[0:33] special city council meeting agenda and
good for May 7th please rise for the
[0:39] Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance
to the flag of the United States of
[0:46] America and to the Republic for which it
stands one nation under God indivisible
[0:52] with liberty and justice for all
[0:57] this may 7th 2020 City Council meeting
will be conducted pursuant to provisions
[1:02] of the governor's executive order in 29
- 20
[1:11] roll call
[1:22] council member Abner councilmember Weber
here mayor Bader here reflect all
[1:41] council members are present just in case
anyone doesn't hear councilman Evan er
[1:49] is participating from teleconferencing
[2:03] okay public public comment on closed
session items Jeff mayor before we start
[2:12] the public comment I wanted the City
Council in closed session tonight is
[2:36] going to be discussing and directing
staff regarding potential initiation of
[2:42] litigation and the legal risks of
initiating that litigation in connection
[2:48] with a proposed agreement between Los
Angeles County and Motel six to use the
[2:54] motel 6 in San Dimas for a county
program called project room key the
[3:04] purpose of the project room key program
[3:19] okay Jeff the purpose of the project
room key program is to secure hotel and
[3:26] motel rooms for people who are at least
65 years of age and who are experiencing
[3:33] homelessness and are not infected with
The Cove in nineteen virus but they do
[3:39] have underlying medical conditions
putting them at a high risk of serious
[3:44] medical issues or even death if they
become infected with kovat 19 it is a
[3:50] requirement as part of the program to be
at least age 65 and to have underlying
[3:56] medical conditions the project room key
program provides a way for senior
[4:05] citizens who do not have a home to stay
inside senior citizens who do not have a
[4:10] home to stay inside and protect
themselves from the virus project room
[4:15] key is a private agreement between the
county of los angeles and motel 6 in San
[4:22] Dimas for these persons to stay in rooms
at the hotel for a period of what we're
[4:29] being told 90 days the current proposal
between the county and motel 6 is for
[4:35] all 118 rooms at the motel 6 to be used
for this project room key program the
[4:42] city is not a party to the agreement
between the county and motel 6 and we
[4:49] are not involved since we're not a party
in negotiating that agreement the
[4:55] agreement between the county and motel 6
has not yet been signed by both of the
[4:59] parties as of yesterday according to
what we're told by motel 6
[5:03] representatives
Thank You mayor that's the topic of the
[5:08] council's closed session tonight thank
you just one question Jeff okay the two
[5:18] parties involved in this is in the
county and in motel six but isn't this a
[5:23] mandated thing from the state also this
is a program that has been authorized by
[5:31] governors and
urgency order under the California sorry
[5:35] the governor's executive order under the
California Emergency Services Act and it
[5:43] has been held by several trial courts
that cities do not have the legal
[5:50] authority to zone these kinds of uses
okay we'll open up public comment do we
[6:02] have anybody on the line well but
actually mr. mayor if I could make just
[6:05] a couple of comments regarding how
people can participate so the the
[6:11] opportunity to provide comment during
oral communications is via telephone and
[6:19] individuals can call in to nine oh nine
three nine four six two zero six that
[6:25] number is on the screen and it was
posted about a half hour before the
[6:30] meeting as well as it was posted on the
agenda so if individuals would like to
[6:34] make comment they can call in we do have
a limited number of lines calling in so
[6:39] if you do receive a busy signal please
call back and if you do get connect
[6:43] we'll put you in the queue and once the
previous caller ahead of you concludes
[6:48] their comments then you'll be patched
into the city council chambers to make
[6:51] your comments during oral communications
there is a three minute time limit
[6:55] are we still adhering to that 30-minute
time limit okay but we may extend it at
[6:59] depending on who's calling her you know
not who's calling we may extend the 30
[7:04] minutes to pass that if we calls keep
coming in okay but three minutes per per
[7:09] caller okay and if I can ask a City
Attorney
[7:11] Olave if he could make a comment
regarding the Brown Act and as far as
[7:15] the council's ability to respond to
public comment yes it is important to
[7:19] keep in mind tonight that we have public
comment on the agenda but we do not have
[7:25] an open session item on the agenda to
discuss this item tonight we only have a
[7:30] closed session so the public comment is
for the public to give input to the
[7:36] council about this topic but it is not
for the council to get into a discussion
[7:41] or a back and forth with
public thank you okay ready to go
[7:48] anything else again no I think we're
ready to take the first caller okay can
[7:53] we have the first caller please
[8:06] mayor can I ask a question really quick
while we're waiting Jeff might you while
