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

[0:43] Okay, sorry about the delay, technical issues. Okay, good evening, and welcome to the January 12, 2026, city council meeting. I will now call the meeting to order. Mayor Pro Temmong, will you read us in the pledge of allegiance, please? Yes, thank you.
[1:20] Thank you, City Clerk, will you please take roll.
[1:25] Councilmember Calmick, Councilmember Calmick, Councilmember Sanico, Councilmember Steele, Mayor Pro Temuang, and Mayor Landau.
[1:36] Here, all present, thank you.
[1:40] Okay, now we will move on to presentations.
[1:45] This is going to be proclamation and recognition of the Harbor family, Harbor surfboards, and Harbor Chronicles.
[1:53] Almost seven decades ago, in 1959, Rich Harbor started one of the most recognized California surfboard companies
[2:01] from his parent's Seal Beach garage before opening his own shop.
[2:06] Harbor surfboards on Main Street and Seal Beach in 1962.
[2:10] two. It wasn't long before many of the town locals were asking Rich to make them surfboards.
[2:18] Soon Harbor's boards were gracing the pages of Surfer Magazine underneath the feet
[2:24] of the era's most respected and recognized surfers. The legacy of Rich Harbor and the business
[2:30] operations at Harbor's surfboards are still going strong and being carried forward with Rich's family
[2:36] and daughter Melissa as head of the Harbor Surfboards brand, the surfboard production and its worldwide distribution.
[2:44] Now therefore, be it proclaimed, the City Council of the City of Seal Beach does hereby recognize
[2:51] the Harbor family, Harbor surfboards, and Harbor Chronicles, shaping a legacy for their accomplishments
[2:58] and honoring Harbor's longstanding legacy in the City of Seal Beach.
[3:09] This is for the Harbor Surports Proclamation.
[3:12] So, Harbor Surports, if you would like to come to the podium.
[3:31] Harbor Surports located at 329 Main Street in Seal Beach since 1962,
[3:37] stands as one of the longest operating surf shops in its original location
[3:41] and cornerstone of the community's surfing history.
[3:45] Robert Housen, an owner of the retail operations,
[3:48] has played a vital role in preserving and evolving harbor surfboards,
[3:53] transitioning it into a thriving destination while honoring its foundational legacy established by Rich Harbor.
[4:01] Under Robert House and Stewardship, the shop continues to serve surfers worldwide,
[4:06] maintaining the tradition of quality craftsmanship and community spirit that has defined harbor surfboards for over six decades.
[4:13] Now, therefore, be it proclaimed, the City of Seal Beach does hereby recognize Robert
[4:19] Housen, owner of the Retail Harbor Surfboard Shop at 329 Main Street for his
[4:25] achievements in caring forward this cherished legacy.
[4:30] Thank you very much.
[4:31] Would you like to say a couple words?
[4:37] Thank you.
[4:38] It has been a tremendous honor to represent harbor
[4:42] supports in the Harbor family for all these years.
[4:46] I am very, very grateful to the town of Seal Beach who has provided me and
[4:53] my wife, Chris, an opportunity to carry on this legacy.
[4:57] And we look forward to doing it for many, many years to come.
[5:00] Thank you.
[5:00] Thank you.
[5:09] Not yet.
[5:12] Not yet.
[5:16] I'd
[5:39] like to invite up Chris Stardellis and his wife, Enza Enzia.
[5:45] Yeah,
[5:52] Chris Sardellis and Enzia Farrell have dedicated years to creating the documentary film Harbor Chronicles Shaping a Legacy, capturing the life and influence of iconic surfboard shaper, Rich Harbor, Harbor Chronicles Shaping a Legacy as earned a claim, including best action sports feature audience award at the Newport Beach Film Festival.
[6:15] I was there.
[6:17] Best cinematography for documentary feature film at the Culver City Film Festival, both in 2025.
[6:24] Through their passion and artistry, Chris Sardelles and Enzia Farrell have preserved and shared the rich history of
[6:31] Seal Beach's surfing heritage with audiences worldwide.
[6:35] Now, therefore, it be proclaimed the City Council of the City of Seal Beach does hereby recognize Chris Sardelles and
[6:42] an NZF barrel for their achievements in creating harbor chronicles, shaping a legacy.
[6:48] For celebrating seal beaches enduring surf culture.
[6:52] Thank you so much, and please say a couple of words.
[6:55] Thank you, thank you.
[6:57] This is a huge honor.
[7:02] Well, first of all, I want to thank you Mayor for showing up to the Newport Film Festival.
[7:06] I know you went to the enemy's territory to see the movie, but you saw it and it was great.
[7:11] And it actually probably helped us there and I appreciate that.
[7:13] I appreciate the Harbor family, thank you guys for letting me in their life and letting me go through all their photos and using all their footage and stuff to make the incredible movie of their father, Rich Harbor and their family.
[7:26] Harbor was a special man to me, gave me a break in my life and I was able to move forward in life and kind of get my life together, I'm kind of choked up.
[7:36] So yeah, when my grandmother brought me here when I was 1969, I'd love to still be each I lived here
[7:40] And I I adore the city. I thank you guys for everything. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you
[7:47] Thank you Mayor Landau
[7:50] It's a huge honor
[7:51] And see I did you want to say a couple words?
[8:16] I'd like to now call up the harbor family. Can you please come to the podium?
[8:38] Okay, I'm gonna have you guys each say your name and who you are
[8:43] Okay, this is Ava. This is my dad's grand daughter, my mom Helen, which is wife, my daughter
[8:54] Elena, my daughter, my son Harrison, my son Miles. I'm Carrie Harbor, I'm the other
[9:02] daughter. My husband, Karen.
[9:07] Thank you all for coming.
[9:08] I mean, it was such an amazing treat to see Harbor Chronicles.
[9:13] If you haven't seen it yet, you've got to go.
[9:16] I've been in Seal Beach 15 years.
[9:17] I know that's new in Seal Beach time.
[9:19] But I learned so much.
[9:22] I mean, Larry Krueger was in the movie.
[9:23] So it was amazing.
[9:26] Chris, he did a great justice to this wonderful family.
[9:31] And we'd like to bathe theater.
[9:37] Is it January 24th?
[9:40] 23rd, 7.30 p.m. at $10 discounts at Bay Theater.
[9:48] Deb, can you present them with a proclamation, please?
[9:50] Any of you want to speak?
[9:55] Helen, would you like to speak?
[10:00] We have a lot of good comments.
[10:04] Actually, do you want to come down?
[10:06] Yeah,
[10:11] I
[10:24] need to
[10:30] get the wide angle here.
[10:33] Okay, everyone.
[10:37] Very nice.
[10:38] Stay there.
[10:40] Everyone else?
[10:42] Come on.
[11:03] Okay, everybody.
[11:04] Looking good.
[11:33] I also want to mention that Supervisor Janet Winn also provided proclamations to the
[11:42] the family as well, Harbor surfboards into Chris.
[11:52] The Harbor Chronicles has shown a spotlight
[11:55] on what a huge impact Rich Harbor and Harbor surfboards
[12:00] has had on the surf culture and industry,
[12:03] not only nationwide but worldwide.
[12:05] Like many other beach communities
[12:07] who honor their surfing legends,
[12:10] plans are in the works to erect a statue
[12:12] In Eiser and Howard Park, in honor of Seal Beach's very own Rich Harbor, stay tuned for the details.
[12:27] Thank you all for coming and thank you Harbor family for giving us Rich Harbor.
[12:36] Okay, we are now going from Rich Harbor to the Sand Dunes Restoration presentation.
[12:45] I would like to call upon Surfrider Foundation, Southern California Regional Manager, Mikayla Cotes.
[12:50] Let's try
[12:56] and move this up here a little bit.
[12:58] Can you guys hear me all right?
[13:00] About having to bend down too much, amazing.
[13:02] Thank you guys so much for providing us with the time and
[13:05] opportunity to come and speak with you all about our vision for
[13:08] protecting and restoring the coastal dunes here in Seal Beach.
[13:12] Like we said, my name is Michaela Coates and I'm the seven California regional
[13:15] manager here representing the North Orange County chapter of the Surfrider Foundation.
[13:21] And next slide, please.
[13:23] So, just a quick overview of what we'll cover today is who we are and why we're here,
[13:28] why coastal zone habitats matter, the current project site and conditions, the project
[13:33] overview, and then I would be happy to answer any questions that you all might have at
[13:37] the end.
[13:38] Next slide, please.
[13:40] So, these are brighter foundation is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to the protection
[13:44] and enjoyment of the world's ocean waves and beaches for all people through a powerful
[13:48] activist network.
[13:49] We work through grassroots chapters that are 100% community-led all across the country,
[13:55] and our mission centers around five core initiatives, one of which that is bringing us here today
[14:00] is the Coast and Climate Initiative, which aims to tackle the issues that threaten our
[14:05] beaches and our natural shorelines.
[14:07] Next slide, please.
[14:09] The Climate Action Program is the community-directed program that lives within the Coast and Climate
[14:14] initiatives, and the goal is to use nature-based solutions to enhance coastal resilience.
[14:20] This looks very differently across our network, but all encompasses various restoration projects,
[14:25] so whether that is restoring mangroves in Puerto Rico or Dune Grasslands and Francisco, we have
[14:31] volunteers and community members engaging in this kind of stewardship work all across the network,
[14:36] and we're hoping to bring that here to Seal Beach as well. Next slide, please. Oh, you guys are so
[14:41] So, like I mentioned, I'm here representing the North Orange County chapter.
[14:45] We extend from Seal Beach here in the north down to Newport Beach in the south as well
[14:50] as inland in order to represent those inland upstream communities that all deserve right
[14:55] the access to clean beaches.
[14:57] Next slide please.
[14:58] And then
[15:00] Stone County chapter was formed from the recent merger of the Newport Beach and Seal Beach slash Huntington Beach chapters. So we've had a long standing presence here in the Seal Beach community. Through beach cleanups of the San Gabriel River Jedi in 2025, we removed almost 4,000 pounds of trash from the beaches and waterways. We also host native plant restoration events at Rivers End Park and have installed hundreds of native plants and engaged community members through those events too. Next slide.
