before the

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item is voted on.

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Items not on the agenda may be addressed during oral communications at the end of this

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council meeting.

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If you plan to speak, please sign in now.

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Write your name, address, and the subject of your remarks on the sign and sheet at the

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rear of the room, and we ask that you please stay within a three minute time limit.

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As a reminder, there's not a separate public comment period before individual items on the

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agenda, except for the items listed as public hearing, which will have its own public comment

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period.

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We're first going to hear from speakers present in the room, and then we'll invite comments

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from those participating by telephone.

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on. Do we have anybody signed up to speak?

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None? Okay. Do we have anybody online?

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Mayer, we do not have any remote callers at this time.

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Okay.

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Okay. We're going to go to announcements and presentations. Good evening again, everyone.

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Without a doubt, the weather has affected us all. I hope you're doing what you can to stay cool and hydrated.

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And I want to take a moment to acknowledge the terrible tragedy that has unfolded at the China and

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the Paul border late last month.

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The catastrophic flooding there has caused an unimaginable loss of life,

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displaced thousands of people, and devastated entire communities,

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with search and rescue efforts still continuing.

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On behalf of the city council and the Lakewood community,

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I want to extend our deepest condolences to the northern Nepal and China,

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China's Tibetan communities, as well as the families here in our region,

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who may have family members or loved ones affected by this tragedy,

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including the foreign nationals visiting that area.

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Our thoughts are also with the first responders, rescue workers, and volunteers

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who continue working under incredibly difficult conditions,

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demonstrating that miracles can happen even a week since the deadly flood.

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Tragedies like this are sobering a reminder of how quickly a disaster can change lives,

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and overwhelm a community.

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We're also thinking of our neighbors in coastal Long Beach

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and Sil Beach who are dealing with powerful swells generated

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by Hurricane Maria and the flooding homes and streets

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that have created dangerous conditions and evacuations

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in some areas.

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While we can't predict every emergency,

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there are things each of us can do ahead of time

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to make ourselves, our families,

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and our communities more resilient.

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That's especially appropriate to remember this month

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as I've signed a proclamation for September as National Preparedness Month.

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Here in Lakewood we encourage every household and business to take some basic preparedness steps.

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Have an emergency supply kit, make a family or workplace emergency plan, and

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know how you will get reliable information when an emergency occurs.

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The city also works year round to prepare through staff training and exercises,

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is public education and emergency preparedness information for our residents.

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Preparedness really is a shared responsibility and taking steps,

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taking a few steps now can make a tremendous difference when an emergency occurs.

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And we have a free event coming up that offers the perfect opportunities for families

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and community members of all ages to meet first responders who serve their community

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and learn about the latest and emergency preparedness.

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The cities of Lakewood's annual Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Expo will be held on Saturday, September 26th, from 10.30 to 2 in the Civic Center parking lot here at Delamo and Clark.

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Kids can enjoy the family fun zone with an array of activities while everyone can get an up close look at Sheriff's Department and Fire Department vehicles, including fire trucks,

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share of patrol cars, and a chance to meet the pilot of and see Lake with sky night helicopter.

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While it will be fun day, no doubt with El Nino coming this winter, there's no time like now to begin preparing.

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The city will be sharing more information and resources in the coming months as we all brace for a wet winter.

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This Friday marks 25 years since the September 11 terrorist attacks, and

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it remains an important day for our nation to remember the nearly 3,000 people whose lives were lost,

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as well as extraordinary courage shown by first responders and ordinary citizens that day and in the days that followed.

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I want to invite liquid residents to join us this Friday, September 11th for annual Patriot Day Ceremony.

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We'll gather at 6.30 in the west parking lot of Lakewood City Hall for solemn flag-lowering ceremony.

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And a time to remember, reflect and honor those who were lost.

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At this event, we'll also kick off Lakewood's annual thank-a-service member campaign.

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Another tradition that reflects our community's long-standing appreciation for military service.

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Since the campaign began in 2014, Lakewood residents, schools, businesses and

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community groups have created more than 50,000 cards, letters and drawings that have been sent to US service members stationed overseas.

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So as we remember the service and sacrifice of September 11th, we hope residents will also take a few moments to write a message of thanks to the men and women serving our country today.

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You can learn more by visiting our website or by calling City Hall.

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I'd like to recognize someone whose passing has touched people across the country and around the world.

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Dolly Parton, who passed away on August 25th at the age of 80.

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Dolly Parton was certainly an extraordinary entertainer, but she had a remarkably unique

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ability to connect with people across generations, backgrounds, and viewpoints.

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She did it with humor, warmth, humility, and an unmistakable kindness towards others.

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And she backed up those values with actions.

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Throughout her life, she gave generously to causes ranging from education and

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and childhood literacy to health care, disaster relief,

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and assistance for communities in need.

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In recognition of that remarkable life and legacy,

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we'll be proclaiming September 25th or 925,

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a fitting nod to her famous nine to five

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as Dolly Parton Day in Lakewood.

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So on September 25th,

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we hope Lakewood residents can honor her,

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not by simply remembering her music,

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but by following her example and pay it forward.

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help a neighbor, support a good cause, do something kind for someone who needs it, or simply find a way to lift somebody else up.

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Lastly, I'm pleased to announce a new series of community gatherings called Mosie with the Mayor, City Council, and Community Connect.

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We'll have our first event plan for Saturday, October 3rd at Delvae Park, and I welcome all of you to join us for a morning walk and talk,

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check out our community resource fair and enjoy a day at the park.

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We hope these gatherings can bring our community together one step at a time and connect with our city council, staff, and one another.

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And at this time, are there any announcements from our city council members?

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Councilmember Rogers?

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Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

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A lot of announcements.

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I'll be brief tonight to the interest of time.

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One thing I would like to announce is that the Lakewood Education Foundation is having one of its biggest fundraisers on September 18th, which is a Friday, and that's our Golf Tournament, a Lakewood Country Club Golf Course.

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I'm pleased to report that it's almost a sellout, but I'm also sad to report that it's not quite a sellout.

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So we have a seven spots left, I think, we have 138 golfers signed up, we have room for 137, we have room for 144.

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So if anybody would like to sign up, obviously, if you would like to sponsor or buy a T sign, we also invite you to do that.

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We also have a special raffle, we have a lot of really cool prizes from a 65 inch TV, to a tool set, to a griddle,

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to four free tickets in Osbury Farm or six flags, Magic Mountain, and all those that anybody's able to buy those tickets or $5 a piece and you do not have to be present to win.

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So if you would like to sign up, please reach out to me or our City Recreation staff.

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9-11 is obviously something that weighs heavy on all of our minds, those of us who were around 25 years ago.

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You know, it's amazing.

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We have a whole generation of folks that weren't even here and just know it from the history

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books.

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But for those of us who were here, we will always remember exactly where we were when

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we heard the news about the planes hitting the Twin Towers or the Pentagon or Flight 93

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or the White House being evacuated or whatever news report you heard.

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And it was obviously one of the darkest days in our history.

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But what I'm also reminded of is it also shines a light on what's best about this country,

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what's best about the people who live in this country, and that's stepping up.

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You know, we have this saying that we use in the law enforcement profession,

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Heroes Rise, and Heroes Rise to the occasion when things are the darkest.

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And when folks are fleeing from danger or having the worst day of their lives,

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we have those, whether they be in uniform, whether they wear badge,

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or whether they don't, just good people who rush in to help.

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And I know they use that term in Hollywood a lot to talk about when the

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heroes rise to solve some dilemma in the movie or in the plot.

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But in real life it happens and that was a shining example in this country of what

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it happened. And we're fortunate to live in a country where people step up and do that

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all the time. And I think this world would be a better place if people would follow that

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But more people would follow that example and step up and rise to the occasion when this country with this community, when our neighbors need it.

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So thank you.

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Thank you council member.

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Anybody else?

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Vice mayor.

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Yes, a few things to touch on.

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I was joined with the mayor the other day.

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We had a grand opening.

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The orange grill, which is the old Charles chicken if you guys remember that.

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But I feel like honestly when Toronto chicken left, Orange Grill came right in there.

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It didn't even miss a beat.

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And we got an opportunity.

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I know Kazuma Rodgers got to go there, check it out too.

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But what stood out to me the most is like, as we're trying to push businesses over and over again,

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our economic development team.

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You know, they have new banners.

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They came out together.

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There's new ways that they're pushing the business community.

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And our city TV is doing a great job with a lot of post.

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And just general members of the community, and also everybody on the dice here on my fellow council members,

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you guys are doing a great job on pushing the business community.

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And my ask is for the residents to do the same.

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I was like, our business community is important.

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And so like even a little corner lots that you have, I know people shop at the mall,

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but you know those are small business owners that are in those neighborhood like storefront.

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So I just want you guys to go out, you know.

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Please share what you did. I mean, it's all important. We're all doing our part, and that would help if you guys went out, shared, enjoyed what we have to offer in Lakewood, and you know, gave those businesses money. And then going from there, I just wanted to. I know everybody has a lot going on the city and we like taking this time. And since everybody's watching everybody's here, you kind of have to listen what I have to say. So I'm going to take this time. Take this time and talk about how great are you sports program or and give you guys a big shout out. And I know we have.

