[0:00] Please have, sorry, all this meeting back to order. And can we have closed session announcements, city attorney? Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of the council. All five members of the city council were present during the closed session. Staff made a presentation to the city council related to item number one. The city council gave staff direction, no final action was taken. And that concludes my report out of closed session. Thank you. Moving on to consent calendar. Move to approve. Second.

[0:29] I have a first and a second, any discussion?

[0:33] No discussion, roll call please.

[0:35] Councillor Marra-Miscuita?

[0:36] No.

[0:37] Councillor Panada?

[0:38] Yes.

[0:38] Councillor Marra-Miscuita?

[0:39] Yes.

[0:40] Vice Mayor Sonabria?

[0:41] Yes.

[0:41] Mayorities?

[0:42] Yes.

[0:43] Consent calendar is approved, moving on to item number, a regular agenda, item number three.

[0:48] Yes.

[0:49] Item number three, Madame Mayor, council members, relates to the request for approval for the first amendment

[1:01] I would like to ask Mr. Ackerman to lead us in that discussion, should you have any questions or comments?

[1:08] I know that I believe Mr. Marty is here from Bennett as well.

[1:13] Essentially, the original agreement which you approved last year had the option of two one-year amendments or two one-year extensions, I should say.

[1:22] And at this time, you know, based on the level of service and based on some modifications as well,

[1:31] which are clarifications and also additions to the contract.

[1:35] We're requesting that you enter into the agreement for, I believe, it's three years.

[1:39] And recommending that an increase is allowed in the second year based on the additions that were made to the scope.

[1:47] So, you know, when we contracted with Bennett, we realized that there were things not outlined

[1:53] in the RFP that should have been, and to Bennett's credit and thanks to them, they've been

[2:00] covering these items at their cost to the tune of about 7,000 if I remember correctly.

[2:06] So, Mr. Archermann and I are here, if you'd like any questions answered.

[2:12] I moved to approve the item for a three year agreement with no extensions.

[2:18] Second, first and second, any discussion?

[2:20] Yes, well, I have a question.

[2:21] Councillor Romesquita.

[2:24] I looked at the, when we headed on the agenda last time, I was looking to see whether or

[2:29] not, and I didn't find it, whether or not the scope included any work for the parkways.

[2:36] And I know that this is just not so much to include it in this contract, but for the future,

[2:41] for the staff to, when this expires in three years, in 2019, to expand the scope so that whether it's you or somebody else

[2:50] to include in the scope to maintain the parkways and those belong to the city.

[2:56] And there's a lot of parkways that look pretty bad and if you were to do it now, of course the cost would be different.

[3:02] So I'm not saying to include it now because what I want to do is thank you for keeping it the same as before.

[3:09] But that's it for the future just to keep in the back burner that you know to beautify the city the city should do

[3:15] It's it's part to beautify and that is to take care of the parkways. All right. Thanks

[3:21] Appreciate that. Yeah, that is definitely not a part of the scope

[3:26] You know, it it pains me to say but the city would not be able to afford to maintain those parkways

[3:30] And I'm not aware of any city in the county that maintains those parkways

[3:34] That's the responsibility of the resident that lives right in front of those parkways.

[3:39] But if there are specific parkways which are problematic, what we could do is take a look at that.

[3:44] Or Mr. Amesquit, the council member can let us know.

[3:47] And we can see if we can include that as part of the scope.

[3:50] But I mean, nobody would maintain their parkways if you got to that point.

[3:55] And what we could do is perhaps procure a grant.

[3:59] If there's something along those lines for that, I don't know, there'll be a grant specific for that specific purpose or need.

[4:06] But there may be a grant where we can tap into and do that.

[4:11] Even though it's ultimately the responsibility of the property owner.

[4:16] Thank you, Mr. Akerman, we'll look into it, thank you.

[4:18] Perfect, any further discussion?

[4:20] Yes, I just wanted to make a comment and I did want to thank Bennett Lanke here.

[4:24] because they did take, you know, the time or the dedication and fulfilling not only our contract we're going beyond that and it's something that at least I, as a council member, recognize that when a company goes beyond what is outlining their contracts to make the city as much beautiful as the can and I can test to, you know, the greenery and how the landscape has improved so with that, that is only my comment. Thank you.

[4:51] roll call, please.

[4:54] Councillor Moran-Masquita.

[4:55] Yes.

[4:56] Councillor Maira-Masquita.

[4:57] Councillor Maira-Masquita.

[4:58] Yes.

[4:58] Councillor Maira-Masquita.

[4:59] Yes.

[4:59] Maira-Masquita.

[5:01] Motion carries.

[5:04] Thank you so much, councilmembers.