[15:29] And so here you can see the site at first that we envision this project occurring.
[15:36] So we want to protect and restore the approximately 2.3 acres of coastal dunes that exist between
[15:42] 1st and 3rd Street.
[15:44] We aim to engage the local community through hands-on volunteer days to instill in foster
[15:50] stewardship, all with the vision of strengthening seal beaches, natural coastal resilience
[15:55] and native biodiversity.
[15:57] So why protect and restore coastal dunes?
[16:00] Well, healthy dunes can act as a natural barrier against storm surge and erosion.
[16:05] That protects not just the coast but the infrastructure that we have built around it.
[16:09] Healthy dunes play a critical role in providing native habitat for wildlife,
[16:14] including plants and birds, such as the endangered California lease turn and
[16:18] the threatened western snowy clovers that both utilize dunes as nesting habitat.
[16:23] where store and coastal dunes can also provide a more cost effective method of
[16:27] coastal defense. I'm aware that the city constructs a berm in order to protect
[16:32] the restaurant and the parking lot from storm surges that can occur and so
[16:36] restoring dunes can be a natural cost effective mechanism of getting that same
[16:40] goal and lastly by doing these projects in the community we can engage local
[16:45] residents and foster stewardship of the environment so that we can all work to
[16:49] protect it together.
[16:52] So, the current conditions, this project was brought to the chapter from concerns from
[16:57] local residents and community members over the trampling that has been occurring at the
[17:01] dunes, whether that's from unmanaged foot traffic or even e-bikes as well as RV cars.
[17:07] That can destroy the vegetation and destroy the dunes structure.
[17:12] The dunes are also currently covered in invasive species, mostly ice plant which out competes
[17:17] and reduces the overall biodiversity and health of the site.
[17:21] And overall, the lack of protection of the dunes continues to leave this habitat vulnerable to these continued human, as well as natural impacts.
[17:30] These are just some photos that were sent to us from local residents that show examples of the current conditions that I was describing whether that is the foot traffic, the RV and E by cars.
[17:41] We're also the signs that were approved by the Coastal Commission that are regularly
[17:46] vandalized, but those do serve to try and educate people about the reasons why these
[17:52] dunes should be protected.
[17:55] So we aim to take all of these challenges and transform them into solutions through dune
[18:00] protection, which is the installing of symbolic fencing.
[18:04] We can create designated walking areas that maintain pedestrian access while protecting
[18:09] the habitat at the site. Through doing restoration, we can remove those invasive species,
[18:14] giving more space for the native species to thrive, while also manually installing native plants
[18:20] or native seeds in the site to help give those native species a little bit of a boost.
[18:25] And through regular maintenance of the site through workshop and restoration days,
[18:29] we will continue to engage the community in ongoing stewardship of this area.
[18:35] So as I mentioned, this project was brought to us by residents.
[18:39] And this is a fully community-led initiative.
[18:42] The chapter is 100% volunteer-led.
[18:45] And so the North Orange County chapter is prepared to fund, plan, implement, and maintain this restoration project.
[18:51] We have begun to find funding for this project to cover the materials, tools, and technical support,
[18:58] which would include a restoration consulting company to help develop a restoration plan.
[19:03] We're going to find funding through a combination of grants as well as local donations.
[19:07] There are already many residents who are eager to help support this project and bring it to life, and the city will remain fully informed throughout the process.
[19:16] We've received such amazing support so far, and we're so grateful.
[19:20] And the city will continue to approve any elements that they want to review such as project plans and event dates that may occur in the future.
[19:29] So, on this picture here, you can see our tentative sort of map for the first stage of the
[19:36] project, which is protecting the dunes, the green quadrants there are the areas of
[19:41] the dunes that will be protected by symbolic fencing.
[19:44] The spaces in between are the areas that we will be open for pedestrian access, and the
[19:50] black lines are the areas that will be wide enough for vehicle access, specifically for
[19:56] lifeguards to continue their regular patrols. We are currently, oh sorry, we are currently
[20:01] in the process of securing permits and funding for this first stage. After we protect
[20:07] the dunes, we aim to implement the restoration plan, so like I mentioned, we'll be working
[20:11] with a restoration consulting company to have that developed for us, and again, that will
[20:16] be dependent on permits as well as continued funding for this project. And lastly, we will
[20:23] will continue to engage the community, not just in the actual restoration itself, but in the ongoing maintenance for,
[20:29] as long as needed that the ultimate goal is to make this habitat healthy and stable enough to thrive all in its own.
[20:36] And so where we are today, we have walked the site with city staff and community members in order to map the vehicle and public access routes.
[20:44] We have identified the fencing layout that will help reduce disturbance while preserving key access for
[20:49] the public as well as public safety like lifeguards. We've done a preliminary assessment
[20:55] of present vegetation and photograph site conditions. And like I've said, we've built
[20:59] a lot of community interest around this project and we have many engaged volunteers ready
[21:03] to bring it to life whenever we are. And so like I mentioned, we're currently going through
[21:07] the permit application fund raising and grant writing process in order to do that.
[21:13] And so, again, Surfighters' work, we really are community first, and so by bringing folks
[21:19] out to the site, engaging them in this project, we can not only help the native biodiversity,
[21:25] but we can help to continue to foster environmental stewardship.
[21:28] And anybody that wants to come and contribute to a more healthy and resilient coastline here
[21:33] in Zilbeach.
[21:35] And thank you all so much for your time.
[21:37] I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have.
[21:46] Mikayla, do you find that e-bikes pose a threat to this vegetation?
[21:51] E-bikes were one of the threats that sort of had been a concern of the local residents.
[21:58] I mean, not only from a safety issue, I have my own personal opinions about how e-bikes can be unsafe,
[22:03] but also just blatantly going over the dune habitat and the plants which overall degrades the dunes.
[22:10] And chief, if somebody is caught riding an e-bikes in the dunes what should be residents call in?
[22:19] Yes, I would ask that they call our non-emergency number directly and that's 562-594-7232.
[22:30] Perfect, thank you so much.
[22:31] Yeah, thank you, a very helpful information.
[22:33] Anybody else have questions for Mikella?
[22:37] Thank you very much.
[22:38] Thank you all so much.
[22:46] Okay, at this time, members of the public may address the council regarding any items within the subject matter jurisdiction of the City Council.
[22:55] Pursuant to the Brown Act, the council cannot discuss or take action on any items not on the agenda unless authorized by law.
[23:02] Matters not on the agenda may at the council's discretion be referred to the city manager and placed on a future agenda.
[23:09] All speakers will be limited to a period of five minutes.
[23:11] Speakers must address their comments only to the mayor and the entire City Council and not to any individual member of the staff or audience.
[23:20] Any documents for reviews should be presented to the City Clerk for distribution.
[23:24] Speaker cards are available at the clerk's desk for those wishing to sign up to address the council.
[23:29] Although the submission of a speaker card is not required in order to address the council.
[23:34] I've got a couple of speaker cards so I will start with them first and Lion Kevin Young.
[23:39] Good
[23:59] evening mayor city council. I'll be speaking about the Rose Lions Rose
[24:04] Float and the Rose Parade. If you want to go ahead and start the.
[24:13] The Lions
[25:28] Club International has been involved in the Rose Float for approximately 25 years.
[25:36] The average cost for a float is around $275,000. That's on the low end. So the Lions
[25:44] This float is done for a fraction of that, less than 100,000.
[25:47] Most of it is paid for through donations.
[25:53] Several of the people you saw on the float, they buy a ticket called ride for your life,
[25:58] they get to ride on the parade, you get a raffle ticket, and if you ride, then you get another
[26:03] ticket, you can walk alongside the parade, but we do things like that to try to raise money
[26:08] for the float.
[26:10] So, the one thing about the Lions float in the parade is for us as Lions, it's one of our
[26:17] biggest marketing tools because it's seen by approximately 400 million people worldwide
[26:24] who watched that parade.
[26:26] So it raises a lot of visibility for the Lions as a whole.
[26:32] One of the things that I wanted to talk about is where Seal Beach got involved in it.
[26:36] seal beach for, well, seal beach has been involved ever since the beginning, too, as for 25 years.
[26:42] And we usually have anywhere from 30 to 40 seal beach lions that work several days during the period decorating the float.
[26:52] They put together an average of 600 volunteer hours during that period of time.
[26:58] All together, there's roughly 1,000 volunteers to put together probably 10,000 hours of labor,
[27:03] putting the dry material on the outside and then the flowers and everything but in an
[27:11] effort to try to raise a little bit of visibility for the city. For the last
[27:17] seven years we've been letting the Lions Group use our van that's got seal
[27:21] beach lines all over the side of it and they've been driving the dignitaries
[27:25] around to the airport to the float the float barn wherever they need to be.
[27:33] Well
[27:33] What was really cool about it is by driving the van,
[27:37] I got to speak with APC, the international director.
[27:40] I got to speak with people, are the international president.
[27:43] I got to speak with the international director from Canada.
[27:46] I got to speak to people from Indiana, from Illinois.
[27:51] And the one thing that I told all of them
[27:53] is just how wonderful our community is,
[27:56] how wonderful our city council is, how wonderful our chamber is,
[28:00] and how we all work together so well.
[28:02] Because, you know, I'm the president this year and I know our club's success would not happen without the cooperation of the Chamber, the Council and us.
[28:13] It's a great collaboration and we all work together so well.
[28:16] So, basically I just want to thank you for your time.
[28:19] Thank you for letting me come and talk about it.
[28:21] And, you know, the parade this year was great because we actually won an award.
[28:25] We won an award for the floral representation for a float under 35 feet.
[28:30] And it was absolutely amazing, so pretty good for volunteers.
[28:43] Do you have any Leo's with you?
[28:48] Leo's, other Leo's, who worked on the float?
[28:51] I see two right there.
[28:53] The Leo's are the youth component of the Leo's.