[8:10] we're waiting for this clarify in your
opening remarks that were not a party to
[8:16] but the purpose is I think if someone
was listening why are we even having a
[8:21] closed session we're having closed
session to discuss the city's potential
[8:28] initiation of litigation in connection
with the project room key program and
[8:33] the legal risks of the the potential for
litigation and to send to have the City
[8:41] Council direct staff on potential
initiation of litigation thank you yes
[8:52] my name is Lisa Vermeulen and I live
here in San Dimas I have been here since
[8:58] 2005 and when I first heard about this
project I was really kind of appalled
[9:06] and concerned at the same time my
concerns are is well first of all with
[9:14] the area that it's added close to
restaurants which means that there will
[9:19] probably be a lot of homeless people
panhandling asking for money I'm
[9:24] concerned also about possibly crime
going up in San Dimas in this area and
[9:32] and possibly burglaries close to it
being by the park and ride then
[9:39] wandering around also too worried about
its bringing down I mean how are we
[9:47] going to get them out of here once the
ninety days is up are they really going
[9:52] to leave trying to get them out it's
going to be responsible of cleaning up
[9:57] the hotel room making sure everything is
okay
[10:00] there's just a lot of concerns and I
know that they need a place that they
[10:04] need to go with San Dimas is such a
beautiful city and you take a lot of
[10:10] pride here all of us do and it's just a
big concern we also have the Gold Line
[10:16] coming
at some point in time so it's system
[10:20] this raises some concerns so I would
really really hope that you guys would
[10:29] really consider I'm Vanagon please
probably along with everybody else
[10:34] that's going to call you too I mean I
understand that the homeless people they
[10:39] do need a place to go
how are we gonna test them to make sure
[10:43] that they don't have hope at 19 before
they go in the rooms and they stay there
[10:49] and then how are they gonna get there
and who's gonna happen leave when it's
[10:53] time to go I mean they may have friends
and say hey Dan Jean this is a beautiful
[10:59] place you guys come on out here and then
before you know it we've got tents going
[11:03] up and that sort of thing so I'm just
kind of looking at like future stuff
[11:07] that could happen yeah well thank you
very much coming up today okay thank you
[11:13] very much for your concerns and we
appreciate you calling all right thank
[11:17] you good yeah we have somebody else
[11:41] [Music]
[11:55] years ago that was it I just want to
make it known that my husband and I are
[13:15] thank you thank you for your call all
right thank you very much yes ma'am
[13:22] anyway out okay
[13:46] yes this is my name is Carrie Newton and
I am extremely concerned about this
[13:53] project I already worked on the projects
in Covina and bacon with the vanillin
[13:57] hotel and we stopped that one okay and
we chose this hotel down the street we
[14:11] have an assisted living for those people
around them hundred ten people nobody
[14:23] nobody and nobody who's gonna make sure
this by know there's heart did they
[14:28] think we're stupid and then right next
is facility we're going to have we have
[14:32] that pool and when it goes back in
position session goes get watching that
[14:37] and all and we're trying to get all
these stores to bring back customers
[14:43] when we're just starting to open up
who's gonna want to walk around and go
[14:48] back you have these people wandering
around it's a concern and I explained to
[14:57] them what was going on and I asked them
if we have a problem with can they
[15:04] handle any other she said absolutely not
we haven't
[15:10] we understand
[16:03] [Music]
[16:33] [Music]
[16:43] [Music]
[17:10] Thank You Man we appreciate your concern
and thank you for calling in
[17:17] thank you ma'am
[17:26] [Music]
[17:37] [Music]
[17:44] [Music]
[17:53] [Music]
reverse to strong opposition to project
[18:02] room key itself became aware of this I
understand the attorneys explanation
[18:11] that the the two parties involved in off
the county and representative hotel six
[18:17] however here and again community
outreach with with things that effective
[18:24] community of first potential crime
property values and other concerns in
[18:29] the long team resident in this community
are concerning that has been fulfilled
[18:33] woman Vienna and his Facebook indication
I have to tell you I was doing a lot of
[18:40] dodging for dollars and state to friends
and neighbor the lights all honest were
[18:44] unaware other than maybe with either a
compliment or write in a Facebook post
[18:49] or next door and so where is the
outreach airs and again especially
[18:54] during the Senate quarantine especially
when people are limited to communication
[18:59] something is significant and it's a
business not a few months ago the
[19:03] council
[Music]
[19:17] and already fallen reading the criteria
it also said it would be no fast round
[19:48] for criterion check to verify or
validate it's pretty much all so anybody
[19:52] who stated that they had an underlying
medical condition regardless of age