[5:05] Mayor, item number four relates to the approval of an additional budget appropriation of

[5:10] MTA grant funds to complete the general plan update.

[5:14] This item and expenditure was previously approved by the City Council, however, due to an

[5:18] In putting error on the budget, it was overridden on the budget.

[5:22] And so now that's why you have it here before you.

[5:25] And so we're requesting for inclusion in this year's budget so

[5:30] that we can continue with that project and complete it.

[5:33] Ms. Maseek, the finance director, myself are here for you to have any questions that you would like addressed.

[5:40] Yes, Mayor.

[5:41] Moved to approve.

[5:44] We'll second it for the sake of discussion.

[5:47] Okay, I have a first and a second discussion, please.

[5:49] you know looking at this item I know that there's been other budget items that I

[5:56] think we need to fix looking at the budget and I really haven't heard any type

[6:04] of presentation regarding the general plan I would like to hear where our general

[6:07] plan contractor is with the whole update before we even do the budget

[6:13] of this can be maybe moved to the next meeting?

[6:20] Well, you mean the approval of the item?

[6:25] Yes.

[6:26] Absolutely.

[6:26] We could certainly do that.

[6:27] That won't be an issue.

[6:28] I know the Mr. Van Waalakosti is itching to provide an update.

[6:30] But it would probably be best if we agendized it.

[6:33] Right.

[6:33] And we took that to the October 18th City Council.

[6:38] Well, maybe even agendized any other budget, you know,

[6:43] adjustments that we need to do so that we do them one in one sitting, and I would recommend if my council colleagues haven't reviewed the budget again to review it again to see if there's any other amendments or that we need to do in order to.

[6:58] Absolutely, I know that the mid-year budget adjustment is underway. I do believe it'll be quite some time before it's completed though.

[7:06] So with your approval, we'd like to bring this item before then, but if we must, then we'll do our best.

[7:14] Just don't know if we're going to have to be able to have that done by October 18th.

[7:17] I would be honest if I told you that we likely would not, but we can schedule that as soon as possible, if all right with the City Council.

[7:24] But I feel more come to voting on this, hearing a presentation where we are.

[7:28] I agree.

[7:30] In that case, I'll make a substitute motion to continue item number four for the next agenda.

[7:35] Second.

[7:37] First and second to continue the item to the next agenda.

[7:40] Any discussion on that?

[7:43] Roll call, please.

[7:45] Council member, Ms. Guita.

[7:46] Yes.

[7:46] Council member, Pineda.

[7:47] Yes.

[7:48] Council member, Ms. Diaz.

[7:48] Yes.

[7:49] Vice Mayor Sonabria.

[7:50] Yes.

[7:50] Mayor, please.

[7:51] Yes.

[7:51] Motion.

[7:52] I'm sorry.

[7:53] Item is continued to the next agenda.

[7:55] Our next city council meeting.

[7:58] Item number five.

[7:59] Item number five, gas be statement number 54.

[8:03] The moment we've all been waiting for Ms. Maseek,

[8:05] if you would please, lead us in that discussion.

[8:07] I

[8:13] think this is actually, mic's off the mic.

[8:17] Oh, okay, sorry about that.

[8:20] I think this is a good thing.

[8:23] It's really been, I think, a step in the right direction.

[8:29] It took us a little bit of time to get here.

[8:32] So you'll recall that with the adoption of the budget, the 1617 budget, you also adopted a fund balance policy.

[8:41] I knew at that time that we would need to evolve towards GASB 54, which has certainly been implemented for some time and we're catching up with that.

[8:52] And so basically the whole purpose of GASB 54 is really to improve the integrity and fund balance reporting.

[8:59] and also to improve upon how issuers like the City of Huntington Park talk about special

[9:06] revenue funds, capital funds, if we issue debt obligations, you know, how would we characterize

[9:14] debt service payments, project funds, reserve funds, and the like in our financial records.

[9:21] Specifically though, we're not dealing with the liability side, we're dealing with the

[9:25] asset side and this process really has a hierarchy as to how fun balances are dealt with.

[9:35] Nonspendable and I've got on page two of that report, the five categories, Nonspendable,

[9:43] restricted, committed, assigned, and unassigned.

[9:47] And for purposes of what is in front of the City Council this evening, we're really dealing

[9:53] with the categories of committed funds, assigned funds, they're none at this point that are

[10:00] unassigned, but as we added, continue to add to reserves, an assigned would just mean

[10:05] available, you know, for purposes that the City Council would choose to use it for. Specifically,

[10:13] I think perhaps the most significant category here, and let me back up and say that what we did

[10:21] was we really took the compilation of funds. I will tell you when I came here it was hard

[10:27] for me to figure out what are truly reserves, what aren't reserves, where are they accounted for,

[10:33] and part of the objective here is to get them all in one place so we know where they are.