[28:57] The Leo's are the youth component of the Lions Club and it's a great organization.
[29:01] So if you have a child under 18, I highly suggest getting them involved with the Leo club.
[29:07] Thank you very much, Kevin.
[29:08] Thank you.
[29:14] Next, I have Robert Freckleton.
[29:18] That's it.
[29:19] Well done.
[29:21] Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and City Council.
[29:23] I am Robert Freckleton.
[29:24] I am the Mayor Pro Tem from the City of Villa Park.
[29:28] Typically, when I take the 22 over here and get off at Seal Beach, my stomach starts thinking caramelized salmon.
[29:33] It doesn't know what to think now because it hasn't had it yet.
[29:36] But my brain knows while I'm here, and that's too big of you to implore you to please, please keep Joe Calmick on the Orange County Fire Authority Board.
[29:47] I serve on the OCFA Board representing Villa Park, and Joe is currently our vice chair in a couple of weeks, God willing, he'll be nominated as our chair.
[29:57] Our fire chief resigned earlier this.
[30:00] Month, so we have a big vacuum and we need the continuity of leadership now more than ever. We need Joe in that center seat guiding us in 2026. It will be a tremendous advantage to Seal Beach because you're going to have somebody there that's going to have a lot of influence on who is hired to be our next fire chief. If you send somebody new, quite honestly the way it works like a lot of committees you've been on, you're going to be the newbie, you're not going to get a plum assignment, you're probably not going to be on any of the committees are going to be making those big decisions.
[30:29] So Joe will be right there in the middle of it if you send them back.
[30:33] As the cash contract city, you need to be concerned about some major budget issues coming up in 2026.
[30:40] The hiring of our highest paid chief being one of them.
[30:43] And we're ending our unfunded liability after 20 some odd years.
[30:48] And four of our labor groups are getting pretty excited about that.
[30:52] And at least one, if not two, want to open negotiations in 2026.
[30:57] Joe knows these issues.
[30:58] and again he will be intimately involved so as to minimize the effect on our
[31:03] cash contract cities like Seal Beach. Again if you send a newbie they're not
[31:09] going to be a part of that committee most likely they're going to be on the
[31:13] road cone committee and will be having much voice. It takes about a year if not
[31:19] to even understand how this huge half a billion plus dollar organization
[31:25] operation operates. But Joe gets it. He's been there. He's probably the most qualified
[31:32] elected official of Orange County to serve on the OCFA board because of all the decades
[31:37] of service he had as a firefighter and as a captain here at Seal Beach. But you probably
[31:42] already know that. He probably doesn't shut up about it is my guess. And we need a person
[31:47] with Joe's experience leading OCFA and to be there with the big decisions are going to
[31:53] made. OCFA is pretty unique in that it's not unlike a lot of other committees
[31:57] and mayorial decision, but it's a resolution by the entire council.
[32:02] So I sincerely ask you council to please send Joe back to OCFA and
[32:06] let him complete his service in the fire service and set you up for a great several years to come as a cash contract
[32:14] city and with a fire chief that you helped to pick.
[32:18] I'll await your answer at Walt's Wharf.
[32:19] Thank
[32:27] you, Robert. Is there anyone else that would like to address the council at this time?
[32:33] John?
[32:44] I just want to say that I finished my God-given drug administration, drug enforcement administration,
[32:55] exemption, pursuant to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
[33:01] I'm going to show it next week. I didn't know I had to bring the PDF on Friday to present it here,
[33:07] but there is a little paper over there if you don't believe me yeah I just
[33:18] wanted to say for Joe again thank you for the work on the San Gabriel River and I
[33:27] saw I think we're gonna talk about it later and the Harbor Surfboards it's been
[33:34] in their my whole life, it's amazing that like such a local feeling, I love that.
[33:41] And then the dunes we were talking about, I have concern that's only on one side of
[33:49] the beach. What are we doing on the other side would be a question. One of my ideas was
[33:57] is for the Prop 4 grant to put out some 3D printed concrete things in the ocean in order
[34:09] to stop the beach erosion as much and then maybe as a side effect we could put them in this
[34:19] like real nice way that gets the waves when I hit on it. I don't know. I don't know if it's
[34:24] It's possible, but I'm just putting it out there.
[34:30] Yeah, I'll have more next week or two weeks.
[34:34] I love you all.
[34:41] Thank you, John.
[34:43] Is there anyone else that would like to address a council?
[34:47] Ken?
[34:50] Thank you, Mayor.
[34:51] And happy new year, everyone, and
[34:53] steam council staff and our first responders.
[34:57] I'm back again to talk about the Payne's Pipelines project.
[35:02] I'm Ken Sy from College Park West.
[35:06] I'm sure most of you or many of you, maybe all of you have saw Tom Moore's letter to
[35:12] the editor in the Sun from Thursday, December 11th, just before the holidays there.
[35:19] I actually wasn't going to read from it, but the more I look at it, it makes a lot of sense.
[35:23] So I'm just going to mention that he pointed out that that bridge is our only daily access
[35:29] at this point as well as our only robust emergency access.
[35:33] You've heard these things before.
[35:36] In Tom's words, any risk to the bridges or risk to our neighborhood safety and emergency.
[35:41] For those of you who know Tom Moore, or haven't known him, he was a councilman for eight years.
[35:45] He served the term as mayor, but personally, I think he's a very deliberative guy and very
[35:51] data-driven and information-driven.
[35:56] He looked at the lot of information over time and made up his own mind and actually like any proponent, I guess, I've been trying to, when you think you're right, you try to say, don't you see that this and Tom in his usual way has one of the way everything and after the meeting at the Pickleball Center which a lot of you attended for which I'm still grateful or still grateful.
[36:22] He mentioned that the federal national bridge inventory officially determined that that
[36:29] bridge is structurally deficient, poor substructure rating for federal recommendation for actual
[36:36] bridge replacement due to substandard low capacity and outdated geometry.
[36:42] I actually thought that they thought a retrofit, a robust retrofit would be okay, but Tom pointed
[36:48] out to me that they actually recommend replacement.
[36:52] He also mentioned the January 2025 Cal Trans inspection, which was the latest one, which confirms
[36:59] decades of worsening deterioration of the peers, including spallings and exposed rebar.
[37:07] Despite that, this pipeline proposal is to add two additional pipelines, permanent loads
[37:13] onto the bridge that federal data says needs replacement.
[37:16] And this raises a clear safety concern for seal beach residents and for long beach liability.
[37:22] As far as the importance of that bridge, I think our first responders know about the importance of that bridge and emergency.
[37:33] I've talked with our chief and also Sergeant Gray about that with the, they've known about this and redoing the natural, I'm sorry.
[37:45] that the hazard mitigation plan every five years.
[37:49] So this is not a new thing, but the pipelines may pose a significant risk.
[37:59] And Tom said, no new pipelines on a structurally deficient bridge until it is rehabbed or retrofitted,
[38:06] or pipelines are routed by an alternative path.
[38:09] This is not opposition.
[38:10] And this is ensuring public safety and regional reliability before adding new infrastructure.
[38:16] Well, I think most people in Seal Beach are vast majority or not against this pipeline project.
[38:22] It's just we really believe, and from the evidence we've developed in the discussion that it doesn't need to come
[38:28] before through our area or over that bridge.
[38:31] It sounds like the bridge needs attention anyway probably pretty soon.
[38:36] But we believe it can be routed in other directions and we don't have to go through the bridge or even through College Park West and the Grove there.
[38:51] So it is a regionally benefit to all of us to have clean water and to improve the functioning of the power plant, the DWP plant.
[39:01] But really, this project offers no specific benefits to seal beach.
[39:06] At the pickleball meeting, there was one slide, and the one benefit they talked about
[39:10] is potential use of reclaimed water.
[39:14] So I think that ship has sailed.
[39:16] I think I hope to talk to you more about that in another time.
[39:20] The expense involving with that would be difficult.
[39:25] You'd need to have collecting systems, you'd have to be able to use the reclaimed water as
[39:30] as well as your water that you're collecting to go
[39:34] to be reclaimed, your storm water you run off.
[39:37] So there's really no other specific elements
[39:41] that they mentioned would be benefit to the city
[39:44] other than putting back, they say better than before,
[39:48] the work that they do.
[39:49] So I hope to continue to engage you
[39:51] in discussion on this as we go forward.
[39:55] Last time I gave the big booklet,
[39:57] the big orange booklet.
[40:00] Hopefully, hopefully you'll be able to have a look at that and then we can continue the discussion.
[40:05] Thank you very much.
[40:06] Thank you, Ken.
[40:18] Good evening, Mayor Lendell and City Council.
[40:22] Here's speak about new business item E, the Trash Interceptor Project.
[40:30] I'm a long time surfrider volunteer and I can tell you I've been in the San Gabriel River,
[40:36] We're cleaning it up for I think about five years now and dozens of cleanup events just
[40:42] this last Saturday.
[40:44] We removed 1,500 pounds of trash from Riversend Park in only about three hours with 100
[40:51] volunteers.
[40:53] I can tell you, thank you.
[40:57] I can tell you, you've all heard the definition of insanity.
[41:01] We could be there every day doing the same thing and if you expect a different result, you're
[41:07] crazy.
[41:07] Okay, so I want to just say that this project is hugely important for not only a city of Seal Beach, but also all of North Orange County as it will prevent tons and tons or hundreds of thousands of tons of trash from entering our oceans and ending up on our beaches every year.
[41:25] I've also been on the working group that Mr.
[41:29] Comick, I believe, has chaired since its inception.
[41:32] And just to see this project evolve and move forward the way it has is a huge commitment to what you guys have done for the environment here, and it shows your commitment to the environment going forward.
[41:49] So I personally support the project, I hope the city continues to support the project.
[41:54] It's hugely important, and I look forward to seeing it become real.
[41:57] Thank you very much.
[42:14] Good evening.
[42:16] Tristan Euler from Old Town.
[42:18] First, I just had one comment on the strategic plan that was done in December.
[42:24] I hope that there would be a recap at some point.