[19:57] would ultimately allows the stay there
and then what is that our previous for
[20:02] adventures what is the facts somebody
moves to another few days later
[20:05] positives were good 19 where do we go in
this and then how is it that one becomes
[20:12] whatever to it as how do you get people
to vacate after 90 days 21 22 nobody
[20:31] knows at this point so many days is the
fictitious number was no idea what could
[20:37] happen like aspect of all I'm very
concerned also about talk about bringing
[20:43] life back sense for community in the
downtown area we are looking to bring
[20:48] work across and get people accident and
[20:54] [Music]
[21:07] [Music]
[21:20] [Music]
physically mentally emotionally or
[21:26] otherwise that is a concern that it's
not an improvement or a contribution to
[21:31] the people who have chosen to live in
this community pay taxes it's a concern
[21:36] about I'm sorry ma'am all right well I
would if the council is not at liberty
[21:49] to discuss publicly this evening because
of the closed session of potential
[21:53] litigation I would like to know if the
council city attorney can do something
[21:57] to advise the people taking time to call
in and communicate with you when in fact
[22:02] this can receive some additional public
comment and interaction with the city
[22:08] council mayor themselves and even the
city manager he chose to speak on this
[22:12] matter I thank you for your time
no we thank you and as I understand that
[22:16] the city attorney will make an
announcement after the city's study says
[22:21] closed session is over you have anything
else you want to add I beg your pardon
[22:28] okay there's going to be an announcement
by this city attorney after the closed
[22:33] session yeah it'll be a public
announcement
[22:39] thank you very much for calling in and
we appreciate your time thank you thank
[22:44] you very much
[22:53] welcome to the San Dimas City Council
meeting your life yeah thanks for taking
[22:58] my call I would echo a lot of the other
concerns that that have been brought up
[23:04] here primarily I would comment that
there has been little to no public
[23:10] education or outreach revolving around
this I lucked upon it based on a
[23:16] Facebook post and you know fortunately I
was able to then react and and reach out
[23:23] to as many friends and family as
possible but I don't think a fraction of
[23:27] the the population of San Dimas is aware
of this this process second I think that
[23:35] we're all kidding ourselves if you think
that it's a 90 day hard statement and
[23:42] then we're just going to magically
evaporate the participants in this
[23:47] program it never happens that way third
I heard at this meeting you guys were
[23:53] explicit about it being age 65 and over
criteria that's not how I read the
[24:00] program to be I heard 65 and or medical
condition I would really appreciate it
[24:08] you could clarify that in this meeting
it doesn't have to be a back-and-forth
[24:12] but if you are under the impression that
is a hard 65 and over and medical then
[24:20] that is not my interpretation of this
this program and third I just think that
[24:27] there are many different ways to handle
this homeless epidemic that we're
[24:33] struggling on under this is not in my
opinion an effective way to handle a
[24:42] macro problem like homelessness in
California this is a band-aid a
[24:48] desperate attempt during pandemic times
the takes advantage of chaos and slam
[24:55] this through under everybody's you know
noses and I appreciate the opportunity
[25:01] to voice my
the other day and and that'll be all I
[25:05] have to say thank you very much
is it possible Jeff could you reiterate
[25:11] what the 65 and over is I'm gonna ask
the city attorney to clear clear the
[25:19] understanding of the ordinance that was
based on my reading the county's program
[25:27] website but if you give me a few seconds
I can take another look okay I think we
[25:33] have some other calls thank you sir you
don't know I thanks for having our
[25:50] commentary tonight I just want to
express my extreme discontent for LA
[25:55] County Supervisors who seem to want to
scapegoat the problem of homelessness
[25:59] cities and really ship out the problem
to communities that that problem
[26:06] shouldn't be handed to I think the
biggest issue is the Pandora's Box the
[26:11] problems that sometimes come with our
homeless folks and it's not for lack of
[26:15] everything that I don't want them to
have housing but it's to acknowledge
[26:18] that sticking them in a hotel without
the number of services are probably
[26:22] required to keep these folks stable
sober medically well etc is not going to
[26:29] be it's not going to be adequate in a
motel 6 much less than a community near
[26:35] shopping centers that are just barely
trying to get back on their feet after a
[26:39] number of weeks of being forced to shut
down you know I look forward to seeing
[26:45] y'all fight for our city and the
wonderful law-abiding taxpaying citizens
[26:50] who try to go to work every day to keep
a humble home and a good future for
[26:54] their family and kids because we don't
we don't have to put up with the stuff
[26:59] Dale Lake supervisors wanted you know