[10:38] So largely we moved funds around from other sources, particularly workers' compensation.

[10:45] There was a huge balance there, didn't know whether we needed to, how to dialogue with our attorney that manages that.

[10:55] He said I thought in terms of outstanding claims, there were about five to 700,000, so we set aside a million dollars.

[11:04] We set aside, we represent ourselves as being self-insured, we set aside, we've never funded it.

[11:11] that we set aside or proposing with your approval to set aside $500,000 there.

[11:18] Arbitrage rebate liability was there, we're just moving it somewhere else and

[11:23] putting all of these funds in one place.

[11:25] It remains the same dollar amount.

[11:28] And what we're calling, what we might have in the past called undesignated fund balance is which we're now attributing to work in capital.

[11:36] The purposes of it doesn't really change.

[11:38] We use fund balances, we usually need anywhere between about six and a half million.

[11:46] If it's this time of year, it's substantially more than that just on a monthly basis, given

[11:52] the expenditures that go out.

[11:54] We did a table on page four of the report that shows where the funds originated, what their

[12:02] current balances are, and how we're proposing that they be classified for

[12:07] for grant gas repurposes and the proposed funding levels.

[12:12] So our arbitrage rebate hasn't changed, that obligation is there associated with the

[12:17] issuance of the 2004 bonds that will get drawn down as we pay that liability over time.

[12:24] Workers' compensation is effectively reduced from 5.4 million to 1 million.

[12:30] We fund itself insurance reserves at half a million dollars and working capital.

[12:36] There's really just a range but with a floor of about 10.6 million and a range that as we have the opportunity to add to it, we do so over time.

[12:46] And there is no fiscal impact to the city in terms of cost of doing this.

[12:51] I do think that the benefits of doing this from a financial perspective, I think it helps us in our discussion with the rating agencies.

[13:01] I think it helps us from an accounting perspective, having taken the step.

[13:05] And I think also in really talking about and knowing where funds are and what the availability

[13:10] of them are.

[13:12] And so I would ask you a consideration of this item and I'm happy to answer any questions.

[13:20] I do have a question, I actually want to thank you for going ahead and putting this item

[13:24] there.

[13:25] You're right.

[13:25] We do need to plan on the future in regards to what we're going to do with our research and

[13:29] so more.

[13:29] I did have a question in regards to your working capital or the working capital.

[13:34] Usually it's 9.1 million and you're putting it, those are to be at 10 million, correct?

[13:41] Well, fund balance, what we reported as fund balance at the end of FY16 was 9.1 million.

[13:50] And yes, just on a de facto basis we draw on that for working capital.

[13:56] actually it's been that's probably been a little bit skimpy and so we're just

[14:03] suggesting well with the auditors recommendation kind of a range and you know

[14:08] working working capital can mean it's there and available for and it is it

[14:13] it would be assigned but that being said you know it goes up and down and

[14:19] fluctuates over time so it would be a floor of about 10.6 million you know

[14:24] So based on, you know, we've obviously reallocated monies from workers comp.

[14:29] Yeah, that's a good move to approve.

[14:33] Second, first in a second, any discussion?

[14:38] Councillor Armaskita.

[14:40] If I recall the auditor when they were here, I asked, what was the recommended months?

[14:47] And for some reason, I did recall that they recommend maybe six months.

[14:51] But then the time isn't so much important, it's the actual dollars, so could you elaborate on that or shed some perspective?

[14:59] Well, actually...

[15:00] What I think we really got down to was about three months working capital. And I think my earlier comment was that I find that we use roughly, and I'm not talking between July to December because it's usually substantially hard during that period. But on average and over time, I would say we need about six and a half million on any given day. And so, I mean, 19 million would really be a reach.

[15:29] And it, well, I don't want to go there, but let me say this, funds we draw on all funds

[15:38] just on a de facto basis.

[15:41] And so it's just cash flow and cash is just fungible.

[15:44] The reporting of it, however, is different from an accounting perspective.

[15:48] That being said, I am proposing that we do keep a floor of about 10.6 million.

[15:54] And I think that should be, you know, as we get to build on it great, but I certainly think it's better than what we've had in the past, and I think we're comfortable with it.

[16:07] Would a higher fund balance like 19 be helpful with the rating agencies, or it wouldn't really matter that much?

[16:14] Well, well, I think this goes to that point because really, you know, now we're, I mean,

[16:21] this essentially would be fund balance, albeit that it's sort of characterized differently

[16:27] in the hierarchy.