[42:27] I think it was on a Saturday, a lot of people couldn't go.
[42:31] I don't know how many people watched it on YouTube.
[42:34] to probably not that many, and I think there were some important decisions that were discussed
[42:39] and that need to be potentially put in a, I don't know, some kind of a document and
[42:44] sent out. Charles did do a great job in the sun to post some things, you know, with
[42:51] online and in the paper, but that's not enough because there has been some more discussion
[42:56] online about committees and upcoming things, and I think that I don't think that the whole
[43:01] city is aware of it. The other thing I want to just talk about briefly, I don't know if you guys have seen the
[43:07] article recently in the Orange County Register about the State of Orange and what they did last year.
[43:13] They are running a similar parallel path that we are in terms of
[43:18] you know deficits and stuff. So last year in early December or in early January 2025,
[43:24] they underwent a multi-million dollar, they were coming up to a multi-million dollar deficit
[43:29] that and to avoid bankruptcy, what they did is they contacted Grant Thornton to do an audit and put them in a better fiscal responsibility.
[43:40] Really, they did it because they were approaching a long-term structural deficit similar to what we're facing.
[43:48] They had some need for transparency in public trust, another issue that seal beach is facing.
[43:56] risk of bankruptcy, looming, just like us, and deferred maintenance and other liabilities.
[44:03] And what they were able to do is to make some huge cuts along the way, identify where they were spending gaps.
[44:13] What could be done to fix it?
[44:16] I think this is a good time, it's the beginning of the year, it's a good time for
[44:20] our city to kind of look closely before we go into the budgeting process.
[44:24] For the following fiscal year, look at what we spent where the outcomes were good or bad.
[44:31] And what we can do to stop a potential bankruptcy from happening.
[44:37] So thank you, and hopefully we'll hear more about the budget and everything in meetings to come.
[44:42] Thank you.
[44:48] Thank you, Theresa.
[44:50] Is there anyone else that would like to address the council?
[45:06] My name is Rio McCall. I'm a civil beach resident. And I want to thank Sir Frider Foundation for taking on the sand dune project. That really does a lot for us. It's just a amazing, what changing that habitat to what, what the animals expect, what difference that makes for the shore birds, other coastal birds, the pollinators, all the habitat.
[45:34] So it's really going to be nice once it's done.
[45:39] And you might have seen in that picture that in case you're not aware that there are many shorebirds that lay their eggs on open ground.
[45:49] So they need the right open space in order to see there aren't any predators coming toward them.
[45:57] But they need enough sand with the right type of plants that will allow them the sand opening to camouflage.
[46:04] their eggs in the sand, where the ice plant takes over so thick that they can't get to the sand underneath it.
[46:13] And many of them don't even feed their babies as soon as they're born within two to three hours.
[46:19] Shore birds like the western snowy plover and the kill deer.
[46:24] As soon as their feathers dry two to three hours, the fathers walk them to the water and teach them to feed themselves.
[46:31] So they have a very narrow area where they can live.
[46:36] And also the Trash Interceptor Project is really exciting to hear.
[46:42] I volunteer with Riversend Park, and I've had people asking me what can we do about this?
[46:48] You know, there's something they've done in the Santa Ana River, and I said yes,
[46:53] Sir Frider is on it.
[46:54] So that's really exciting.
[46:57] Thank you.
[47:03] Thank you, Rio.
[47:04] Good
[47:14] evening, Mayor Landau, council members.
[47:16] My name is Stephanie Wade.
[47:17] I'm a district five leisure world resident.
[47:20] And I'm also a surferrider foundation member.
[47:23] I've been a member of the surferrider foundation and involved in surferrider for 23 years.
[47:30] And in that time I've been with four different local chapters and four different beach communities.
[47:37] And nowhere do I see the need for dune restoration more than here in Silbeach.
[47:42] So I'm really proud of the Council for embracing this project.
[47:45] I'm glad it's going forward.
[47:46] I'm very proud of Rich and the rest of the chapter
[47:49] for working so hard on this.
[47:51] I owe you some volunteer hours on it.
[47:54] And I also want to say the Trash Inn or Sector Project is terrific.
[47:57] I think it's great, but we also have to do work
[48:00] about getting rid of and reducing our use of plastics.
[48:04] Even once we get that off our beaches and out of the Trash Inn
[48:08] or Sector, there is no throwing it away.
[48:10] There is no way.
[48:11] Those plastic molecules break down, and we're all now familiar with the health effects and that we all carry it, so I hope we'll be looking at maybe a polystyrene band going forward.
[48:21] Thank you.
[48:27] Thank you, Stephanie. Anyone else?
[48:34] Okay, going once.
[48:36] Okay.
[48:44] Good evening, everybody.
[48:45] Thank you, City Council and Mayor for this time.
[48:47] Thank you, Sir Frider, for the important presentation on the dunes.
[48:52] And thank you for adopting and going forward.
[48:56] And thank you for the trash interceptor project as well.
[49:00] The main reason I'm here today is to make sure that when moving that project forward,
[49:05] to consider that there are sea turtles in the San Gabriel River, there have been documented over a hundred plus.
[49:12] And so if and when moving forward with that project to include the aquarium of Pacific and other partners within the area, thank you.
[49:21] Thank you.
[49:22] Thank you.
[49:28] Anyone else like to speak?
[49:31] Any of the many young people in the audience want to speak?
[49:34] Oh, here we go.
[49:44] Hello.
[49:45] My name is Grayson Oslik.
[49:46] I've got a found value high school, which is a way far away from here.
[49:49] But many of us are here because we have a government project.
[49:53] And I think that it's very important that we get out here and we, you know, we don't live
[49:57] in Sylvieche, none of us do, at least I don't think so.
[50:00] But I think that it's very important that we're able to listen and see these different perspectives
[50:04] on the different issues, and so chairs, I just want to thank you for your time and thank you for the opportunity for having us out here, and I think that it's important that us as students, like going out of high school into college and into our adult lives, I think that it's very important that we learn the skills on how and what to do when attending these kind of meetings, because eventually if you think about it, we're all going to be living in different cities with different people, and we're going to have different perspectives, and so being able to see those different perspectives in different people, and
[50:34] And being able to be confident and be peak up here, just off the fly, I think it's very important to be learning those skills.
[50:39] And so I just want to thank you guys for this meeting, and thank you for having us all out here.
[50:43] On behalf of all the Found Valley High School.
[50:46] Thank you.
[50:52] And now, may I make a quick comment to the less speaker to Grayson from Found Valley High School.
[50:58] I love it, and you are talking to an alumni from Found Valley High School.
[51:03] Class of 97, you guys are here from your government class, here to speak and
[51:10] here to observe and this is awesome.
[51:16] Thank you very much, Grayson. That was great. Anyone
[51:19] else like to speak?
[51:26] Come on up. Well, so if you're in model UN, you must be a great public
[51:30] speaker, right?
[51:35] That's terrific. Thank you very much. Thank you guys.
[51:42] Okay, anyone else?
[51:46] Okay. Can we respond to one comment that was made from the audience?
[51:54] Yeah.
[51:56] So a comment was made by Theresa Miller about the strategic plan, about a recap in documents.
[52:02] I thought a recall from that meeting, we were going to produce an outline or some minutes and so forth.
[52:07] So can you, Director, or City Manager Geiger, just want to just provide a brief update?
[52:13] Yeah, no, thank you, Theresa, for bringing it up and Council Member Senegal.
[52:18] We'll bring that item back with a strategic plan report on the 26th of January.
[52:23] So you'll get to see the full report, we'll get that out to the public and we'll be able to discuss that item.
[52:28] Thank you.
[52:31] Thank you.
[52:32] Okay, anyone else?
[52:33] Okay.
[52:34] We're moving it on.
[52:35] By motion of the City Council, this is the time to notify the public of any changes to the agenda and or rearrange the order of the agenda.
[52:43] Does anyone want to pull a consent calendar item?
[52:47] Yes, Mayor, I do.
[52:47] I'd like to pull item.
[52:50] What is it, C?
[52:52] Item C.
[52:53] Okay. Noted. Anyone else? City clerk, do we have any supplemental communications?
[52:59] Yes, Mayor. We have four supplemental communications that were received after posting the agenda.
[53:05] They've been made available to the council and also to the public. I don't know if I should
[53:10] do the correction here or wait until we take the item. Item C. Now on item C there was a correction
[53:17] to the resolution 7722, that was a reference to dissolving the city tree advisory board in the heading of the resolution that should not have been included in that resolution and has since been removed, you have a copy of the current resolution now, and there's copies here available for the public as well.
[53:37] Thank you very much, City Clerk.
[53:40] Okay, I'd like to call for a motion and a second to approve tonight's agenda.
[53:44] Motion.
[53:45] Second.
[53:46] Roll call please.
[53:48] There's been moved by Mayor Pro Tem 1 and second by Council Member Sinoco.
[53:54] Council Member Calma Caldivo.
[53:56] Yes.
[53:57] Mayor Pro Tem 1, Caldivo.
[53:58] Yes.
[53:59] Council Member Sinoco Caldivo.
[54:00] Yes.
[54:01] Council Member Still Caldivo.
[54:03] Yes.
[54:03] Mayor Landau Caldivo.
[54:04] Yes.
[54:05] Yes. Motion carries, by votes yes.
[54:07] Thank you very much.
[54:08] Now on to reports of the City Attorney Garelli, do you have anything to report?
[54:12] Thank you Madam Mayor, the City Council met in closed session this afternoon to discuss the two items on the posted agenda.
[54:19] All five council members were present and no reportable action was taken.
[54:24] And before I pass this on, I did just want to give the council a happy new year and
[54:30] Happy New Year from the State legislature because they have seen fit to adopt a very comprehensive update to the Brown Act and the Brown Act for those in the audience is the law that governs public meeting transparency.
[54:43] And so there's a litany of new changes. Some minor changes that took effect on January 1st, the bulk of the changes that are going to affect how the council meetings are run take effect July 1st of this year.