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We have the fall season and everybody should have got this in the mail if you're a resident.

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And if you're not a resident, can you make sure that you stop by City Hall?

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Because we have a new sign up, and I know we had a great job with, I think it's volleyball,

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volleyball tennis, and we have flag football for boys and girls.

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And when I say the girls part, it's the first time we've ever done that.

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And it's very important because we're creating more spaces for everyone to play in.

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And with that being said, I want to make sure if you have a daughter, or you know

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someone's daughter that's age 12 to 14, I want to make sure that you get them to the

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park, sign them up because we need more signups on that.

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We want this year to be successful and this season to be successful.

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So I will be there with my own team and I hope to see your guys there because I plan on

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winning the championships.

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So I'm sorry ahead of time, I don't mean to.

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But I definitely, I mean, this is what makes it great is our park program and our community coming out, but when it comes to the signups, if you guys know anybody with from age 12 to 14 girls, please have them sign up.

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This is something they don't have to play flag football. It's a good time for them to get a taste of it. And just please get a chance to come out sign up and even just watch what we're doing at the parks. It's an amazing time.

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And then one more thing, I just want to thank the city manager to give a little softball shot out.

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And I know it's our city team that we had a, what was the company that came out at our,

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Adura, they were at the roundabouts and I know the roundabouts would definitely have been a big conversation piece throughout the city.

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But I think I stopped by talks to some residents, and the staff that was out there, they listened, they took the hits, they wrote down.

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Some people were very respectful, some people were a little bit more passionate than normal, but I appreciate their patience.

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And I think when people came out, they had, they're from other cities out and know why they came from Long Beach and other cities.

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They were just with friends and they were giving kudos to Lakewood saying that we're one of the only cities that took the time out

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To get suggestions from the city so I definitely want to thank you guys and make sure that you thank them for spending a Saturday

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And taking the hits for for Lakewood. Thank you.

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We appreciate that. Thank you.

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Okay, just a couple things I wanted to report on. I had an opportunity to go with the city team led by our deputy city manager on

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Right along with meals on wheels. It was a great opportunity to see

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the program and interact with some of the residents and just a reminder, if anybody

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wants to volunteer, donate or know somebody that might need the services, including themselves

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to please reach out to the city we can provide information.

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I was able to attend Bingo at the mall.

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It was a great opportunity for the community to come together on an event that's sponsored

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by the mall.

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to have a fun evening. A lot of prizes. It was a great turnout. I went to chalk the walk which was

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a day before Cleveland Elementary opened and that was a time for the community to leave messages

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on the sidewalk with chalk. So it was nothing permanent or anything but just in words of encouragement

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for the new school year. And then I happened to stop by Monroe just to observe Patrick Henry's

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There's grades three through five that were temporarily being relocated and traffic looked like there were no issues and

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great to see the community come together to support Patrick Henry coming over while they're schools under construction.

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And lastly, I joined the city manager, the vice mayor, council member Virial.

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We were at the Cerritos Memorial for the, it was the 40th anniversary of the Cerritos Air Crash.

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And the community still comes together, remarks by former Supervisor Don Canabi, who was

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the mayor at the time.

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And they were very appreciative of Lakewood Station, who was at the time responded to the

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disaster since Cerritos did not have their own substation at the time.

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And a lot of things and aviation's safety came after that.

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So it was a solemn reminder of that day, and like 9-11, I remember I was when that happened, and I just remember the tragedy, so that's all I have to report, and if there's nothing else, council member Vriel.

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Good evening everybody.

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The last, on the last weekend of August at the honor of joining our mayor or vice mayor and our city manager at the California Contract City's Association of Fall Education Summit, it was an honor to represent our great city of Lakewood at this conference.

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It was great to connect and network with other elected officials from around the region.

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I think it's very important that we continue to foster that work in relationship with our neighboring cities.

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And then lastly, I wanted to take the time to pause and remember the victims of 9-11.

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There were a lot of courageous heroes that lost their lives that day.

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And subsequently many more lives were lost in and out of you.

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People, heroes in and out of uniform in the years after that.

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I can't believe it's been 25 years.

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I do remember that day.

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My watch printer had called me.

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We woke me up and said, get your bed in work.

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So, I can't believe it's been 25 years, but please take a moment and honor those heroes.

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Thank you.

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Okay, we're going to begin our agenda with the routine items.

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These actions are minor in scope or procedure on nature.

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We can approve these items with a single motion or an item can be considered separately at the request of a council member.

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Do I have a motion on the routine items?

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Make a motion to approve.

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I want to, I want to, I want to.

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Second.

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Thank you.

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It's been moved and seconded.

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With the city clerk, please call the roll on the routine items.

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Council member Rogers.

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Aye.

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Council member V. Arianna.

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Aye.

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Vice Mayor Arianna.

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Aye.

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Council member Chase.

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Aye.

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Mayor Wood.

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Aye.

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We're now going to go to public hearings.

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We have item 1.1, which is a community development block grant fiscal year 2025-26 consolidated annual

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performance report, and we will go to our director of community development, all those

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Mr. Cervantes, Director Cervantes.

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Yes, thank you, Mayor and City Council.

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The Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report,

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also known as the Caper, is an annual routine item,

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where staff provides the public and the council with a performance report of the CDBG programs.

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This year, the Caper includes a summary of the progress in meeting the city's priorities and goals during the program year.

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And under fiscal year 2025 through 2026, the funds totaled over $940,000, which included

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newly awarded funds as well as carry-over funds from prior years.

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The highlights of the program include several ongoing programs such as Meals on Wheels,

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Community and Individual Service programs, loans and grants for home improvements, as well

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as the WineGuard Senior Center renovation project.

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The Meals on Wheels service about 51 individuals and over 180 individuals utilize the Human Services Association.

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The Fair Housing Program service well over 100 individuals or households I would say who needed guidance related to housing rights and their rights in question.

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So, the city also issued 10 loans for the housing rehab program and four grants were issued to households for the fix-up and paint-up program.

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And so, with that said, staff recommends that the city council open and conduct a public hearing for citizen input and direct staff to consider all comments received and submit the paper to HUD.

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That concludes the report. I open for questions.

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Thank you. Any questions for the director?

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Seeing none, this is the time and place for public hearing.

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I don't have anybody signed up as anybody that wishes to speak on this item. Do we have anybody online?

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Mayor, we do not have anybody online wishing to speak.

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Okay, with that, I'll go ahead and close the public hearing.

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Any, it's a pleasure to counsel.

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Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion that we direct staff to consider all comments.

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I guess we don't have any, or any received prior, therefore to submit the caper, including any comments that are received to HUD.

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Second, it's been moved and seconded, any further discussion from the council?

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Okay, would the city clerk please call the roll on item 1.1.

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Councilmember Rogers.

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Aye.

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Councilmember Villaria.

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Aye.

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Vice Mayor Arriano.

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Aye.

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Councilmember Chase.

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Aye.

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Mayor Wood.

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Aye.

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Thank you.

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We're now going to go to reports, we have item 3.1, which is the new City website content management system, and we will turn that over to our Deputy City Manager, Palo Beltran, Deputy City Manager.

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Yes, good evening, Honourable Mayor and City Council tonight, myself and Annette Davis, our Public Information Specialist will together provide an overview of the proposed new website and content management system, which is before the council's consideration this evening.

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So the City of Lakewood is a pioneer when it comes to websites.

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We launched our own website 30, 31 years ago when the Internet was filled in its infancy.

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A content management system where CMS was introduced in 2002.

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And which enables city staff to more easily update the site contents with new stories,

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calendar events, and other pertinent information via a graphical user interface.

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The website was essentially unchanged since 2002 was updated in 2013 to accommodate increased

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use of widescreen monitors and smartphones that necessitated a redesign that took advantage

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of those technologies.

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And last updated in 2021, as you recall, when our then current provider exited the business

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forcing us to look for another vendor.

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The city website along with our weekly E-magazine, our Lakewood Living Magazine print magazine,

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social media and city TV is part of our comprehensive public information strategy.

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The latest analytics show that there are nearly 38,000 unique visitors per month to our

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website with the top three most visited content pages being activities, classes, registration.

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That's one page, jobs, and paying the water or trash bill.

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So,

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why are we replacing the website at this time?

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The first is that over the past year, we have experienced a decline in service levels

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from the current vendor.

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When the city started to prepare to meet the DOJs, Title II website and mobile applications,

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accessibility guidelines for state and local governments last year, we reached out to our

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current vendor for assistance and unfortunately did not receive the response or proactinist

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that we frankly expected from them.

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Another reason is that the current content management system is no longer as flexible for designing new pages outside of the templates that we are provided to create those pages, excuse me.

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The other reason is that we have seen an emergence of advanced features on municipal websites since we last updated our site five years ago.

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So this includes deep search capabilities.

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We found that folks, when they're using our website, they go straight to the search tool

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and put in their search terms.

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And so with new websites, the search capabilities are deeper and more integrated into the content.

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We've also seen the inclusion of artificial intelligence into the websites and chat

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bots so that the interactivity with the user of the website is more robust, more productive

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and efficient workflow where it takes less clicks due to advanced editing tools built right

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into the system, a greater design flexibility with subsites and market sites, and accessibility

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tools now being built straight into the platform. This helps eliminate the use of other third-party

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and saves them costs, which I'll go over later when I discuss the fiscal impact.