[16:28] I mean, obviously we have a committed portion there, our rebate, which, yes, is not really

[16:33] available for other purposes, but I think, look, I actually think these are really decent

[16:38] funding levels, given our general fund size.

[16:42] And I have to remind the rating agencies of that, because when you're using fund balance,

[16:48] they're complaining that you're using fund balance.

[16:51] But on the other hand, if you kind of take a look at where people tend to fund,

[16:56] have fund balances, I personally think this is really sort of admirable.

[17:04] I had a first and a second no further discussion wait hold on we did have a motion on the floor correct okay roll call please

[17:14] Councilmember Amasquita. Yes. Councilmember Panada. Yes. Councilmember Macias. Yes. Vice-Mayor Snobby. Yes. Mayor Tees. Yes

[17:21] motion carries item number six

[17:23] Yes, I'm at a mayor council members which relates in adopting a resolution number 2016-46 as part of the ground funding for improvements to

[17:31] the well-17, which I know you all consider a priority.

[17:35] And we're requesting authorization for the city manager to sign the financing agreement amendments and certifications for funding under the drinking water state revolving fund.

[17:44] Our management analyst, Christina Dixon, is here if you'd like a presentation or to answer any questions.

[17:50] Move to approve.

[17:51] Second, first and a second, any discussion?

[17:55] No, Madam Mayor, I do have a comment and I do want to thank staff for going ahead and putting well 17 on the priority.

[18:02] Hopefully with having well 17 up and running, we will be able to stop importing so much water and start using pump water that would hopefully have some savings to our local residents.

[18:12] That is all, Madam Mayor.

[18:14] Thank you.

[18:15] I would like to thank Madam Mosquita.

[18:16] I would like just give the opportunity to the staff to give the presentation.

[18:21] I don't think it's long, five minutes, a couple of minutes, perhaps, just to enlighten us and the public out there on this great turn of events.

[18:30] It's actually one minute so she'd love to mystics and take it away.

[18:32] Go ahead, mystics, is

[18:36] there Michael?

[18:38] Mike's off, in the button at the bottom.

[18:45] Okay, I'd just like to point out that since I last came to you with the status of all 17 that the feasibility study has been completed by the consultant.

[18:59] And there are, they looked at five alternatives and the alternative that seems to be the best, most balanced alternative would be number four,

[19:11] which would be a blending water from well 14 to well 17, although that's not the least

[19:20] expensive alternative. The other alternatives did not include the cost of upgrading the

[19:27] sewer system and then potentially getting a discharge permit. We'd probably need a variance

[19:32] from the storm water permit and that would be another whole level of complication. So we're

[19:39] We're inching forward with the grant, that's the good news and we're not really committed to any of the alternatives.

[19:46] But number four looks like it's going to be the most cost effective from an operational point of view long-term.

[19:55] Question, thank you.

[19:57] I recall our previous consultant, Desi Alvarez, was recommending a blending option.

[20:05] Is this similar to that or a little different?

[20:07] Well, this is, you did recommend blending, but this is different and I'm not really sure

[20:15] how it's different to be honest, but a consultant did a very comprehensive study.

[20:20] If you want to read the 22-page report, I believe it's an attachment and explains all

[20:27] the alternatives so that they're understandable, I could understand it.

[20:32] Yeah, it's actually part of our council package so that's it report is actually attached to it

[20:38] Yeah, but the

[20:40] Recommendation from previous consultant is not compared to it squared off. So I know what you're going with this. No, it is

[20:46] Not the not the desi over his recommendation. I mean the consultant that was being paid $100 an hour. Yes

[20:54] Okay, moving back to the item

[20:57] colleagues

[20:58] Let's any any further questions for mistakes in

[21:02] Okay, thank you, Mystics, and I appreciate your presentation.

[21:06] Any further discussion?

[21:08] I see none.

[21:10] Roll call, please.

[21:11] Councillor Mermis-Kita.

[21:12] Yes.

[21:12] Councillor Mermis-Kita.

[21:13] Yes.

[21:14] Councillor Mermis-Kita.

[21:15] Yes.

[21:15] Vice Mayor Sonabria.

[21:16] Yes.

[21:16] Mayor Ortiz.

[21:17] Yes.

[21:18] Motion carries.

[21:19] Millenon to item number seven.

[21:22] Madam Mayor, members of the City Council, item number seven is a resolution that pertains to

[21:28] to the LA County Metro Sponsored Measure M.

[21:32] It's to fund local transportation improvements.

[21:35] And as you'll see in the staff report,

[21:38] while it's not the ideal resolution for

[21:42] the city of Huntington-Arc and the city staff is hopeful that

[21:46] Metro will change its prioritization.