[54:56] And the biggest change, just to give you a quick update, is that going forward council meetings are going to have to be hybrid meetings, meaning that there's going to have to be a telephonic or Zoom option for the public to be able to participate in the meetings remotely.
[55:15] So now we'll now have to be a either Zoom or phone system to allow public comment via one of those systems.
[55:25] And I have not had an opportunity to talk to staff about what our IT capabilities are.
[55:30] Obviously we're able to do quite a bit during COVID, but we're going to have to rethink about how to implement this new law on July 1st.
[55:39] Some of the other changes include a requirement to adopt a disruption policy.
[55:45] The meeting actually can't proceed if there is a technical interruption with the internet service or phone service.
[55:57] So we have to adopt a policy on how we're going to address those potential technical difficulties.
[56:03] And our meeting agendas are actually going to have to be translated into certain languages.
[56:07] And so we're looking at all that to make sure that the City Council is in compliance with the Brown Act.
[56:14] What's that?
[56:17] And just to be clear, the public comment period via the hybrid meeting format only applies to the City Council.
[56:25] It's not going to apply to every single City Commission.
[56:29] So with that, that's my report for tonight.
[56:31] City manager clarification, was there a threshold in the size of the city in terms of the hybrid approach?
[56:39] Was there a population count?
[56:40] 25,000.
[56:41] Yeah.
[56:42] We're right on it.
[56:44] I think we made it, right?
[56:45] Just below.
[56:47] 24,924.
[56:51] Are we 24?
[56:53] Yeah.
[56:54] We're 24,924.
[56:55] 24,924.
[56:55] I've got less than that.
[56:56] 24 or 5.
[56:57] So we're below the 25,000 thresholds.
[56:59] Well, we're going to have to look at that.
[57:00] Yeah, making sure it may not apply to us.
[57:02] Yeah, it's easy to link to anyone.
[57:04] But we're in a county that has more than 600,000.
[57:07] Oh, that's right.
[57:08] I'm sorry.
[57:09] Oh my God.
[57:09] Thank you, City Clerk.
[57:11] You threw me for a wrench because I was like,
[57:13] I knew it applied here.
[57:15] It's 25 cities of 25,000 or any city in a county
[57:18] with 600,000 people.
[57:20] So it does apply to Seal Beach.
[57:22] Okay.
[57:23] Thank you, City Attorney.
[57:24] City Manager Geiger, do you have anything to report?
[57:27] Yes, I do, Mayor.
[57:28] Good evening.
[57:29] Happy New Year, everyone.
[57:30] I hope everybody had an enjoyable holiday.
[57:32] I want to briefly acknowledge one event that took place since our last city council meeting.
[57:37] On December 17th, the Silver Beach Police Department held a swearing in ceremony to welcome new members and
[57:42] recognized promotions within the department.
[57:45] It was a meaningful event and I want to thank Chief Henderson and the entire police department for
[57:50] their continued commitment to public safety, to serve our community.
[57:54] And finally, as we begin the new year, I want to extend my appreciation to our city staff for
[57:58] For the dedication and professionalism, and I look forward to another productive year ahead in service to the Sylvie's community.
[58:04] With that, Mayor, that concludes my report.
[58:06] Thank you very much.
[58:08] Okay, now general council member comments and reporting pursuant to AB1234.
[58:14] Councilman Calmick, would you like to start?
[58:16] I'm receiving, I just have that I attended the swearing in ceremony for our new police officers and
[58:22] it looks like we have a very good group and the promotions as well.
[58:26] Thank you.
[58:27] Thank you.
[58:29] Councilwoman Senegal.
[58:30] Yes, thank you.
[58:31] I just wanted to make a note that the Christmas parade was fabulous.
[58:35] There was a lot of volunteers and it was a great event, really enjoyed it.
[58:40] I do want to comment that during the rain season, I want to compliment our public works department and say thank you.
[58:46] We've talked about being proactive, getting our sign stage flooded.
[58:51] Please, you know, use a different street and because what happens when in
[58:56] College Park East when our streets flood and then people drive through it, it
[59:00] creates the wave that goes right up to the houses and to the garage. So we were
[59:05] proactive with signs out. We had the, what's the machine? The bumping machine. The
[59:12] bumping machine pre-staged and the rains came during when our staff a lot
[59:19] We're taking vacations and holidays and staffing was thin and so really appreciate our staff that had to
[59:25] Be coordinated jump in to make because you can't turn on those machines unless we have a staff person there
[59:31] And so and I drove my neighborhood and I saw our staff working. It was raining and it was late and it was cold
[59:37] And so I just want to share appreciation that we were proactive and
[59:42] Also in terms of being proactive for the flooding the stormwater runoff flooding on neighbor for neighbor
[59:48] Sergeant Gray, he's not here, but our neighbor for neighbor program put out notices and those
[59:54] of us that have signed up for it.
[59:56] And so the notices let you know storm is coming, here's where your
[1:00:00] Sandbags are at, we're also now have the inflatables that people can buy, terms of blocking rudges, you know, and so forth. So our neighbor for neighbor put out a lot of really timely, excellent information and the storm tracking and then also appreciation to the staff who, it seemed like every 30 seconds we had a storm update like every day. But it was a lot of effort to keep us informed and again, keeping us safe. So I want to acknowledge public works for really going that extra mile.
[1:00:29] and especially during a holiday period when we were downsized with staffing so please pass
[1:00:34] that on. Thank you. Thank you very much Councilman Steele.
[1:00:41] Thank you very much Mayor. Since our last meeting I attended the swearing and ceremony.
[1:00:47] I think we were all there nice to see the PD nice to see the badges and the advancements
[1:00:52] in the our police department. I attended the board of directors meeting of the ACCOC which
[1:00:58] which is the Association of City Councils for Orange County.
[1:01:01] It was their board meeting where they elected a new president and so on.
[1:01:07] I also attended the Cal Cities Orange County Division,
[1:01:10] their final luncheon of last year.
[1:01:14] I attended the OCMVD, which is Orange County Mosquito Vector District,
[1:01:19] which is one of those board assignments that's important for a city like Seal Beach.
[1:01:25] Nothing much going on in the mosquito front these days.
[1:01:27] but we're gearing up for next year and plans are in motion for that.
[1:01:34] And I also attended the OCOAC, which is the Orange County,
[1:01:39] Orange County, older adults, thank you very much.
[1:01:46] Orange County, older adults advisory commission, OCOAC,
[1:01:50] older adults advisory commission.
[1:01:53] I'm losing something with age.
[1:01:55] You're looking at me.
[1:01:57] So anyway, just that blank space. I also would like to, if I may, Dave. I'm going to point a finger at you. We have a brand new executive director in Leisure World, and he is Dave. Stand up for us, Dave. Please say hello.
[1:02:14] I'm honored to see you here tonight.
[1:02:17] Tell me your last name again, please.
[1:02:18] Norvell, that's right, Dave Norvell.
[1:02:20] And so we are grateful for his presence in the leisure world.
[1:02:24] He's taking over, he's figured out.
[1:02:26] You figured out where the men's room is, correct?
[1:02:28] Not yet, working on it.
[1:02:30] Anyway, welcome, thank you for being here.
[1:02:33] And that's my comments.
[1:02:34] Thank you very much, Mayor Perotem, well.
[1:02:36] Thank you, Mayor.
[1:02:38] Since our last council meeting in December,
[1:02:41] On December 12th, Friday, I attended Mayor's Meals on Wheels at the North Seal Beach Library.
[1:02:48] So there, which city staff was there to basically help welcome the seniors and
[1:02:52] help make the holidays a little bit nicer.
[1:02:54] There was volunteer musicians.
[1:02:56] And then we got a chance to talk to a lot of the residents within Seal Beach around the Rossmore Shopping Center.
[1:03:02] And basically, hopefully made their day a little bit nicer.
[1:03:05] On Friday, December 14th, Sunday, I attended a precious life shelter in Los Alamedos, a tour of their campus and their grounds.
[1:03:16] If you don't know what precious life shelter is, they provide emergency transitional single parent residents for pregnant women with no place to live.
[1:03:24] So essentially, these are women facing immediate financial physical or even emotional abuse that are escaping their situations.
[1:03:31] and so what they do over a precious life shelter is very much appreciated.
[1:03:36] On December 17th, I also attended the COB PD's promotion and
[1:03:41] swearing in, so that was great to see that the turnout there and
[1:03:44] the positive energy towards our police.
[1:03:47] On December 20th, Saturday, I myself joined with College Park West Residences and
[1:03:53] the group from the CPW preserve, and there we did what I take as very personal is graffiti cleanup.
[1:04:00] So, for many of those that crossed the bridge into College Park West from Long Beach,
[1:04:05] we went, I was down in San Gabriel River when it was a low tide, and then all that graffiti
[1:04:10] you might have seen at the base of the bridge is now all been covered with concrete
[1:04:13] gray, and from out of view, once when you venture out some more, you'll see a lot more
[1:04:18] tagging and a lot more graffiti, and I'll just say it's all been covered.
[1:04:23] So that took about five hours on Saturday, so I'm very much, very proud of the work that
[1:04:28] College Park West residency date and
[1:04:33] we've very much set those to ourselves even it does come back we'll be back, right?
[1:04:39] Then on also quick shout out to SB police department as well. This week in College Park West, we received emergency flyers, FEMA
[1:04:48] emergency exit. Again, this is great as far as signs going up earlier last year as if there's an emergency
[1:04:55] see that strikes, College Park West, and the bridge were to be removed, where there's
[1:04:59] some two emergency exits for residents.
[1:05:02] And then the flyers that went out was passed out by COB's police volunteers, and so that
[1:05:06] was very much appreciated.
[1:05:07] And then lastly, this past week was January 6th.
[1:05:12] It was a Tuesday, and this is what I am trying to coin as the first Tuesday in leisure world.
[1:05:18] And then there was the kickoff for my monthly first Tuesday coffee and donuts.
[1:05:23] And so there I was at a leisure world, I put the start times between 7.30 a.m. until 8.30.
[1:05:30] But I was there about 7.10, a little bit there earlier.