the problems that they fail to address
[27:03] and want to ship out to communities that
don't have the problems so you know with
[27:08] sincere respect I think you all for
having our commentary today and please
[27:12] keep the citizens of San Dimas in your
thoughts when you look forward to
[27:15] hopefully fighting this
through litigation thank you all for
[27:19] your time this evening thank you thank
you sir do you have anything else sad no
[27:24] no no thanks today thank you for a
concern okay mayor I did take a look at
[27:31] the county's documentation again and I
did I had misread and an or for an and
[27:40] so it's or it is either over 65 or
having underlying medical conditions
[27:46] Thank You Shawn here
good evening City Council and members of
[27:57] the audience I have reservations about
project room key that is being
[28:02] considered in our city we should be good
stewards to our neighborhood neighbors
[28:06] and kin but to the degree when that
there are outside elements from across
[28:12] LA County who will be occupying the 118
rooms of motel 6 and won't be receiving
[28:18] background checks to ensure that these
people aren't bad actors throughout the
[28:22] homelessness crisis plaguing LA County
and the rest of the state we've seen
[28:28] beforehand the result of the homeless
population camped in San Dimas you see
[28:33] shopping carts around the city many
encampments brought up and businesses
[28:37] and experienced break-ins and handlers
and the trash leftover from the
[28:42] aftermath I'll be supposed to take at
face value
[28:46] who the county will dump on us will our
public see with our public safety and
[28:51] infrastructure at stake I can't support
this as suggested by a comments or on
[28:57] councilman vienna's Facebook page why
aren't the count County Supervisors
[29:01] leading by example well why aren't they
leaving by example placing your
[29:06] neighborhood before considering dumping
them into ours and with that I yield
[29:11] back the balance of my time
thank you very much thank you sir thank
[29:15] you for your concerns
[29:26] welcome to the City my city council
meeting your lives
[29:29] hello mayor god this is myself I live
near Pioneer Park I don't know what
[29:34] people's making a big bust for the
homeless been living in motel 6 and Red
[29:40] Roof and all these places for the last
eight years there's not we could do
[29:44] about it they not there my daughter's a
veteran and she does housekeeping in
[29:47] these hotels and she said they have
somewhere to stay
[29:52] you know nothing what the Grice is all
about I live around and they don't
[29:56] bother me
you know they mind their own business I
[29:59] over here near Pioneer Park so I don't
know why they're living in fear we have
[30:04] enough going on in the world today we
don't need to be worried about you know
[30:07] well their housing homeless we have this
damn virus roaming through our towns and
[30:13] everything that's killing people that's
what they should be worried about you
[30:17] know and we got to save lives out here
you know it's about saving lives not
[30:22] having dead bodies on the roadside okay
thank you thank you for your concern no
[30:30] more okay I'm being advised that we have
no further calls at this time we'll
[30:40] close this this portion of the council
meeting and we'll move into closed
[30:45] session mayor yes I believe we may have
some written communications that are for
[30:50] public comment and the city clerk could
address those yes
[30:57] in addition excuse me in addition to the
phone calls received at tonight's
[31:01] meeting the city clerk received over 79
emails on this matter by the 5:00 p.m.
[31:07] deadline today these have been provided
[31:14] excuse me
these have been provided to the council
[31:18] and will be entered into the record and
have been posted on the city's website
[31:22] on the agenda page any email emails that
have been received after the cutoff will
[31:28] be posted by the end of day tomorrow
thank you okay this portion of the
[31:35] meetings adjourned we'll move into
closed session
[32:17] closed session yes thank you million
City Council met in closed session
[32:22] tonight to discuss the one item on the
closed session agenda attend initiation
[32:29] of litigation pursuant to government
code section 54956.9 d4 in one case
[32:35] there's no there's no action that is
legally needed to be reported out of the
[32:41] closed session tonight however the City
Council does intend to express its
[32:47] opposition to the county regarding the
project room key use at the Motel six
[32:51] and is determined to continue
negotiating with the county for terms to
[32:57] protect the city of San Dimas including
additional security at the facility a
[33:02] limit on the number of rooms used to be
reflective of the need in the San Dimas
[33:07] community and additional exit terms for
the end of the program that are
[33:14] protective of the city there's a
statement that the council authorized me
[33:19] to make tonight that's the end of the
closed session report Thank You mayor
[33:25] okay that'll be the end of the special
session of the City Council will
[33:31] continue to May 12th the regular City
Council meeting
[33:37] [Music]