[21:49] As council member Miscita noted earlier,

[21:52] our residents will certainly benefit from the public transportation

[21:55] and projects which we funded through this measure, throughout the entire county.

[22:00] So, Mr. Augustine, myself or here to answer any questions that you might have.

[22:05] Thank you, City Manager.

[22:08] I will go ahead and move to approve.

[22:10] Second.

[22:11] First and second, any discussion?

[22:16] Well, I guess it's no secret to the public that I've been very vocal on this issue.

[22:22] I mean, I wrote an op-ed on this.

[22:24] I've been on radio interviews, but I believe we are in a position now where I see now MTA

[22:32] coming to the table.

[22:34] I've sat on EcoRapid, born for over a year now, and I was recently appointed not so long ago

[22:41] to the Metro Council of government.

[22:44] So I can see the metros is hearing the Southeast cities, at least from different perspectives

[22:52] of different initiatives from eco-rapid to other initiatives from other cities.

[22:59] I can see them now that they're taking these cities seriously.

[23:03] I find it very imperative as council members over here,

[23:06] and not just me that I'm sitting on this board,

[23:10] but you know, we put our foot down as cities

[23:14] to really make sure that the ante heard us.

[23:17] Obviously, MTA has a lot of priorities in their hand.

[23:21] Mr. Phil Washington just came in recently last year from another city.

[23:26] I know he has a lot in his hands.

[23:29] But the reality is that I sit on this chair as a council member.

[23:34] And yes, I've been very boisterous on this.

[23:37] Yes, I've told MTA that they don't care about the Saudi cities.

[23:43] and sometimes we have to get really rough in this situation because they're finally coming to the table.

[23:53] Being part of eco-rapid, being part of the Metro Service Council, it's not a perfect plan.

[24:00] It's nothing perfect, but then again, nothing is perfect.

[24:05] We, MTA, has a lot of planning to do.

[24:11] This is going to be a measure that has no sunset, so we do have to keep MTA accountable,

[24:18] but I think they have put certain provisions in place, and the LA Times did say that.

[24:24] I mean, the LA Times came out supporting it, so in other scenarios, I wouldn't be comfortable

[24:29] voting on this, but given the situation that it's coming to the table that they are working

[24:35] with, not only the cities, but with JPA's like eco-rapid, you know, I feel comfortable supporting

[24:41] it, so I don't know if there's any other comments from my colleagues.

[24:46] I want to thank Councilmember Macias for always advocating for the Southeast cities and specifically

[24:52] the advocating for the city of Huntingham Park, in all transparency purposes, I feel

[25:00] that MTA is at the table with many cities, but I feel that that Huntingham Park is taking

[25:05] seriously because of Councilmember Macias' advocacy out in the public.

[25:10] So I thank you.

[25:11] It's not easy to go out there and voice your opinion, the way that you have, but I thank

[25:17] Thank you as a resident of the city for always keeping us in mind and keeping this council informed about what is going on.

[25:27] You're absolutely right, MTA is coming to the table with most Southeast cities and if not all Southeast cities, but with our advocacy.

[25:37] I mean, obviously you can't do it all by yourself, Councilmember Macias, and I invite my colleagues, which many of you have, have been very involved with different

[25:47] in committees and voicing our opinions and making sure that Huntington Park is always at the table, and that the needs of our residents are prioritized, and they are important and regardless of our full time jobs, it doesn't matter.

[26:00] We're here to represent the residents of Huntington Park, so once again, thank you Councilmember Macias for always putting Huntington Park first.

[26:09] I did want to make a comment, Madam Mayor, in regards to this measure, yes, it's a very

[26:13] important measure that the voters will decide on, but it's very important to keep in

[26:18] mind that Hunian Park is one of the most used public, correct, man, wrong.

[26:23] The residents in Hunian Park use public transportation more than any other city in the county.

[26:29] So when we're talking about adding more transportation or anything like that, it's great and I hope

[26:35] I hope that the advocacy of Macias and other council members come continue to go so because it is extremely important is something that our residents use every day to go ahead and get to work to get to wherever they are and it's been proven that our community is one of the most greatly in need of these kind of transportation just because of the number of residents using public transportation on a day-to-day basis only in Huntington Park. So that's just I wanted to go ahead and say Madam Mayor. Thank you.

[27:04] Thank you.

[27:05] Any further discussion?

[27:06] Yes.

[27:07] Transfer on mosquito.

[27:08] As you can hear, we all had a little bit of a trepidation on how to approach this.

[27:13] Early on, I was going to vote against it when it first came up, but of course, it was

[27:18] postponed today.

[27:21] And the reason is, yes, there is an equity issue.