[1:05:33] And we got coffee from Bogart's coffee over on a 905 ocean avenue.
[1:05:38] And we also got donuts from a donut city over on 12.10 p.c.h.
[1:05:43] And then there, we had a massive turnout. We had total of nine people.
[1:05:46] Right, I know. But it's a start. And we're going to be there every Tuesday,
[1:05:50] Tuesday, every first Tuesday of the month going forward.
[1:05:53] And so hopefully, the President alone will hopefully indicate to the residents of leisure
[1:05:58] world that, hey, I'll be there available, I'll take any complaints, I'll take any questions
[1:06:03] or even any comments, but I'll be there, right?
[1:06:05] And then so it was great to meet some of the residences that I haven't already met before,
[1:06:09] so that was a great little kickoff.
[1:06:11] Thank you very much.
[1:06:16] Thank you very much.
[1:06:18] I cannot articulate any better than City Manager Gaegos and Mayor Pro Temuang at how amazing both those events, the promotion and police swearing in ceremony.
[1:06:30] And the meals on wheels for our seniors and leisure world at the North Seal Beach Center both were incredible events and very proud to be part of this community.
[1:06:40] I just have a quick update on OC Sanitation.
[1:06:43] I have nothing to report for Fountain Valley, I'm sorry.
[1:06:48] Seal Beach, though, construction continues on the Seal Beach pump station replacement project with wet well excavation and water proofing to protect the concrete.
[1:06:58] This project is at Seal Beach Boulevard in Westminster.
[1:07:01] One of the things that we did do is get most of the cones removed on Seal Beach Boulevard leading to Westminster Boulevard to relieve traffic there at that intersection.
[1:07:11] and then to allow a quicker right turn access on to Westminster Boulevard, so that was helpful.
[1:07:18] And also, happy new year to everybody, and let's have a great 2026.
[1:07:30] Okay, that completes Council comments.
[1:07:34] Now we move on to the consent calendar.
[1:07:37] Items on the consent calendar are considered to be routine and are enacted by a single motion with the exceptions of items removed by Council members.
[1:07:44] I would like to now call for a motion and a second to approve the consent calendar with the exception of item C.
[1:07:52] Please take roll.
[1:07:57] It has been moved by Councilmember Calming and second by Mayor Pro Tem Wong.
[1:08:03] Councilmember Calming, how do you vote?
[1:08:04] Yes.
[1:08:05] Mayor Pro Tem Wong, how do you vote?
[1:08:06] Yes.
[1:08:06] Councilmember Senegal, how do you vote?
[1:08:08] Yes.
[1:08:08] Councilmember Still, how do you vote?
[1:08:10] Yes.
[1:08:10] Mayor Landau, how do you vote?
[1:08:12] Yes.
[1:08:12] Motion carries five votes.
[1:08:13] Yes.
[1:08:14] Thank you very much.
[1:08:15] Now on to items removed from the consent calendar.
[1:08:19] City manager, is there a staff report?
[1:08:24] There is not mayor, but I believe council member still would like to discuss or answer questions.
[1:08:30] Okay, I'm going to make a statement first if that's okay before we move on to discussion.
[1:08:34] As you know, it's the mayor's responsibility to assign council members to the various interagency committees.
[1:08:40] I took everyone's suggestions in a consideration when making these assignments.
[1:08:44] My goal was to do what's best for SEAL Beach.
[1:08:48] The purpose of serving on these committees is to bring information back to the full council so that every council member understands what's happening at the county and state levels and how it affects SEAL Beach.
[1:08:59] That's why these assignments are meant to rotate over time.
[1:09:03] I will now open it up for discussion.
[1:09:04] Okay,
[1:09:09] these, there are three committees in Orange County that are kind of the county wide board positions that are available to each city in the county or at least in the jurisdiction.
[1:09:23] One of them is mosquito vector, which gladly comes to district five and I enjoy that board.
[1:09:30] That's a board where you see, we make decisions about budgets.
[1:09:34] We make decisions about executive assignments.
[1:09:36] We make decisions about the strategic direction.
[1:09:39] We have actual input into the agency itself.
[1:09:44] We approve budgets and things like that.
[1:09:46] The other two, county-wide boards are Orange County Sanitation District.
[1:09:54] You have a seat for everybody who is part of the jurisdiction of Orange County Sanitation,
[1:09:59] which I believe is every city in Orange County has a seat on that board.
[1:10:04] So the mayor's appoint the people who sit on that board.
[1:10:07] Now, and then the third board is the Orange County Fire Authority, OCFA.
[1:10:15] OCFA is unique in many different ways.
[1:10:19] Number one, their business is complicated.
[1:10:21] their organization is vast, they have, I don't know how many employees, 1,500 or something like that, but they've got a lot more than that.
[1:10:33] But nonetheless, it's a half a billion dollar budget, it's a complicated sort of situation with capital equipment, with fire houses, with personnel issues, union issues.
[1:10:44] All of these things take time for anybody on that committee to absorb and be able to discuss
[1:10:51] us intelligently. The other aspect of this is we are a term limited city. Most cities in Orange
[1:10:59] County are term limited, which means that if we get a spot on a board and we swap out every
[1:11:05] couple of years, our particular representative, we have very little chance of rising up the ranks
[1:11:12] of influence inside of those organizations. Joe has been, Joe Calming has been on the OCFA board
[1:11:19] since 2021 and I think he served on it a couple of years before that as well.
[1:11:24] He has been on that board continuously.
[1:11:27] His influence on the board has continued to rise.
[1:11:30] He serves on I believe three different committees besides the board itself.
[1:11:37] He knows the board, he knows the people on the board, he knows the executive committee,
[1:11:43] the people on the executive floor, OCFA, no Joe very well.
[1:11:46] Joe spent, I believe, 20 years at least as a volunteer firefighter, so he's very keen on what the issues are for firefighters.
[1:11:55] I've spoken to the union, and they like Joe, I'm not sure if they can actually endorse or anything like that, but they're very concerned about losing that position on the board just for the sake of turnover.
[1:12:10] Joe is about to become the chair of the OCFA.
[1:12:13] this is 25 cities on the board I believe it's 25 and this is no small
[1:12:18] shakes for a small city like Seal Beach to have that much influence in a board
[1:12:24] of that size and that much across the county is really a very very rare and
[1:12:30] unique thing so he has the respect of the the board of directors I've got a
[1:12:37] letter here I'd like to read from the beginning as chair this is from Phil
[1:12:42] Bill Basera, who is the chair of the OCFA Board of Directors, and it says, as chair of the Orange County Fire Authority Board of Directors, I am writing to request your assistance in the coming months when OCFA's member agencies make annual appointments of representatives to the authorities board.
[1:12:59] presently each director serves on the OCFA board until the selection of a
[1:13:04] successor by the appointing body. As part of our ongoing efforts to foster
[1:13:10] effective governance of the OCFA, we would like to retain continuity of vice
[1:13:16] chair director Kalmick serving on the board and minimize turnover to the extent
[1:13:23] possible. With an operating budget over a half a billion dollars over 1,500 employees,
[1:13:30] four labor associations, and the operation of 78 fire station, the issues we face at OCFA
[1:13:37] are myriad and complex. The learning curve is steep to become familiar with the organizational
[1:13:44] structure, its operations, finances, and the types of policies and issues that come before the board.
[1:13:50] We recognize that regional board appointments are considered holistically and serve to support overall needs of the organization.
[1:13:59] However, as chair, I am seeking support from our member agencies to minimize voluntary changes made to our board appointees such as those that can occur in January when most other cities and the county reorganize the leadership of their governing bodies and make it a variety of committee appointments.
[1:14:19] The key factor here is this is from the chair of the board and they're asking for Joe Calmick.
[1:14:29] Joe is about to become the chair of the OCFA later this month, probably likely.
[1:14:35] I have personally spoken to four different members of the board of directors and they're concerned about any change at this time.
[1:14:44] The other thing is that there are some big issues that are coming at OCFA right now.
[1:14:50] Among them, the emergency response team, the rapid response team, and the helicopters and the kind of the capitulation on what their participation is.
[1:15:00] And that, which is a critical issue, the resignation of their former executive director who's gone on to bigger and better things. And the appointment of the next executive director, this is a big deal. The unions, I believe they're going to be coming up this coming year. And so we need somebody with an orientation to what the unions are doing. So I'm asking, not you folks, I'm asking this panel right here to do the right thing and send Joe Calming back to the OCFA. So I'm going to make a motion.
[1:15:29] I mean, how would I word this so we would put Joe as the currently the resolution before
[1:15:40] the council includes Mayor Landau as the nominated council number to be on the OCFA board.
[1:15:49] If you'd like to change that, we need a motion to adopt the resolution with whatever you choose
[1:15:56] to be appointed to the OCFA board.
[1:15:59] Okay, so that would be my motion, or my motion is to put Joe Calmick onto the OCFA board.
[1:16:08] Do we have to wait for vote on that to further discussion?
[1:16:11] Give others opportunities to?
[1:16:13] Well, you can have the motion pending and then debate that motion.
[1:16:17] At this point, we don't have a second, though.
[1:16:19] A second, a second, a second, a second.
[1:16:22] So that motion can now be debated, or a substitute could be offered.
[1:16:32] The only thing that I would add to the kind comments that have been made by other speakers is I attend every board meeting.
[1:16:43] I've not missed a board meeting.
[1:16:45] It's very important for us to be represented there.
[1:16:50] In addition, I serve on three committees, one of which I'm chair of the operations committee.
[1:16:57] In addition, I attend because it's important for the city, it's important for the progress
[1:17:02] of the fire authority.
[1:17:04] I attend all the graduations for the fire academies and I've, because of availability, I've been
[1:17:11] and asked to speak at the last three academy graduations, having a relationship with both
[1:17:20] the operations side of the department, the chiefs and so forth, as well as folks that are
[1:17:27] in the HR department, the auto shop and other aspects of the functioning of the fire department
[1:17:35] current has proven somewhat beneficial, I hate to admit it but it's taken me a few years but I finally managed partly because of being in the position I'm in currently able to acquire a utility vehicle for fire station 44 across the street.