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So five years seems to be the city's spot for re-evaluating website technology, and we are at that time now.

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In the process of selecting a new vendor, staff follow the city's approved purchasing policy.

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We contacted CMS providers that are part of the federal government's general services administration's authorized federal supply schedule, price list, to contact them.

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And basically, that's a cooperative purchasing process that already provides competitive pricing

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through using the federal government's buying power.

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We found two CMS providers as viable replacements.

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We contacted them to perform a demo for our city staff.

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And we created 12 criteria to be able to fairly evaluate both companies.

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And the product demonstrations were held over the summer on July 21 and

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28, and based on feedback and evaluation and assessment, city staff is recommending

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that GulfStack be the CMS provider to move forward.

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So GulfStack has extensive experience delivering public facing websites.

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There are a product line of a larger company called GHD Digital, which is a leading professional

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services company which has been producing website design and development since 1999.

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They have extensive experience with public facing websites, like said, with 475 city and county clients and have built over 1200 websites.

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Their CMS was built specifically for public sector organizations like Lakewood that require full control of the site content.

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There are tools to provide content management, digital forms, and community engagement tools.

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Many of the...

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Who migrated to GovStack from the software platform we currently use? So they're pretty used to folks using the previous vendor to migrate to GovStack. The other feature that absolutely stood out with GovStack was for their accessibility features. They're built to fully comply with the latest Web Content Accessibility Guidelines or WCAG 2.1 level AA standards. And when content is created, their tools catch accessibility errors in the workflow before content

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and goes live saving staff time.

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It also includes Dock remedy software

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which my colleague Nanette will go over

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in more detail what that is,

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but it also works with accessibility.

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So with that, for more information,

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I will now hand it off to our public information specialists

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Nanette Davis.

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Thank you, good evening everyone.

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Gustak has three main things that really interested us

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in improving the website for residents

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and stand for the staff behind providing the information to the residents.

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And the top three were these three, which is as Pele mentioned the built-in accessibility.

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It's engineered into the platform.

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It's not an add-on, it's not an afterthought.

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We had issues with the current provider over correcting some of those ADA related type of procedures.

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And so this is really nice because from the ground up it's going to help us make sure

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that everything we provide to our residents is accessible in many ways.

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So that was very important.

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And the second thing is that it's got very flexible time-saving design features, so we're

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not so limited on the template as we are right now.

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We, right now, if we want to make a certain type of page, we're kind of limited in the

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size of images and various things.

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And there's a lot of flexibility with this, it's very drag-and-drop.

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it automatically resizes images to what we need and we don't have to have a

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complete cookie cutter look for every area and that's really important for the

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economic development website that we want to build so that we can have

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something that's very closely branded but still is different and dedicated to

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just the information needed for that topic and finally what was important to us

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was the smarter search.

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As currently our search is all keyword-based, so if you put a keyword in, you're going to

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pull up whatever pages have that keyword on it, and it's not the same kind of intuitive

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search that the AI can provide.

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So on accessibility, it's just showing the three-top type of features that Doc Remedy,

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as Paula mentioned, it turns PDFs that are uploaded automatically into accessible,

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a full, navigable HTML, no manual rework.

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Right now we have to do a lot of reworking in HTML

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to make sure it's fully accessible to everyone.

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So that will be really nice feature

400
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and save a lot of time for everybody.

401
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Page checker audits the pages against WCAG

402
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with a non-page issue overlay.

403
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So it's automatically going to alert us to anything

404
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before we make it go live.

405
00:33:09,300 --> 00:33:11,600
And a side scan is something that checks the whole site

406
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and reports issues page by page.

407
00:33:13,380 --> 00:33:22,860
And I think they're going to assign us somebody on their staff also to do that annually to go through everything and make sure that we're meeting all the requirements that we need to for accessibility.

408
00:33:23,740 --> 00:33:29,120
So these are overall comprehensive, efficient tools to help us keep everything accessible.

409
00:33:30,860 --> 00:33:38,300
And this is an example of the flexible design because we want to do the economic development subsite, which is included in the package.

410
00:33:38,300 --> 00:33:44,080
This shows you how you have a branded main-city website, as shown on the left, and then you

411
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can have the economic development subside, which is still connected to it and branded

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for uniquely for Lakewood.

413
00:33:51,180 --> 00:33:55,840
This is an example, but it looks different, and it's got a different navigation, and each

414
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page will be designed just for what we need to promote our businesses and opportunities.

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00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:04,120
So that was a big difference from what we have right now.

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And this also is included in the package.

417
00:34:09,580 --> 00:34:14,400
And finally, on the Smarter Search and Assistance, again, this is AI-powered search.

418
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It's not just keyword-based, so it's better, it's more relevant for residents.

419
00:34:19,460 --> 00:34:22,940
As Palo said, people just want to type a question in and get the answer right away.

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00:34:23,300 --> 00:34:27,400
They will not only get the answer, but they'll also get the link to the underlying page.

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They don't just get a link to then go search for what they want.

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And it also is response as well.

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It can further the conversation in a way to get to exactly what you're looking for.

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00:34:42,140 --> 00:34:47,560
So this is going to be a game changer for us as we don't have this level of resource right now.

425
00:34:48,300 --> 00:34:51,140
So those are all the reasons why it's great.

426
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So back over to you, hello.

427
00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:52,740
Thank you.

428
00:34:57,960 --> 00:34:58,360
Okay.

429
00:34:58,520 --> 00:34:59,380
Thank you very much, Nanette.

430
00:34:59,380 --> 00:35:04,380
So regarding the cost, the staff is proposing a five year agreement to save the city money.

431
00:35:04,820 --> 00:35:08,340
Also it gives us the five years that I mentioned earlier that is the sweet spot for

432
00:35:08,340 --> 00:35:10,100
re-evaluating website technology.

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00:35:10,500 --> 00:35:16,180
The vendor has agreed to roll into implementation costs which are usually paid up front into the five year agreement.

434
00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:27,560
And as I touched on earlier, the city will also rely savings from streamlining redundant services that we procured last year to help us with accessibility compliance, as those will no longer be necessary.

435
00:35:27,560 --> 00:35:34,260
One example of this is saving $16,000 per year on a document remediation service that we will no longer need.

436
00:35:34,720 --> 00:35:49,600
The agreement starts on July 1st, 2027, so it's pretty early and the vendor has agreed to start the project with us prior to the agreement kicking in because the implementation takes a while to complete.

437
00:35:49,600 --> 00:36:12,480
So our timeline is that we, if the council approves this tonight, is that we do the project kickoff on October 1, 2026, gives the staff about six months to migrate the content over and create pages with an estimated go-alive date by March 31st, 2027, which is ahead of the current vendors agreement expiring in April 2027.

438
00:36:15,690 --> 00:36:39,950
So it is the staff's recommendation for the City Council to award a five-year service agreement and the amount of 239,123 for the design implementation and support of a new city website and content management system to Govstack and recommending to authorize the mayor to sign the five-year service agreement with Govstack that commences on July 1st, 2027, subject to the approval asked to form by the city attorney.

439
00:36:40,530 --> 00:36:42,750
I might be to answer any questions that the council may have.

440
00:36:42,750 --> 00:36:47,650
Thank you for the report and Ed and Palo any questions we'll

441
00:36:50,180 --> 00:36:51,280
start with the vice mayor

442
00:36:52,140 --> 00:36:54,980
Just kind of curious on that when you talked about the transition

443
00:36:56,120 --> 00:36:59,800
Is it gonna be a slow transition? Are you creating a whole different website?

444
00:37:00,060 --> 00:37:04,220
And it's just gonna switch over when it goes live in 27. How is that gonna?

445
00:37:04,540 --> 00:37:07,420
So we're gonna be we're gonna have a planned delivery transition

446
00:37:07,420 --> 00:37:14,280
So it's not gonna be entirely new because the content that exists in our current website will be migrated over by the company to the new website

447
00:37:14,280 --> 00:37:19,120
But of course the design templates will be different so we want to make sure that whatever

448
00:37:19,120 --> 00:37:23,360
we're migrating looks good for what it is in the new website.

449
00:37:24,020 --> 00:37:28,780
And so we're as part of the transition process that's what we'll be looking at as well

450
00:37:28,780 --> 00:37:34,380
as making sure that the data is compatible that old web pages is also the time to call

451
00:37:34,380 --> 00:37:40,200
old web pages that don't get any clicks anymore just to reduce the footprint of the new website

452
00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:40,820
moving forward.

453
00:37:40,820 --> 00:37:46,460
And if we move forward with this agreement, will we start seeing changes slowly?

454
00:37:47,260 --> 00:37:47,540
So no.

455
00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:53,580
So when we go on the go live in March, it'll be going live to the new website.

456
00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:58,740
So it won't be like a patchwork where it's a combination of the old design with the new

457
00:37:58,740 --> 00:37:59,060
design.

458
00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:00,760
It'll just transition over.

459
00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:08,800
In the meantime, relating up to March 31st, we'll be doing like parallel testing of the

460
00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:09,180
website.

461
00:38:09,180 --> 00:38:16,760
So, you know, there will be versions that we can access that will be running the same time as the current website is running.