[27:25] However, I think we need to emphasize going forward that it's also a married question, a

[27:33] a question of need, a question of, you know, as my colleagues have been saying, there's a need to bring that service to this area, to relieve congestion, and by relieving congestion is not just a traffic issue, it's an air quality because the more vehicles that on the road, the more emissions, the more criteria pollutants that affect everyone's health.

[27:53] So, with that, there's a lot of benefits, there's economic development, and again, begrudgingly, I'm supporting it, I would have liked to have seen the front line as we hoped it would be the case, but it will be, but it will just take a lot longer than we would have liked.

[28:12] Having said that, I wonder, and it's not to consider now or before the election.

[28:20] But during the window of 2017 to 2039 is to possibly, at that point, somewhere in that

[28:29] window, consider increasing the sales tax to 1%.

[28:34] So that we can get this infrastructure a lot sooner than in 20 or more years.

[28:41] In the way it stands now, it's the half-sense you're going to expire in 20-39 and half that's going to go to 1%.

[28:48] If things are going well, and the public would support it, and there's ways to find that out.

[28:53] Perhaps the MTA can put a demanded measure at that time, either 20-25, or

[29:00] somewhere along those lines to speed up, and to repel these benefits, economic, environmental, and so forth.

[29:07] So with that, we'll move forward and again, the other benefit is jobs, which I'm sure a lot of our communities would, you know, benefit, benefit by that.

[29:20] So I'm for it.

[29:23] Thank you.

[29:24] At the end of discussion.

[29:35] You guys know how, you know, you guys know the jobs are like number one issue for me, right?

[29:43] It's like, you know, I'm always passionate about, you know, hearing the word, you know, we're going to create jobs.

[29:48] We're going to, what this program is going to create, you know, jobs for, you know, some of our residents.

[29:53] And that's really important, you know, they won't be, you know, low income, you know, or...

[30:00] Those jobs that only pay minimum wage jobs, these are going to be good jobs in the community.

[30:08] Some of these projects are going to take a little bit longer to make them happen in our region.

[30:16] But at the end of the day, good things are coming right away.

[30:22] The local return that a lot of cities will be receiving to fix our roads, to fix those bus stops.

[30:29] you know, have more funding available, you know, to, you know, pressure watch them, right?

[30:35] And perhaps why not, you know, one day we can allocate some of that money

[30:39] for, you know, those parkways, right?

[30:41] As well, they're in the streets, right?

[30:45] And so, you know, there are good things and, you know, that's why, you know, it's a, it's

[30:51] really important, you know, for this measure to pass on November 8th.

[30:54] Thank you.

[30:55] Thank you.

[30:57] Roll call, please.

[30:58] Councilmember Amesquita.

[30:59] Yes.

[31:00] Councilmember Paleta.

[31:01] Yes.

[31:01] Councilmember Macias.

[31:02] Yes.

[31:02] Vice Mayor Sonabia.

[31:03] Yes.

[31:03] Mayorities.

[31:04] Yes.

[31:05] Motion carries.

[31:07] Moving on to item item number eight, which was the added item earlier today.

[31:16] Correct, Mayor.

[31:17] And City Councilmember.

[31:18] So item number eight is relative to the moratorium.

[31:24] or the current temporary moratorium on the establishment of new charter schools in the city.

[31:29] I would like to tell you that this is requesting that you file the official staff report at this time.

[31:36] And that we discuss the extension of the moratorium on October 18th.

[31:41] Contained within the report, you have an overview of what this item means.

[31:46] And also some of the things that staff has done, which includes study what other jurisdictions have done.

[31:52] look at suitable locations for the establishments of these types of uses and not contained within here is also that staff has met with and I know Miss Wheaton is no longer here, but we've met with the California Charter Schools Association, and we've extended our hand and said that we are willing to establish a working group with them so that we can determine what's most acceptable to all parties moving forward as we attempt to update our general plan to make sure that the interests of the overall

[32:22] community are kept in mind. So, if you have any questions or concerns, we

[32:29] have you to discuss those with you as well as Mr. Manuela Costa. Thank you.

[32:33] Move to approve. Second. First and a second. Any discussion?

[32:38] As is of comment in the past and today, I know that this is a study and we're

[32:45] going to look at traffic, noise and so forth. And I've made the point that if we

[32:49] We did follow some other laws more thoroughly, like SIKWA, perhaps we will be able to address those issues in a proactive, which is the way this law operates in a proactive manner so that we don't end up with many uses that could affect something in the environment.

[33:10] Having said that, I also said that, I don't have a palm with too many charter schools.

[33:17] If they're producing great students who are going on to universities and becoming professionals, that's a good thing.

[33:23] I'm not in the business of, well, this city's only producing 1,000 graduates, and we're producing 10, that's not good.