[1:17:54] And this was specifically requested due to the fact that we have had three fires on our pier.
[1:18:02] And, after each of those fires were reviewed, it was recommended that we had, if we had a utility vehicle that we could ferry firefighters and or equipment and hose lines out on the pier since the pier is not, the fire engine is not supposed to go out onto the pier.
[1:18:24] The support is somewhat limited for that.
[1:18:27] So, again, the continuity of having those kinds of relationships, it took a while, but in that one regard has paid off.
[1:18:39] And I do agree that for a city like Seal Beach who has never had anyone in the chair's seat to have that seat that you do have additional influence, there's no question about it.
[1:18:56] And I think that it's important to take advantage of that opportunity.
[1:19:04] Thank you.
[1:19:08] Okay. Any other comments?
[1:19:11] Okay.
[1:19:13] I would like to thank Joe Komet for the five plus years that he's served on OCFA committee.
[1:19:18] Joe has built strong relationships on behalf of Seal Beach and that work is appreciated.
[1:19:23] So thank you, Joe.
[1:19:25] OCFA is an incredibly important to our city and all of Orange County.
[1:19:29] That said, Joe is term limited at the end of this year.
[1:19:33] He has served his eight years and will not be returning to council the following year.
[1:19:38] And it's important that we prepare for when he's no longer in that role.
[1:19:42] Right now, no other council member has direct experience with OCFA.
[1:19:47] We know nothing about OCFA.
[1:19:49] That creates a gap we need to address.
[1:19:53] As a letter that Councilman Steele referenced, that I also received, with an operating budget of over half a billion dollars, over 1500 employees, four labor associations and the operation of 78 fire stations, the issues we face are myriad and complex.
[1:20:13] The learning curve is steep to become familiar with the organizational structure, its operations and finances.
[1:20:19] And the types of policies and issues that come before the board, quote unquote.
[1:20:24] This is a perfect example of why we need new representation so we can all learn these
[1:20:30] ropes, all of us.
[1:20:32] That means rotating so we all are in the loop.
[1:20:35] Since Joe's termed out with a new council member in place this year, at least we have Joe
[1:20:41] for the next 10, 11 months to help mentor us and bring us up to speed with OCFA.
[1:20:46] Okay, that is what is best for Seal Beach.
[1:20:50] I would like to make a substitute motion to keep item C as it is written.
[1:20:57] I'll second.
[1:21:02] I would still have comments or questions.
[1:21:05] If I may, let me first ask Councilman Steele.
[1:21:10] So you mentioned that you've talked to different groups in support of Joe.
[1:21:14] Would you mind sharing which groups are in support of Joe?
[1:21:16] I spoke to Dave Shawler who has been on the OCFA board since 1992. He's from Stanton and they're
[1:21:23] not term limited like cities like Seal Beach and so he's been on the OCFA board since it was
[1:21:29] formed in 1992. I spoke to Bob Rish who was also on the board of directors and a friend of mine
[1:21:35] from the mosquito vector board. He contacted me when he found out this was going on and they're all
[1:21:41] concerned about losing Joe on the on the board.
[1:21:46] There are several other people, I also spoke to a union representative who is concerned
[1:21:51] about it.
[1:21:52] I don't think the union can speak up about this per se, but it's one thing to take the
[1:22:01] put the new blood into the office next year as opposed to this year, just as we are coming
[1:22:07] into the point where we get the maximum currency on the board of directors for the benefit
[1:22:12] of seal beach and for the benefit of OCFA. That's happening this year right now with Joe.
[1:22:19] We can go to new blood next year. Joe has done an excellent job on OCFA.
[1:22:27] He's been key on them
[1:22:29] and he's on those other committees too. So I mean swap out new blood right now just as we're ascending
[1:22:35] to the most influential position on the board doesn't make sense to me, you can wait for
[1:22:41] that for next year and put yourself on the board next year and we can start swapping
[1:22:46] back and forth. But to spend all the currency that Joe has built with the board, with the
[1:22:53] executive staff, with the operations people, with the houses is a waste of currency.
[1:23:04] It's
[1:23:05] The leaders that you have spoken with, I know, I understand we have Robert Frappleton from the Mayor of Potem, from Villa Park here, endorsing Joe, and then we also have, you said a letter from Fieldless Sarah.
[1:23:16] For the others that you have mentioned that you spoke with, do they have letters in support?
[1:23:25] What did you just, is this speaking to them?
[1:23:27] You don't want to take my word for it, Ben?
[1:23:29] No, no, no, I'm asking you, yes or no?
[1:23:31] Take my word for it, I've spoken to those people and they all support Joe.
[1:23:35] I think you misunderstood my question.
[1:23:36] question. My question was, yes, you spoke with them. Have they come out and
[1:23:40] publicly endorse them?
[1:23:45] They publicly endorse the letter from the Chair of the Board.
[1:23:48] I'm going to answer my question. Where is there letters of subpoena?
[1:23:52] Spend, make up your own mind one way or the other. If you're having trouble making a decision
[1:23:56] on currency or no currency, that's your problem, not mine, but I tell you this.
[1:24:01] We are spending, if you would like to hear some logical capital.
[1:24:05] If you would like to hear a discussion, you want to speak over mine.
[1:24:07] If you would like to hear a discussion at another point of view, I would suggest you listen and you might you might hear another point of view.
[1:24:17] I've heard another point of view.
[1:24:18] Okay, well, I would like to share a lot more, but if we would like us to go to a vote, I don't mind.
[1:24:28] It has been moved by Mayor.
[1:24:31] It has been moved by Mayor Landau and seconded by council member Sanico.
[1:24:36] Mayor Landau, how do you vote?
[1:24:38] The substitute motion is to adopt resolution number 722 as proposed to staff under Robert's rules who take the substitute motion first.
[1:24:51] If the substitute motion passes, it replaces the main motion and that's the conclusion of the item.
[1:24:58] So what we're voting on right now is Joe on the, Joe not on, Joe not on, okay.
[1:25:05] Okay.
[1:25:05] Please continue with the roll.
[1:25:08] Mayor Landau, howdy vote.
[1:25:09] Yes.
[1:25:09] Councilmember Sinoko, howdy vote.
[1:25:11] Yes.
[1:25:12] Councilmember Kalmyk, howdy vote.
[1:25:14] No.
[1:25:14] Mayor Pro Tem Wong, howdy vote.
[1:25:16] Yes.
[1:25:18] Councilmember Still, howdy vote.
[1:25:20] No.
[1:25:20] Motion carries three to two.
[1:25:27] Thank you very much, City Clerk.
[1:25:30] There is no public hearing, no unfinished and continued business.
[1:25:35] We will now move on to new business.
[1:25:36] consideration of a memorandum of understanding with the county of Los Angeles and the ocean cleanup for the San Gabriel River trash mitigation and
[1:25:45] negative. I'd like to call on Sylsby Strategic Advisor CEO Shane Sylsby.
[1:25:59] Good evening mayor and council member, council members. Thank you mayor for the introduction Shane Sylsby CEO of Sylsby Strategic Advisor and also your external consultant and project manager for the initiative working with your team at public works.
[1:26:14] You mentioned what the item is about, but I'll just give some quick background on this
[1:26:18] and then if you have questions, we can take it from there.
[1:26:21] First of all, there are two distinct efforts going on with this issue in this initiative,
[1:26:25] which is called the San Gabriel River Trash Mitigation Initiative, originally initiated by a council
[1:26:30] member, CalMIC, and then had a number of agencies join the San Gabriel River Working Group, including
[1:26:35] the serve fighter folks you heard from earlier.
[1:26:37] So there are two distinct issues, initiatives.
[1:26:41] One is a feasibility study, which we've completed and now posted live to a website today.
[1:26:48] It's sgrcleanup.com, if anybody wants to see that document, which talks about feasibility
[1:26:53] of future projects.
[1:26:55] And then we have the MOU discussion, which is before you today, to work with other agencies
[1:27:01] on a specific future project, yet to be determined, okay, feasibility study gives them information.
[1:27:08] But the funder of that in cooperation, the ocean cleanup wanted to make sure that agencies were on board with helping with certain items before they moved forward multi-million dollar efforts to do the actual project, whatever that project will be at the location.
[1:27:22] So why does this initiative matter? The overall trash cleanup you all know because you live here 500 tons of trash each year collected off the beaches. That's not what goes into the ocean. That's just off of the beaches.
[1:27:32] Obviously important there, this is a regional collaboration, as I mentioned, State Assembly District 69-72.
[1:27:39] The San Gabriel River Working Group was co-chaired by Council Member Calmick and Assembly Member Dixon.
[1:27:46] Also interest from State Senate District 36, cities of Seal Beach and Long Beach, counties of the Los Angeles and Orange County.
[1:27:53] Surfrider Foundation and various other interested entities including environmental groups and special guests.
[1:27:59] So what is being done now, as I said, the feasibility study has been posted now that phase is effectively complete, and that study talks about 15 to 17 locations depending on how to count the A and Bs of different technologies.
[1:28:13] But effectively it says these are the things that you could do from a feasibility standpoint within the San Gabriel River, and it ranks those, it gives you a priority of prioritization of those based on feasibility, it's a feasibility study.
[1:28:27] Also, it talks about environmental considerations.
[1:28:30] CTRLs were discussed exclusively there.
[1:28:32] There was a comment about that earlier in that,
[1:28:34] with the aquarium specific.
[1:28:35] I think Mayor Pro Temuang and I were both at one of the events
[1:28:37] where we were releasing a green CTRL that was caught up in trash.
[1:28:41] So we're trying to balance how do we protect the wildlife
[1:28:43] from the trash before they get capped, caught up in that
[1:28:46] and then have to be released later.
[1:28:48] Also, there was stakeholder collaboration as part
[1:28:50] of that feasibility study as well.
[1:28:52] So that is effectively complete that phase.