462
00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:22,060
So, just so that we could compare and how it's functioning while we're clicking around and testing it.

463
00:38:22,440 --> 00:38:27,000
Yeah. And with this company, is there any other website, have they done other obviously other cities?

464
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:30,240
They have, yeah, so one example is our neighbor's

465
00:38:30,240 --> 00:38:35,140
city of serietals, they had engaged with GulfStack,

466
00:38:35,260 --> 00:38:36,920
I think within the last one or two years,

467
00:38:37,440 --> 00:38:38,620
with their new website redesign.

468
00:38:39,080 --> 00:38:41,760
So it's fully transitioned over, serietals is live.

469
00:38:41,900 --> 00:38:42,140
Correct.

470
00:38:42,380 --> 00:38:44,780
With gun stack, okay, all right, thank you so much.

471
00:38:48,560 --> 00:38:49,780
Councilmember Rogers, thank you.

472
00:38:49,840 --> 00:38:51,840
Just one quick question, you mentioned the cost offset,

473
00:38:52,180 --> 00:38:53,680
but we're also gonna have some cost savings

474
00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:55,580
in terms of what we're paying our current vendor.

475
00:38:56,020 --> 00:38:56,140
Yes.

476
00:38:56,140 --> 00:39:02,940
So is there, and that's been what are the net fiscal hit as to the city per year or over the five year period?

477
00:39:03,180 --> 00:39:09,840
So I could tell you on a yearly basis council member Rogers were paying the current vendor about $30,000 per year now.

478
00:39:10,720 --> 00:39:16,840
And the five year agreement averages out to about 46 to 50 per year with the new vendor.

479
00:39:17,240 --> 00:39:23,480
And I included one of the cost savings that we're going to realize on the document remediation service as an example.

480
00:39:23,480 --> 00:39:30,880
So if you balance that out, that's already a $4,000 cost to just for that one year.

481
00:39:31,280 --> 00:39:33,960
So we're saving a lot just because we're not going to be able to.

482
00:39:34,280 --> 00:39:38,420
We don't need to use those other additional services for document remediation.

483
00:39:38,580 --> 00:39:44,660
So it could be over the five years, it could be an even cost like as if we didn't change the website.

484
00:39:44,980 --> 00:39:46,540
Sounds like a great deal, thank you.

485
00:39:48,340 --> 00:39:59,930
Just a question, on the search feature, one of the challenges sometimes of search features is if you don't put in the exact wording, you're not going to, you won't get it, right?

486
00:40:00,410 --> 00:40:11,830
Like, if somebody wanted to search the municipal code to know how many chickens they can have in their yard, if you don't put the search in right, poultry, however, it's worded in the municipal code, they may not get it.

487
00:40:11,830 --> 00:40:19,530
But if you put in how many chickens can I have through AI, would it be able to find the municipal code and tell me how many chickens we could have?

488
00:40:19,730 --> 00:40:27,070
I believe so, Mr. Mayor, I expect that AI would be smarter than just the keyword-based search of the current website.

489
00:40:27,430 --> 00:40:33,870
So you would be able to reframe your question and be able to retrieve the information to answer the question effectively.

490
00:40:34,630 --> 00:40:39,150
And then I think the vice mayor asked a lot about the migration and

491
00:40:40,450 --> 00:40:44,150
keeping current pages, and then they're going to be building two systems.

492
00:40:44,430 --> 00:40:47,190
And then of course, we'll have the same domain.

493
00:40:47,290 --> 00:40:49,210
We just pull the other one off and go there.

494
00:40:49,430 --> 00:40:49,630
Right, yeah.

495
00:40:49,950 --> 00:40:52,530
And we'll be doing, the residents won't see a difference.

496
00:40:53,070 --> 00:40:57,090
They'll still be able to get the access to current website.

497
00:40:57,630 --> 00:41:03,030
And then we'll be like in the past in 2021 when we transition over to this current website.

498
00:41:03,030 --> 00:41:15,010
Right, we made sure we had ample public information to that resident, so we had a banner up that said, hey, you know, we're under construction, part of our dust, you know, so we'll be doing that with this new website as well.

499
00:41:15,290 --> 00:41:21,190
And then will the new system, two things, I guess, broken links, we'll be able to identify any broken links.

500
00:41:22,170 --> 00:41:26,250
I believe so, I mean, I can't speak for it in that, but yes, it should be, yeah.

501
00:41:26,610 --> 00:41:31,330
And then, is it a more robust calendar?

502
00:41:31,590 --> 00:41:33,650
I think sometimes our calendar is kind of confusing.

503
00:41:33,830 --> 00:41:35,230
Things change at the last minute.

504
00:41:35,350 --> 00:41:39,310
People think they're coming to a meeting and there's no meeting or there's a meeting and no notice.

505
00:41:39,750 --> 00:41:42,010
What I've seen is that it's a more full featured calendar.

506
00:41:42,670 --> 00:41:47,130
And just lastly, just a side note, there was a website you could put in a website.

507
00:41:47,750 --> 00:41:50,590
And it would tell you what the website looked like at a certain period of time.

508
00:41:50,590 --> 00:41:53,770
And I remember going to the cities back in the 90s.

509
00:41:53,850 --> 00:41:57,190
Dot matrix, clip art, and we've come a long way.

510
00:41:57,530 --> 00:42:04,910
So I think the website has to provide updated, concise, ready to find information for a resident.

511
00:42:05,150 --> 00:42:08,190
So looking forward to the new system, I know it's going to take a while.

512
00:42:08,410 --> 00:42:13,530
But if we could get a report prior to roll out or any status, something would be great.

513
00:42:13,710 --> 00:42:14,070
We'll do that.

514
00:42:14,450 --> 00:42:19,330
And if there's no further questions, this is an action item.

515
00:42:20,730 --> 00:42:23,770
We have staff recommendations. Is there a motion on this item?

516
00:42:26,740 --> 00:42:28,300
I'll make a motion for 3.1.

517
00:42:29,980 --> 00:42:31,120
The item's one and two.

518
00:42:32,880 --> 00:42:33,360
Okay.

519
00:42:33,720 --> 00:42:34,660
I'll second it.

520
00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:36,040
Okay, it's been moving seconded.

521
00:42:36,480 --> 00:42:40,640
If there's no further discussion, we'll have the city clerk call the roll on this item.

522
00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:41,840
Council Member Rogers.

523
00:42:42,320 --> 00:42:42,500
Aye.

524
00:42:42,800 --> 00:42:43,800
Council Member Villarreal.

525
00:42:44,080 --> 00:42:44,240
Aye.

526
00:42:44,580 --> 00:42:45,520
Vice Mayor Arianna.

527
00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:46,220
Aye.

528
00:42:46,520 --> 00:42:47,300
Council Member Chase.

529
00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:47,940
Aye.

530
00:42:48,300 --> 00:42:48,640
Mayor Wood.

531
00:42:49,060 --> 00:42:49,200
Aye.

532
00:42:49,420 --> 00:42:50,300
Thank you, the motion passes.

533
00:42:50,300 --> 00:43:08,500
So we're going to go to item 3.2, which is for consideration of a community card customer agreement with YIFTI Inc for the Discover Lakewood Community Card Program, and we will hear from the Director of Community Development, all the Servantists, Director Servantists.

534
00:43:10,040 --> 00:43:11,600
Thank you, Mayor and City Council.

535
00:43:12,580 --> 00:43:18,040
The newly adopted economic development strategy describes many opportunities for business

536
00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:21,700
support initiatives as well as business retention and attraction programs.

537
00:43:22,660 --> 00:43:28,860
The department has already launched the Fosada Improvement Program and is receiving a lot

538
00:43:28,860 --> 00:43:29,840
of interest in that program.

539
00:43:30,280 --> 00:43:33,740
We've also laid out the ground rules for our future of buzzman programs.

540
00:43:33,740 --> 00:43:38,300
So a lot of activities happening in the economic development world in the department.

541
00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:44,980
To parallel these programs, staff would like to launch a Lakewood Community Card program,

542
00:43:45,260 --> 00:43:52,660
which offers city branded digital cards to purchase and spend at local Lakewood businesses.

543
00:43:53,420 --> 00:43:59,800
The shop local program is what we can want to call it as well, invest about $40,000 in these

544
00:43:59,800 --> 00:44:06,000
bonus funds, which allows residents to purchase these bonus bucks to use at our local businesses.

545
00:44:06,780 --> 00:44:12,560
And the imagery of the card on the screen is not the card that we're looking at right now at the moment.

546
00:44:12,680 --> 00:44:18,640
This is just a mock-up of kind of the what's in play in our near future for the card itself.

547
00:44:20,540 --> 00:44:22,160
So how does the card work?

548
00:44:22,520 --> 00:44:28,380
So the city will work or partner with HDL and Yifty to brand the card after liquid.

549
00:44:29,080 --> 00:44:58,180
HCL and the city will partner with an outreach campaign, which includes notifying the public reaching out to merchants to participate into the program, build out a webpage for customized for the city of Lakewood, provide infographics to the merchants, as well as provide training opportunities for the staff who work at these businesses to highlight that these cards are valid and they should be certainly utilized.