[33:30] Well, I think that's a good thing, so I don't see the logic.

[33:34] Now, another thing is if someone's proposing to put a school at a place where we have designated the different use, then of course we would say no, that's not available for a charter school.

[33:47] But if you have a property, a building that's not being used at idle, I think a building that's been retrofitted will produce more property tax revenue than a building that's not being used at all, or a lot that's not being used at all.

[34:03] Not just for one year but for several years, so whether it's producing bright young men and women who are going to go to college, what's the palm of that?

[34:13] So, again, I've heard about, well, we have so many schools and other cities don't have as many as us.

[34:20] Well, when you sit back as individuals at the end of the day and you talk to your colleagues, when you consider where you're going to relocate or buy a house,

[34:29] the considerations of public safety, great schools, and beautiful city, and so forth.

[34:39] So if we have these options of charter schools that provide great education,

[34:43] I think that's a positive, positive rather than a negative.

[34:47] So I won't belabor the point, but again, I'm all for charter schools.

[34:52] If I'm a parent and I have a choice of my kid graduating and

[34:58] going to a great school, getting scholarships, and going to a great university, and getting

[35:02] a great career, and making himself and his family in this country stronger, because this

[35:08] is a competitive world.

[35:09] You know, it's a competitive world.

[35:12] And the more people that are professionals, the higher the GDP, and the more competitive

[35:17] will be with regards to producing more goods and services that will increase, that will

[35:24] increase in pay for all the things that the government does from education,

[35:28] military, and protecting the environment, so I think this is a good thing.

[35:34] Madam Mayor, though this item is in agenda, is to be discussing a future date, and

[35:39] I would not want to take their staff or my fellow colleagues time on discussing item that will be brought up to the next council meeting.

[35:48] I do want to point out that this is not a discussion about what schools are graduating rates or not for.

[35:53] It is a discussion of the land uses and what our vision is if the honeymoon park and it's also just to taking that

[36:00] So when you may comment so that just remember that it is not necessarily of the graduation rates because that is not our jurisdiction

[36:06] To discuss what is the education or the graduation rate of any school?

[36:11] That's why they have we have elected school board

[36:13] So that is a concern they could go ahead and address it

[36:16] But here we're talking about land uses and what is the vision of honeymoon park and what do we want to see in honeymoon park with that being?

[36:23] I mean Madam Mayor, I do call for the question to end all discussion.

[36:30] I will call for the question to end discussion.

[36:32] Second.

[36:33] Okay, I will first and second.

[36:36] Roca, I need a four-fifth-stand discussion.

[36:40] Council Member Agnescita?

[36:41] No.

[36:41] Council Member Agnescita?

[36:42] Yes.

[36:43] Council Member Macias?

[36:44] Yes.

[36:44] Vice Mayor Snarby?

[36:45] Yes.

[36:45] Mayor Tees?

[36:46] No.

[36:47] I would like to discuss, say one last thing, because Council Member Agnescita, I don't think

[36:53] you understand what the moratorium or what was brought to the table, what this ordinance

[37:00] is about. Once again, you keep claiming that charter schools are, you're talking about

[37:07] quality of schools. We have four high schools within the city. We have charter schools and

[37:15] once again, for the fifth time city manager, does this moratorium affect the current schools

[37:22] those that are operating within the city?

[37:25] No, it's not.

[37:26] Okay, so our kids and our community have options, and that's not what this is about.

[37:34] So I really hope that when we do have it on the agenda as Vice Mayor Sanabria pointed out,

[37:40] when we do have it on the agenda at the next meeting, we can discuss it, but I do suggest

[37:47] that you go to our schools and participate in activities just the way the four of us do.

[37:52] and interact with the students that are at these charter schools and that are at the L.A.

[37:57] OSD schools because at the end of the day, they're residents of the community.

[38:00] So I would really hope that you take an active role within our community and

[38:04] start working with the youth within our community.

[38:07] You do not know that I do not do that, so the people that came here last week.

[38:12] With that said, I'm giving you your five minutes to speak.

[38:14] I was talking about my record and what I don't understand or whatever.

[38:18] First of all, that's not fair.

[38:21] Mayor.

[38:22] Roll call please.

[38:23] Councillor Maynard Mosquita.

[38:24] I said no.

[38:25] Councillor Maynard.

[38:26] Yes.

[38:26] Councillor Messias.

[38:27] Yes.

[38:28] Vice Mayor Snorby.

[38:29] Yes.

[38:29] Mayoratees.

[38:30] Yes.

[38:32] That's the end of our agenda.

[38:33] Department reports.

[38:36] City manager's office.

[38:37] Anything to report?

[38:40] Nothing to see.

[38:41] Mayor councilor.