[1:28:55] Now the second phase is looking at projects that comes into the partnership with the Ocean Cleanup and so the MOU is asking a few things.
[1:29:04] One, it's identifying the agencies involved or the organizations involved and it's the City of Steel Beach, Los Angeles County, because they have jurisdiction in the flood control district and it's the Ocean Cleanup, which is the funding element of this and a technical expert worldwide on solutions.
[1:29:25] like those being evaluated.
[1:29:28] The Los Angeles County Board Supervisors is targeting a February date to do a similar
[1:29:33] action to what you all are considering this evening, to take this upon their board for
[1:29:38] authorization for their CEO to execute the same MOU.
[1:29:43] What is the city being asked to do as part of this MOU?
[1:29:46] I know you have the documents in front of you, but just to be clear about that, the city
[1:29:50] is being asked to help with future permitting elements to the extent they relate to the
[1:29:55] the city of Seal Beach's jurisdiction, potentially a bridge or something like that, they're being asked to
[1:30:00] Provide the feasibility study at its conclusion. Well, as I said, that's been completed and we will provide that if the board, if the city council approves the MOU. So that's effectively complete. The third thing is to share any data related to the San Giver River. We talked about the trash data earlier and any other hydraulic data, which is easy and we've been sharing that already. So effectively, the city has completed most of its tasks already to comply with its portion of the MOU. That's great news.
[1:30:30] The other great news is that if LA County signs the MOU, which we don't have a reason to believe they won't, they've agreed to this point, they agreed to take on the operations and maintenance for a future project, and that is not a small dollar amount either.
[1:30:44] And then of course the ocean cleanup agrees to implement a project after it's studied and has the proper community outreach and analysis and all those elements.
[1:30:51] So the City of Seal Beach effectively gets a project delivered to them at no material cost
[1:31:02] if you will to the city.
[1:31:04] It has a material benefit certainly, and staff time will be engaged in all of that, but
[1:31:08] the cost of those things are largely borne by other agencies.
[1:31:12] So that's why I think it's a great position for the city to be in with this MOU.
[1:31:17] Quick on the expected benefits of the community, obviously clear beaches, improving public
[1:31:21] the health, protection of marine wildlife that we talked about before in sensitive habitats,
[1:31:26] reduce the city maintenance cost over time, if you reduce that 500 tons of trash annually
[1:31:30] that has to be collected off the beach that improves your maintenance, better water quality
[1:31:35] along the coastline, obviously, and then a more engaging from community.
[1:31:39] So I mentioned that and that how people can stay involved, as I mentioned earlier, the website
[1:31:43] is up and running now, it's www.sgrcleanup.com.
[1:31:48] The feasibility study is posted there, but I just wanted to lay out the whole story for you here and how the feasibility study differs from a potential future project, which is what this memorandum of understanding is linked to.
[1:32:00] And with that, I'd be happy to take any questions. I appreciate working with the council and the city staff on this initiative.
[1:32:06] Thank you very much. Any comments?
[1:32:09] Questions?
[1:32:10] Just a quick comment. One thing I learned recently that when this trash is coming down,
[1:32:18] that it's not a one-time beach, go out and clean it up. That trash goes out and it cycles
[1:32:24] to us for like three weeks because the tide is taking it out and if we didn't catch
[1:32:28] it on a cleanup, then it's out, it comes back. So it's like this three-week cycle of continual
[1:32:34] trash coming in on the beaches and of course, we're lucky we have volunteers.
[1:32:40] And we're very much appreciative of all the volunteer hours but
[1:32:44] also our public works and we're cleaning those beaches.
[1:32:47] We have a lot of equipment out there and so I just want to recognize the volunteers,
[1:32:52] but also our public works in terms of the cost, the MNR costs to our budget.
[1:32:59] And so I really want to appreciate that, and also during those three weeks of trash in,
[1:33:06] trash out, trash in, you know, families don't want to use the beach, right?
[1:33:10] You're worried about the stuff that you find in the sand and you don't want your kids playing
[1:33:15] and then you don't want your kids surfing in it because you don't know what's out there and how much.
[1:33:20] So I think this is a really important thing for us to do and thank Joe for the leadership
[1:33:26] getting us started on that path and I'm going to support this when we go to vote but I think
[1:33:32] this is a great thing for us to be doing.
[1:33:38] I was just wondering is there any participation
[1:33:45] responsibility for the 60 plus LA County City's upstream to mitigate the trash that's coming from
[1:33:53] their city is going into the river to get to us.
[1:33:57] That's a great question, Mayor, thank you for that.
[1:34:02] I will answer this in two ways.
[1:34:03] First, there's not a solution to ask those cities to pay for a fair share, partly because
[1:34:09] we don't know what that fair share would be at this point.
[1:34:12] The feasibility study does talk about hydraulics, how the water moves in the rivers and it talks
[1:34:18] talks about the percentage of the watershed capture at each of the evaluation points, but
[1:34:24] we are not yet able to determine where specifically those are coming from.
[1:34:29] We are just saying at these points how can we address that trash?
[1:34:32] So that's the first answer, more technical.
[1:34:34] And the second one is that we've been working with the ocean cleanup to help them install
[1:34:38] cameras that have advanced technologies at key locations using AI and other technologies
[1:34:46] which are proprietored to them to look at the trash and try to evaluate actual volumes and materials of that trash.
[1:34:55] Meaning is it debris, is it plastic, what is that to try to see if we can more accurately predict where that is coming from.
[1:35:04] So it's unlikely that we'll get down to an individual city of 60 but we're at least trying to see if we can divide it by areas in case there's a need for
[1:35:14] future assignment of a financial responsibility for that.
[1:35:18] Perfect, thank you.
[1:35:19] Yes.
[1:35:20] I have a question.
[1:35:23] I know that we installed them a couple of years ago in leisure world, and it's a state
[1:35:29] law or a requirement that all of the, what do you call those, the catch that we put in?
[1:35:35] What can you describe that for me, Iris?
[1:35:38] There are catch-based and trash inserts.
[1:35:41] At all of our water inputs, where the water goes into the storm drains, so I don't know
[1:35:48] what you call that particular part there, but that's the storm drains all in the leisure
[1:35:53] world have a catch on them and they get cleaned out on a frequent basis.
[1:35:56] And I understood that to be kind of like the law of the land that everybody in California
[1:36:00] has got to install those by a certain date, don't our up river neighbors have to have those
[1:36:06] was installed as well.
[1:36:08] It's a good question, Council Member Steele,
[1:36:09] do my best to answer what you're talking about
[1:36:11] is the Tier 1 compliance for the storm water program.
[1:36:15] County, I used to work for the county,
[1:36:16] some of you may know, I used to run some of that program.
[1:36:19] Every city we've talked to have said
[1:36:20] there are in full compliance with that Tier 1 mandate.
[1:36:23] So what that leads us to then is the trash is being
[1:36:30] provided or implemented or put into the system
[1:36:32] after those catch basins.
[1:36:34] from bridges over-causing or direct introduction through illegal dumping or if you have, you know, maybe a person's experience and homelessness.
[1:36:42] Yeah, I know it's not meant to catch it all and I'm sure there are many other entry points too, but I would hope that would help anyway.
[1:36:50] It costs us 400,000 or something like that.
[1:36:54] That does work in combination also with street sweeping. That's another part of the Clean Water Program.
[1:36:59] Another reason why this I think is good for Orange County cities is that LA County has a measure W, which is a stormwater and quality effort to generate revenue. Orange County does not have that, so there's very minimal ways to do projects like this locally.
[1:37:13] Appreciate it.
[1:37:14] Thank you. Any more questions?
[1:37:17] Make a motion to move the item.
[1:37:20] second. Second? Second. Second. It has been moved by my council member Senegal and it has
[1:37:26] been seconded by mayor pro tem Wang. Mayor pro tem Wang, how do you vote? Yes. Council
[1:37:31] member Senegal, how do you vote? Yes. Council member Calma, Caldabot? Yes. Council
[1:37:36] member, still, how do you vote? Yes. Mayor Landell, how do you vote? Yes. Motion carries
[1:37:40] five votes. Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you very much,
[1:37:45] Okay, it is with a very heavy heart that tonight's meeting will be adjourned in memory of Marcus Minch, Casanova, a local 19 year old boy who passed away in a tragic hiking accident on Malt-Baldi on December 29th, 2025.
[1:38:03] He was a Seal Beach native since 2011, and he loved everything about this town.
[1:38:09] He attended McGollum Elementary School, Oak Middle School, and Los Alamedos High School.
[1:38:14] He was a freshman at Santa Clara University's Lavy School of Business.
[1:38:19] Marcus loved the outdoors with a kind of whole hearted joy that was impossible to miss, hiking
[1:38:25] the local mountains, sailing off a Seal Beach's coast, rowing, fishing, and surfing in and
[1:38:30] around Seal Beach, skiing, free diving. If it put him outside, he was all in. The outdoors
[1:38:37] weren't just recreation for Marcus. It was where he felt most alive, most himself.
[1:38:43] He also loved sharing that joy. Marcus was a sailing instructor at Leeway Sailing Center
[1:38:47] in Long Beach. He had a natural way with kids, patient, encouraging, and generous with his
[1:38:53] time. Helping young people discover confidence, freedom, and wonder through outdoor experiences
[1:38:59] is mattered deeply to him.
[1:39:01] The family has set up an outdoor scholarship fund in his name.
[1:39:05] The Marquitos Adventure Club.
[1:39:07] All proceeds are donated to organizations that help underserved kids experience the joy
[1:39:12] of outdoors.
[1:39:13] There's a GoFundMe.com forward slash F forward slash Marquitos Adventure Club.
[1:39:21] As a community, we are saddened by this tragic loss and offer our support and prayers for
[1:39:25] his family, during this unimaginably difficult time.
[1:39:30] I will now adjourn tonight's City Council meeting in memory of Marcus, Minch, Casanova, to
[1:39:37] Monday, January 26, 2026 at 5.30 p.m. to meet in close session if deemed necessary.
[1:39:45] Thank you and have a good night.