550
00:45:01,260 --> 00:45:30,380
Once the program launches, residents will be able to purchase the gift cards and bonus cards via the YIFTY webpage. The gift cards and bonus cards will be programmed to be used at pre-selected merchants. Unauthorized use of a non-participating merchants will be provided to the city in the form of KPIs for future consideration in that. Let's just say, for example, a resident uses the gift card, a merchant that is not authorized.

551
00:45:30,380 --> 00:45:35,400
we will actually receive that information so we can maybe consider that merchant at another program.

552
00:45:38,720 --> 00:45:48,560
The city, as I mentioned, is looking to invest $40,000 into the program, which can offer upwards of $100 per gift card,

553
00:45:49,160 --> 00:45:54,360
which will provide the residents with the additional $50 in bonus cards or bonus bucks.

554
00:45:55,060 --> 00:46:01,540
To give a total quantity, for example, if everyone purchased a $100 gift card,

555
00:46:01,540 --> 00:46:10,040
with the $50 bonus card, that would equate to about 1,500 cards issued through the program with the $40,000 invested.

556
00:46:10,880 --> 00:46:18,120
And according to YIFT and our conversations with the group, most people actually purchased the $100 gift card rather than the amounts that are lesser.

557
00:46:20,840 --> 00:46:30,200
It's also worth noting that the $40,000 that we're going to invest into this program is actually going to yield in about at least $120,000 in local business

558
00:46:31,900 --> 00:46:37,240
with taking into account not only the fully funded gift card, but also the bonus funds.

559
00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:46,980
It is also highly likely that the $40,000 fund that we provide in terms of the investment will be exhausted fairly quickly as soon as we launch the program.

560
00:46:50,740 --> 00:46:57,920
And so the benefits of the program are a variety of benefits to the city as well as our residents, so we're keeping the money local.

561
00:46:57,920 --> 00:47:05,600
As I mentioned, we are limiting the participating merchants to small businesses in the city of Lakewood,

562
00:47:06,520 --> 00:47:11,200
which does mean that we're going to be excluding a lot of the big box retailers, at least for the time being.

563
00:47:12,780 --> 00:47:22,140
We're looking at reducing any leakage, meaning that the businesses will be eligible only here in Lakewood,

564
00:47:22,620 --> 00:47:26,220
and the cars will only be eligible here for local businesses here in Lakewood.

565
00:47:26,220 --> 00:47:30,280
So they won't be able to utilize the cards in other cities surrounding us.

566
00:47:31,280 --> 00:47:36,360
And so those are the small, the benefits of the program.

567
00:47:36,820 --> 00:47:40,800
The other benefits are employers are allowed to purchase in bulk.

568
00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:44,560
So if case the city of Lakewood or the mall, for example,

569
00:47:44,780 --> 00:47:52,140
would like to purchase a bulk of cards, for example, of issuing these cards to employees in terms of events or what have you.

570
00:47:52,200 --> 00:47:54,460
That's also a benefit with respect to this program.

571
00:47:58,780 --> 00:48:03,260
And lastly, here are just some of the examples of other agencies that utilize the program.

572
00:48:03,980 --> 00:48:08,600
The two very specific ones are the City of Lake Forest, as well as the City of Palm Springs.

573
00:48:09,720 --> 00:48:12,400
Lake Forest started their program in 2022.

574
00:48:13,160 --> 00:48:17,680
They invested about half a million dollars into the program and is yielded them a significant

575
00:48:17,680 --> 00:48:19,740
amount of self-tax revenue for that city.

576
00:48:20,260 --> 00:48:26,380
This is sort of an every green program for the City of Lake Forest and it's sort of the example

577
00:48:26,380 --> 00:48:29,900
an example that a lot of us are looking at in terms of how to build our existing program.

578
00:48:30,420 --> 00:48:37,340
And according to YIFT, they acknowledge that even the half a million dollars funded to the program,

579
00:48:38,000 --> 00:48:43,740
those funds as soon as the program went live, went fairly quickly with the sales of the cards.

580
00:48:46,450 --> 00:48:52,310
And so with that said, staff recommends that the City Council approve the proposed community car program,

581
00:48:52,310 --> 00:48:58,190
and authorize a city manager to execute the agreement, as well as launch the community

582
00:48:58,190 --> 00:48:58,950
card program.

583
00:48:59,570 --> 00:49:00,370
Any open for questions?

584
00:49:02,940 --> 00:49:03,380
Okay.

585
00:49:03,560 --> 00:49:03,940
Questions?

586
00:49:05,640 --> 00:49:06,380
Councilmember Rogers?

587
00:49:06,940 --> 00:49:07,100
Yeah.

588
00:49:07,280 --> 00:49:07,720
Thank you.

589
00:49:08,880 --> 00:49:10,600
Shoplakewood is a big deal for us, right?

590
00:49:10,960 --> 00:49:15,240
And you know, we get a lot of feedback on social media and in person and the grocery store

591
00:49:15,240 --> 00:49:21,480
about the type of businesses that are attracted here and you know, we hear some consternation

592
00:49:21,480 --> 00:49:26,780
about the glut of chicken restaurants, for example, on cana wood, which are all extremely

593
00:49:26,780 --> 00:49:27,780
busy, by the way.

594
00:49:27,900 --> 00:49:33,400
They're like the leading chicken restaurants in the chains, and we bemoan the fact that

595
00:49:33,400 --> 00:49:37,580
we lose other businesses, and the reason we lose other businesses is because they don't

596
00:49:37,580 --> 00:49:42,040
receive enough support, they don't make enough money, because if they made plenty of money,

597
00:49:42,160 --> 00:49:43,080
they would never close up.

598
00:49:43,220 --> 00:49:44,120
They would stay here, right?

599
00:49:45,560 --> 00:49:49,740
It's a very rare business that closes when they're being extraordinarily successful.

600
00:49:50,500 --> 00:49:52,600
This is something we've been talking about for a long time.

601
00:49:52,940 --> 00:49:55,000
You mentioned our economic development strategy.

602
00:49:55,180 --> 00:49:59,280
This was a part and parcel of that in terms of encouraging the shop,

603
00:49:59,640 --> 00:50:01,280
Lakewood program.

604
00:50:01,740 --> 00:50:05,280
The question I have though is, are we going to identify the businesses first?

605
00:50:06,060 --> 00:50:09,120
I mean, there has to be some marketing, right, to encourage people to buy these.

606
00:50:09,640 --> 00:50:10,300
Yeah, great question.

607
00:50:10,460 --> 00:50:15,600
We've actually provided a YIFT and HDL with about 15 or 18 businesses already.

608
00:50:15,600 --> 00:50:24,740
And the reason for that is, once we establish a list, it allows for us to start the campaign for participation.

609
00:50:25,640 --> 00:50:33,900
As I mentioned, the training is highly needed because we want to make sure we train the staff to make sure that they understand the card is valid.

610
00:50:34,560 --> 00:50:41,440
We heard from Yifty that one of the big issues is the cards are churned away at merchants because they don't trust the card.

611
00:50:41,440 --> 00:50:46,060
So, there's a heavy amount of training for the employees at these businesses.

612
00:50:48,300 --> 00:50:53,240
Also worth noting is we'll be providing these merchants with a lot of infographics,

613
00:50:54,140 --> 00:50:59,980
QR codes for posting on the windows that we can advertise hopefully a phase two of this

614
00:50:59,980 --> 00:51:01,200
program next fiscal year.

615
00:51:01,860 --> 00:51:08,120
And so, yeah, there's, as I mentioned, there's going to be a heavy amount, HDL as well as our

616
00:51:08,120 --> 00:51:12,360
partners that Yifty are going to be providing a heavy amount of campaigning for this program.

617
00:51:12,360 --> 00:51:17,080
We'll be utilizing our communications team to help launch a social media campaign.

618
00:51:17,720 --> 00:51:21,440
Our website will be including a lot of information regarding the system.

619
00:51:22,080 --> 00:51:27,780
We'll have to build a Yifty link to our website as well so residents can find it, purchase

620
00:51:27,780 --> 00:51:30,620
the cards, and of course start using the cards as soon as possible.

621
00:51:31,540 --> 00:51:32,020
Great.

622
00:51:32,260 --> 00:51:32,560
Thank you.

623
00:51:35,240 --> 00:51:36,380
That's my review, Ariel.

624
00:51:37,660 --> 00:51:38,260
Thank you.

625
00:51:38,260 --> 00:51:39,140
That was a great presentation.

626
00:51:40,640 --> 00:51:41,800
This was a great idea.

627
00:51:43,400 --> 00:51:45,460
And this is just in time, hopefully.

628
00:51:47,520 --> 00:51:51,360
Is this going to be implemented in time for the holiday season?

629
00:51:51,800 --> 00:51:57,180
There's a lot of people that love to buy gift cards for Christmas.

630
00:51:57,840 --> 00:51:58,840
Yeah, another great question.

631
00:51:59,100 --> 00:52:00,820
We're looking to launch in October.

632
00:52:01,520 --> 00:52:02,800
So as soon as the contract is approved,

633
00:52:02,800 --> 00:52:07,720
We'll start working with Yifty on the merchants, start reaching out to the merchants to get them to participate.

634
00:52:08,000 --> 00:52:09,940
It's free for the merchants to participate, by the way.

635
00:52:10,520 --> 00:52:15,420
And so once we get all that locked in, we're ahead of the holiday season to get the cards purchased and out.

636
00:52:18,080 --> 00:52:19,060
I guess I'll go next.

637
00:52:20,620 --> 00:52:31,440
Just on the cards, gift cards are one of those areas that there's some state laws that says if a card has $10 or less, the merchant is required to refund that.

638
00:52:31,440 --> 00:52:40,360
I mean, a lot of gift cards go on used and people don't realize $1.25, $3, whatever, they can legally get that refunded by state law.

639
00:52:41,360 --> 00:52:43,200
Would that be the case on these cards?

640
00:52:44,600 --> 00:52:45,140
And okay.

641
00:52:45,460 --> 00:52:51,060
And part two then is, I guess the bonus cards technically can have an expiration date.

642
00:52:51,140 --> 00:52:56,380
A bonus card can, but I believe California law says a gift card in California cannot expire.

643
00:52:57,020 --> 00:52:58,420
So I want to confirm that.

644
00:52:58,920 --> 00:53:04,460
That's correct so the bonus card does expire and that expiration date is on us to point that

645
00:53:04,460 --> 00:53:10,720
The program is launching with a six month expiration date and the reason for that is because we want the funds to be spent

646
00:53:11,440 --> 00:53:11,920
funds

647
00:53:12,420 --> 00:53:20,580
In a bonus card goes if it goes beyond six months that money goes back into the pool into the $40,000 pool for someone else to purchase

648
00:53:21,400 --> 00:53:23,660
And then what about the $10 or less?

649
00:53:27,920 --> 00:53:28,400
I

650
00:53:28,400 --> 00:53:36,320
case for our gift cards that they, if there's a small amount of funds that they get somehow recaptured,

651
00:53:36,760 --> 00:53:38,820
that's not been what we've been told by Yiftee.

652
00:53:39,960 --> 00:53:44,920
Well, if we could confirm because I believe those state laws says if a gift card has $10 or less,

653
00:53:45,680 --> 00:53:47,340
the consumer can request the merchant.

654
00:53:47,920 --> 00:53:50,260
Now that might be different because that's a merchant issued card.

655
00:53:50,500 --> 00:53:53,340
So this might, I'm just, might have answered my own question.

656
00:53:53,500 --> 00:53:54,640
We can take a look at that.

657
00:53:54,640 --> 00:54:04,800
Yeah, and then if so once the 40,000 is spent like if somebody if everybody reached out and got him right away

658
00:54:04,800 --> 00:54:11,180
They just wouldn't be no bonus. We'd still encourage the cards to be purchased, which I might really show what the incentive is

659
00:54:11,860 --> 00:54:13,660
Yeah, yeah

660
00:54:13,660 --> 00:54:20,160
So yeah, so once so we are funding the bonus cards. That's what the fund is for and so what's the $40?

661
00:54:20,580 --> 00:54:24,660
$40,000 is expanded. There's no more no more bonus cards

662
00:54:24,660 --> 00:54:33,420
certainly folks can purchase the fully valued car, whether it's $150, $25, but there isn't a bonus added to that.

663
00:54:33,620 --> 00:54:37,840
So the incentive has gone once the $40,000 goes away.

664
00:54:38,700 --> 00:54:50,280
If they did so rapidly, we'd be coming back to probably touting the success of the program and asking for more cards and budget appropriation accordingly.

665
00:54:50,280 --> 00:55:02,520
And I think it'd be great if we could put together a small meeting of some of our local business owners, maybe a quick meeting where you can go over the program, invite them to City Hall and talk about the importance of it, get them to sign up.

666
00:55:03,140 --> 00:55:18,760
And then I would just ask if our Economic Development Committee, which is Council Member Chase and Rogers, if you guys could maybe get quarterly reports on the status, or if we could the entire council probably, but if you guys examine it to see how the program is working.

667
00:55:18,760 --> 00:55:20,880
And lastly, does GIFT stand for anything?

668
00:55:21,060 --> 00:55:21,820
It's just kind of a, you,

669
00:55:22,100 --> 00:55:23,020
I don't think it's an acronym,

670
00:55:23,380 --> 00:55:24,400
just the name of the business.

671
00:55:25,020 --> 00:55:25,880
Pretty ifty.

672
00:55:26,020 --> 00:55:27,760
Okay, we'll move down the line.

673
00:55:28,300 --> 00:55:29,160
Vice Mayor Arriano.

674
00:55:29,720 --> 00:55:32,400
Well, it's a nifty to hear about GIFT, yeah.

675
00:55:35,350 --> 00:55:38,110
The most, I mean, this sounds like a great program

676
00:55:38,110 --> 00:55:39,650
and I know it's a lot of work

677
00:55:39,650 --> 00:55:42,390
and your team is always looking for ways to help out.

678
00:55:42,990 --> 00:55:45,050
The business isn't, you know,

679
00:55:45,130 --> 00:55:46,090
push economic development.

680
00:55:46,550 --> 00:55:48,950
But I am kind of curious about the outreach and campaign

681
00:55:48,950 --> 00:55:55,690
on this. I know all of us love social media, not as much as so many people, but some of

682
00:55:55,690 --> 00:56:00,250
us use it a lot. And realistically, social media doesn't reach as many people as we

683
00:56:00,250 --> 00:56:05,950
think. So with this campaign, are we going to physically go to the businesses? And are

684
00:56:05,950 --> 00:56:12,210
we going to have like maybe postcards? Because even though we only have 6%, you know, business

685
00:56:12,210 --> 00:56:17,250
committee, it is actually spread across the whole city and each one of our districts. And

686
00:56:17,250 --> 00:56:22,170
And I'm not sure how the time is going to be taken to visit the businesses, given them

687
00:56:22,170 --> 00:56:26,890
a flyer, because there's a lot of small businesses that could benefit from this.

688
00:56:27,270 --> 00:56:33,010
That may not get it because they're not by the mall or they're not a, you know, hop in

689
00:56:33,010 --> 00:56:33,570
chicken spot.

690
00:56:33,950 --> 00:56:38,750
So it just kind of cares like, as we think about this, doing an e-mag and a social media

691
00:56:38,750 --> 00:56:46,190
post, is that really going to help, you know, the laundry place that really doesn't care

692
00:56:46,190 --> 00:56:46,750
about that?

693
00:56:46,750 --> 00:56:50,050
but would be nice to get these cards working?

694
00:56:50,770 --> 00:57:02,610
Yes, so the goal of the program is to provide a center for small business which is retail and restaurants.

695
00:57:03,170 --> 00:57:06,230
You're looking at more of the sales tax generating type of businesses.

696
00:57:06,990 --> 00:57:15,890
And so the 18, 15 to 18 businesses that we've provided already are coffee shops, small restaurants, retailers, that sort of thing.

697
00:57:15,890 --> 00:57:20,190
And we're looking to, hopefully, in that sense, expand it beyond that.

698
00:57:20,790 --> 00:57:28,970
Now $40,000 to us is a lot of money, and so we're looking to, with that investment, pilot this program.

699
00:57:30,310 --> 00:57:36,410
There's a heavy amount of reliance on HDL, this is why we brought on HDL as a partner, because they've done this before.

700
00:57:36,770 --> 00:57:40,530
They've been in for Lake Forest, they've been in for Palm Springs and other cities.

701
00:57:40,530 --> 00:57:44,770
And so there is a sort of a track record in doing this properly.

702
00:57:46,650 --> 00:57:53,790
The campaigns that were done with the other examples have been heavy on the door kind

703
00:57:53,790 --> 00:57:58,310
of walking around, doing their surveys, dropping off flyers, infographics.

704
00:57:59,130 --> 00:58:04,110
And so myself as well as Giselle, who is our economic development specialist, who we just

705
00:58:04,110 --> 00:58:09,930
onboarded, will be walking around giving out infographics cards on top of the social media,

706
00:58:09,930 --> 00:58:13,170
on top of the e-mag, on top of the website.

707
00:58:14,890 --> 00:58:21,230
And so there's, again, a heavy amount of walking around by staff, myself, social media

708
00:58:21,230 --> 00:58:24,570
campaigning, whether that's enough, it's yet to be seen.

709
00:58:24,630 --> 00:58:30,330
But again, HDL and YIFT are saying that that is typically enough for an agency to launch

710
00:58:30,330 --> 00:58:30,990
the program.

711
00:58:31,510 --> 00:58:36,270
Of course, as the funds expand or get larger and more merchants start to participate, you

712
00:58:36,270 --> 00:58:38,370
might have to pivot there and do something differently.

713
00:58:39,090 --> 00:58:44,130
But at this point in time, we're looking at launching it with about less than 20 merchants to participate.

714
00:58:47,880 --> 00:58:51,200
That's, I mean, less than 20 merchants to, all right, that makes sense.

715
00:58:51,540 --> 00:58:56,840
Only because I was thinking as your workload and then you're trying to get out there and

716
00:58:56,840 --> 00:59:01,820
talk to the merchants and pass it along, it just seems like a heavy load to kind of go back

717
00:59:01,820 --> 00:59:02,160
forth.

718
00:59:02,440 --> 00:59:03,180
But if you have the time,

719
00:59:05,780 --> 00:59:10,760
it's not a big lift, I would say.

720
00:59:10,760 --> 00:59:20,420
And now that we have Giselle, who's on my team, it does help with a little bit of the burden, but it's not undoable for us to do this.

721
00:59:20,660 --> 00:59:20,840
Okay.

722
00:59:21,400 --> 00:59:21,760
All right.

723
00:59:22,000 --> 00:59:24,200
Well, thank you looking forward to seeing the results.

724
00:59:25,000 --> 00:59:27,220
Hopefully we can get that as they roll out.

725
00:59:27,900 --> 00:59:28,660
We'll get some updates.

726
00:59:30,060 --> 00:59:30,740
Councilmember Chase.

727
00:59:31,840 --> 00:59:32,360
Thank you, Mayor.

728
00:59:32,700 --> 00:59:38,280
The vice mayor asked the exact question that I was hoping to ask you, director,

729
00:59:38,960 --> 00:59:42,900
and I think you for your response, I think it was very clear.

730
00:59:43,420 --> 00:59:46,220
It did bring up another question for me.

731
00:59:46,720 --> 00:59:50,540
I know that you share that you'd like to start with about 20 businesses

732
00:59:50,540 --> 00:59:55,860
and I'm looking at the numbers on this last slide of different cities that have been successful.

733
00:59:55,860 --> 00:59:57,240
have you?

734
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:02,760
As might look like in terms of participation.

735
01:00:05,590 --> 01:00:31,590
I don't have the number of quote-unquote small businesses at my fingertips, but the goal is, of course, is to always provide these incentives to those small shops. And the 15 to 18 businesses that we provided to Yifty already are across the entire city of Lakewood. We're talking about east side, we're talking about the west side as well. So we try to be sensitive

736
01:00:31,590 --> 01:00:37,430
to what we feel are the small businesses that are needing this type of incentive.

737
01:00:38,270 --> 01:00:45,070
But to say that we've reached sort of the milestone in terms of a success story, we hope

738
01:00:45,070 --> 01:00:46,650
to capture every single small business.

739
01:00:46,890 --> 01:00:53,350
But again, to the point of the Vice Mayor, at some point in time, there's going to be a

740
01:00:53,350 --> 01:00:57,470
tipping point where resources become limited.

741
01:00:57,470 --> 01:01:04,410
And so right now with myself and the economic development specialist, we can handle a certain

742
01:01:04,410 --> 01:01:09,970
level of reaching out and walking to businesses and managing this kind of a program.

743
01:01:12,350 --> 01:01:16,390
But once we get to that point of reaching that tipping point, then we can suddenly come

744
01:01:16,390 --> 01:01:20,290
back to Council and say, this is how far we can go with this program.

745
01:01:21,050 --> 01:01:23,370
And we need to figure out under the strategy.

746
01:01:23,370 --> 01:01:27,010
But it's sort of pinpoint what makes it successful.

747
01:01:27,290 --> 01:01:30,430
I think in this case, as we're piloting this program,

748
01:01:30,990 --> 01:01:35,870
if we get 20 merchants to participate and they get enough sort of

749
01:01:35,870 --> 01:01:39,610
business as a result of this, then that's a win for me.

750
01:01:40,770 --> 01:01:41,530
Thank you.

751
01:01:42,590 --> 01:01:46,890
It seems like it's really a win for everybody.

752
01:01:47,350 --> 01:01:48,850
Obviously the business gets the revenue.

753
01:01:49,750 --> 01:01:52,610
If I'm a consumer, I give you a hundred bucks and I get 150.

754
01:01:52,610 --> 01:01:55,110
that just means I get $50 more to spend for free.

755
01:01:55,910 --> 01:01:58,850
It's not really free, it's money we're investing,

756
01:01:59,250 --> 01:02:01,830
but I don't really see the downside.

757
01:02:02,210 --> 01:02:05,670
I hope we, besides our restaurants and coffee shop,

758
01:02:05,810 --> 01:02:07,670
we have some locally owned hardware stores.

759
01:02:07,670 --> 01:02:11,990
We have some great dry cleaners and service industries

760
01:02:11,990 --> 01:02:12,910
that I think would be good.

761
01:02:13,550 --> 01:02:16,390
So people may not eat out or buy coffee out,

762
01:02:16,470 --> 01:02:18,490
but they do those other, which would be good.

763
01:02:18,970 --> 01:02:21,910
And will we see like Yifty accepted here

764
01:02:21,910 --> 01:02:29,970
We're a Yifty Mark business, like a window sticker or something to, you know, your Yifty dollar accepted here.

765
01:02:30,330 --> 01:02:33,730
That's the part of the plan, yes, that's the infographics that we're looking at, I'm providing.

766
01:02:34,630 --> 01:02:39,630
Okay, yeah, if we can get an update, as we started adding businesses, that's some of our judges.

767
01:02:39,850 --> 01:02:46,670
Just one more comment, I mean, I don't want to, I know you want to control this and keep tabs on what's going on.

768
01:02:47,050 --> 01:02:50,510
But I don't mind putting in the work, I'm sure the council doesn't mind putting in the work.

769
01:02:50,510 --> 01:03:07,550
We all shop liquid, I would like to maybe have a list of the participating businesses that are signed on those who haven't, and maybe some of those flyers, and when we're out shopping liquid, we can encourage our local shopkeepers to sign up.

770
01:03:13,370 --> 01:03:28,550
I think we can see the list broken down by council district and I think if you're out there walking, I think inviting the council if it's appropriate and something we can do because we all know every business mostly but there may be some that the council

771
01:03:28,550 --> 01:03:33,810
might be out frequently regular and not seeing the yifty and may not know but they know

772
01:03:33,810 --> 01:03:38,570
that if we recommended it might be good so if we could get the current list of people

773
01:03:38,570 --> 01:03:43,250
that might be saying yes those that you want to hit and if we could get it by district and

774
01:03:43,250 --> 01:03:47,950
again if we can have an information meeting that might be as well we could come and do that

775
01:03:47,950 --> 01:03:49,170
so great idea.

776
01:03:49,590 --> 01:03:51,210
Give me an excuse to go to a donut shop.

777
01:03:51,910 --> 01:03:53,030
I have to it's for the city.

778
01:03:53,630 --> 01:03:54,410
I have no choice.

779
01:03:55,110 --> 01:03:55,350
I have no choice.

780
01:03:55,350 --> 01:03:55,910
I have no choice.

781
01:03:55,910 --> 01:04:01,570
I don't think I have any chicken in my district matcha right yeah, I just I it's not my it's not for me

782
01:04:01,570 --> 01:04:08,430
It's for the city, right. We'll buy our bonus cards, too, right? That's right. Okay, um, could we was this the end of the presentation?

783
01:04:09,070 --> 01:04:11,590
Could you I think there should be one more slide?

784
01:04:12,810 --> 01:04:19,590
No, that's that's the other recommendation slide. Okay. I mean he's learned for the recommendations. Okay. Um, so the recommendation would be

785
01:04:25,250 --> 01:04:27,070
There are three listed on the agenda.

786
01:04:27,290 --> 01:04:49,090
Proof of the Community Card Agreement with the FD, authorize the City Manager to execute the agreement on behalf of the City of Lakewood, and authorize the City Manager to administer the Discover Lakewood Community Card Program, including entering into the initial and sub-equent Bywin Getwin Campaign via the FD Community Card, Bogo Campaign Quick Start Agreement until Program Funds are exhausted, since I did it, I guess I'll make the motion.

787
01:04:49,090 --> 01:04:52,550
Is there a second second seconded by Council Member V.

788
01:04:52,610 --> 01:04:54,130
Reale any further discussion?

789
01:04:55,630 --> 01:04:57,990
Okay, would the clerk please cut the roll on that item.

790
01:04:58,210 --> 01:04:59,050
Council Member Rogers.

791
01:04:59,390 --> 01:04:59,510
Aye.

792
01:04:59,830 --> 01:05:00,650
Council Member V.

793
01:05:00,750 --> 01:05:01,030
Reale.

794
01:05:01,250 --> 01:05:01,410
Aye.

795
01:05:01,930 --> 01:05:02,850
Vice Mayor Ariano.

796
01:05:03,290 --> 01:05:03,470
Aye.

797
01:05:04,050 --> 01:05:04,750
Council Member Chase.

798
01:05:05,170 --> 01:05:05,330
Aye.

799
01:05:05,690 --> 01:05:06,050
Mayor Wood.

800
01:05:06,310 --> 01:05:06,990
Aye, thank you.

801
01:05:07,150 --> 01:05:07,570
That passes.

802
01:05:07,970 --> 01:05:12,070
We're going to go to item 3.3 which is a report on the fall winner programs and special events.

803
01:05:12,370 --> 01:05:16,290
We will have that presentation by Director of Recreation Community Services.

804
01:05:16,810 --> 01:05:17,790
Director Valerie Frost.

805
01:05:18,030 --> 01:05:18,450
Director Frost.

806
01:05:18,450 --> 01:05:22,170
Yes, good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the City Council.

807
01:05:23,170 --> 01:05:28,850
The fall and winter catalog was posted online and mails Lakewood residents' Labor Day weekend.

808
01:05:29,730 --> 01:05:35,870
The cover portrays photos of participants enjoying fall, winters, activities, including

809
01:05:36,210 --> 01:05:43,710
our Lakewood Youth Sports Flag Football program, tree lighting and playground swing and festival

810
01:05:43,710 --> 01:05:44,810
in the background.

811
01:05:44,810 --> 01:05:51,690
You all have a copy of this fall's catalog for your review.

812
01:05:51,930 --> 01:05:55,990
If you did not receive it at home, please let me know so we can fix that.

813
01:05:57,210 --> 01:06:03,350
Parks are a fun place to go after school and all eight of our parks offer opportunities for creativity.

814
01:06:04,270 --> 01:06:13,210
Socialization and being active by providing playground equipment, board games, and arts and craft supplies for check out from our staff.

815
01:06:13,210 --> 01:06:23,050
Park supervision hours do adjust to school schedules to provide additional supervision on early dismissal days and holidays.

816
01:06:24,050 --> 01:06:35,950
Parks are open until 6 p.m. until October 31 and again at 5 p.m. starting November 1st through March 13th.

817
01:06:36,150 --> 01:06:40,790
Parks are also closed Thanksgiving Day Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

818
01:06:40,790 --> 01:06:49,030
When to break camp will be offered for children ages 6 to 12 at Maple Park with arts and crafts,

819
01:06:50,090 --> 01:06:53,630
outdoor sports, indoor games, and specialized activities.

820
01:06:54,470 --> 01:07:01,990
Week 1 will be offered December 21st through 23rd with an excursion to Edward's regal cinemas,

821
01:07:02,630 --> 01:07:09,970
and week 2 will be offered December 28th through the 30th with a New Year's Eve themed party.

822
01:07:11,270 --> 01:07:16,730
There are many teen programs offered this fall at the Liquid Youth Center and the teen

823
01:07:16,730 --> 01:07:19,270
Resource Center as well at Bloomfield Park.

824
01:07:19,970 --> 01:07:25,370
And one of the more significant ones is the College Fair which is scheduled for Tuesday,

825
01:07:25,570 --> 01:07:29,270
October 13th, from six to 8 p.m. at the center.

826
01:07:29,810 --> 01:07:37,690
At this event, colleges from all over California and many other states will be on site with students

827
01:07:37,690 --> 01:07:43,970
to talk about admission requirements, application deadlines, campus life, and

828
01:07:43,970 --> 01:07:49,530
financial assistance programs. Students from all liquid area high schools are

829
01:07:49,530 --> 01:07:55,650
invited to attend the college fair. Flag football will be offered this fall with

830
01:07:55,650 --> 01:08:01,870
non-competitive rookie and sports divisions for ages 4 to 5 and 6 to 7 and

831
01:08:01,870 --> 01:08:09,910
and competitive divisions for ages 8 to 17 with an all-girls league this year for Flag Book Ball.

832
01:08:10,870 --> 01:08:17,830
Volley Tennis is offered for ages 8 to 9 and Volley Ball is offered for ages 10 to 17.

833
01:08:18,690 --> 01:08:27,810
Teams will practice and play league games on weekday evenings and Saturday mornings from August 31 through November 7.

834
01:08:27,810 --> 01:08:32,690
Playoffs will conclude by November 14th.

835
01:08:32,970 --> 01:08:37,970
Basketball signups will take place November 14th through the 28th

836
01:08:37,970 --> 01:08:44,170
and teams will begin practicing at the end of December with league play beginning in January.

837
01:08:44,870 --> 01:08:51,250
In addition to the LYS sport, we offer many fee-based contract classes such as tennis,

838
01:08:52,190 --> 01:08:54,370
karate, gymnastics, and soccer.

839
01:08:56,110 --> 01:09:02,730
Older adult activities are often running with fitness classes, pick-a-ball, active plus

840
01:09:02,730 --> 01:09:06,710
classes, workshops, seminars, and congregate lunch.

841
01:09:07,470 --> 01:09:14,390
On Monday, October 19th, from 10 to 12, the benefits information fair will be held by

842
01:09:14,390 --> 01:09:17,290
the Winegart Senior Center staff at Mayfair Park.

843
01:09:17,990 --> 01:09:24,270
Older adults ages 50 and older are invited to pick up health insurance-related information

844
01:09:24,270 --> 01:09:26,970
and speak with company representatives.

845
01:09:28,520 --> 01:09:30,850
As previously mentioned this evening,

846
01:09:31,090 --> 01:09:33,530
Patriot Day will be commemorated

847
01:09:33,530 --> 01:09:37,550
with the flag-lowering ceremony on Friday, September 11.

848
01:09:38,170 --> 01:09:40,210
In the west parking lot of City Hall,

849
01:09:40,750 --> 01:09:42,970
we'll have the presentation of colors,

850
01:09:43,730 --> 01:09:47,170
remarks from City Council, musical performances,

851
01:09:47,790 --> 01:09:48,910
and a moment of silence.

852
01:09:51,300 --> 01:09:54,320
Fantastic Family Nights featuring dinner and a show

853
01:09:54,320 --> 01:10:02,340
at the center will include the amazing Dave on Friday, October 16th, and Mad Science,

854
01:10:02,500 --> 01:10:07,160
it's electric on Friday, November 20th.

855
01:10:07,160 --> 01:10:14,220
Lollipop Lane returns to Mayfair Park on Saturday, October 17th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., offering

856
01:10:14,220 --> 01:10:21,380
over 100 vendors selling various handmade gifts and food items, and there'll be a food truck

857
01:10:21,380 --> 01:10:40,060
Benefitney Meals on Wheels of Long Beach. On Friday, November 20, parents night out, kids night in, gives parents an evening out and a head start on that Christmas shopping while their children are being supervised by recreation staff at the Lakewood Youth Center.

858
01:10:40,920 --> 01:10:47,080
This event will take place from 6 to 10 p.m. with pizza, snacks, and games and more for the kids.

859
01:10:48,400 --> 01:10:55,440
The Festival, representing a wide variety of cultures from the Lakewood community will

860
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be held on Saturday, October 10, from 3 to 7 p.m. at Palm Spark.

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Event elements include a multicultural food court, entertainment, a family fund zone

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with inflatables, a craft village, children's culture booth, and community booths being sponsored

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by liquid nonprofit organizations. Halloween carnivals would be offered at all eight parks on Saturday,

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October 31 from 6 to 8.30 pm. Carnivals are free and offer preschool and school age games

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and contests with prizes. There will be a costume contest at all of the parks at 7 pm and haunted houses

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This will be available at Boulevard, Del Val, and Samartine Parks.

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Maple Park will also have inflatable attractions available at a minimal cost.

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Families can sign up for Project Shepherd holiday assistance program,

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beginning November 2nd through November 15th,

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with distribution to families on Friday, December 18th, and Saturday, December 19th.

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Online donation drives will be utilized

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to purchase all of the canned food, gift cards, and teddy bear tree gifts as necessary.

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Schools would be given information to participate in the online donation opportunities and

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food drives to replenish our pantries.

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The Amazon wish list toy drive is amazingly helpful, which shoppers purchasing a toy directly online and having it sent to city staff.

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the teddy bear trees will still be available for shoppers who want to choose a

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bear and purchase a gift for a child either through the Amazon wish list or

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by shopping in person. In summary the recreation and community services

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department continues to provide opportunities for residents of all ages to be

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active learn and grow each season of the year. This is a receive and file

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report, but I'm happy to answer any questions that council members may have.

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Thank you, Director Frost, this is receiving a follow-up of any questions.

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I just want to say thank you for all the hard work.

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There's a lot of great programs and hope thanks for not calling me off-sides for

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mentioning the flag football at a time.

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But I definitely want to make sure that we, it's a five-year-old panel.

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As I hear, it's still in my thunder, but I, I definitely want to make sure that

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that people sign up, and it's gonna be a great season.

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And I definitely, I've heard a lot of chatter about the teen center.

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And if you can relate to your staff that some of the parents are complaining that it's too much fun.

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And when they go and pick up their kids, their kids don't want to leave.

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So I definitely want to let your staff thank you for all they do.

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And they're actually making it enjoyable, they're getting their homework done there, having a good time.

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So it's a great space that we've created and it's being utilized by our teens and

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actually younger individuals.

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So thank you, there's always skittles and sour patch kids, so.

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Thank you, Director Frost.

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I wanted to just comment on the catalog.

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I, you know, every year it gets just, it's amazing when you look back.

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And I've had more than one resident actually really comment

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on the community event and activity section, which is at the beginning.

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And I know we've, we've highlighted in some in the past, I believe it's kind of been mixed,

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you know, in through, maybe if I'm remembering, but any event,

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And I think that this section is really identifies a lot of the things that are coming up for this catalog period.

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So, just, I know a lot of work goes into this catalog.

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I remember you have a lot of people involved, but it really highlights a lot of the activities that are taking place.

907
01:14:48,500 --> 01:14:52,100
Yeah, production of the spring catalog started a month ago.

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So it takes about five months for it.

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So, each catalog to get organized and before it goes out to the public. Well, thank your team for all the hard work. If there's no questions, we'll receive and file this. We're going to move on on the agenda, the liquid housing successor agency.

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Sorry, I lost my spot again. Move approval of demands. Thank you. Second. It's been moved in second. Any discussion?

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session.