[38:42] City attorney.

[38:44] Nothing to report from the City Attorney's Office.

[38:46] Thank you.

[38:46] Chief of police.

[38:46] Yes, Madam Mayor, just to remind everybody or perhaps those that are not aware we are going to start our team police academy

[38:54] Monday October 17th and

[38:56] We are going to have a full-class

[38:59] Perfect. Thank you

[39:01] Mrs. Finosa

[39:02] Miss Mason nothing to report miss shorts nothing to report mr. Ackerman

[39:10] Yes, Madam Mayor

[39:15] I apologize as absent for the last meeting, but there was an update on well 15

[39:19] We did get our permit from the state and it is up and operating, which allows us to pump our own water rights and

[39:26] bring that balance down and

[39:28] That's good news for us as we'll save money on that while we repair 17 and do a

[39:34] the full

[39:35] GAC system granulated activated carbon system for well 15 for the permanent solution. Thank you

[39:41] Thank you, Mr. Agamir. Any written communications?

[39:46] Council communications. I'll start with Councilmember Amisquito

[39:49] back to charter schools, you know, charter schools when my colleagues are saying is it's not going to affect the current ones.

[39:59] Fine, I'm talking about what if there's another charter school that wants to locate an existing building that's not being used for several years?

[40:06] Wouldn't it be more useful to retrofit that building into something useful?

[40:12] And if kids are coming from out of the city to go to that private school, I don't have a problem with that.

[40:16] I know that LAUZU has some issues with that, but if it's a private school, they can accept

[40:22] I would think kids and they do from wherever they come from, as long as they're interested

[40:29] and they go through the process, so I don't see a problem with that.

[40:36] So and also, we don't need a moratorium to make a study, to do a study.

[40:40] Do we need a moratorium for anything that we do?

[40:43] No, no, we don't.

[40:44] We can just study behind the scenes and also just because someone applies just because just because the school applies for a chart

[40:51] We're not going to issue a permit just because they want a permit

[40:53] We have to go through several steps if the zoning is right if what the future use of that land is for et cetera, et cetera

[41:01] So we're still the city is always on the driver's seat. So again

[41:06] And my colleagues don't seem to understand that if there's properties that are idle and

[41:12] there unsightly, wouldn't it be a good thing to have them retrofit, whether it's whatever

[41:19] they use.

[41:20] If it happens to be charter, I don't have a problem with that.

[41:23] It's going to help those families future.

[41:28] That's not a bad thing.

[41:29] If they don't have schools in their communities, well, too bad.

[41:32] And if we have them and it's going to help those kids, and if I'm those families, that's a good thing.

[41:38] So basically what you're saying is by cutting the, by cutting the increasing the supply of this fine education,

[41:46] there will be some students, many students, who will not have that opportunity to enjoy this great education that these charter schools provide.

[41:55] And as a consequence, these students, while they could have been professionals,

[42:03] They're going to be doing other endeavors in their lives.

[42:06] And I think that's not a good thing.

[42:09] So now that's one common on charter schools.

[42:12] The other is on public safety.

[42:15] You know, we've seen, it doesn't unfortunately, it doesn't seem to end.

[42:19] This issue with police shootings and so forth.

[42:25] It's a very touchy situation for both sides.

[42:28] I can empathize with one side because it seems like it just doesn't stop on the other hand.

[42:34] You know, it's a tough job, but let me just say that, you know, this is very dangerous

[42:39] because what I see here happening is, you know, we're all Americans, and we need to stand

[42:45] together, we need to support each other, and if we don't, then we'll fall separately.

[42:52] And Americans are not, you know, are not, shouldn't be for that.

[42:59] We should look at it in the perspective of geopolitical competitiveness, where if we're not

[43:04] pulling together, we're pulling apart.

[43:06] And there's plenty of folks out there, plenty of countries who would wish our demise, and

[43:12] I won't mention them, but we need to stand together.

[43:15] And, you know, just as a final footnote, good schools, good schools, whether they're public

[43:23] or charter, the main question is performance.

[43:28] Show me the performance, show me the product, and that will make this community and this

[43:35] country strong.

[43:36] And so that's what I'm, that's my guiding light if you will.

[43:42] You know, I'm a product of public education, but if they're not doing the job, hey, let competition, that's the American way.

[43:52] So anyway, thank you very much, have a good evening.

[43:55] Thank you, staff, residents, and have a good evening.

[43:58] Councillor Armasius.

[44:03] I just want to thank the staff for all their work.

[44:08] Before we met today, we had to clean up not this Saturday, but the last Saturday.

[44:16] I want to thank my colleagues for being there.

[44:19] Ms. Rameshita, you mentioned that cleaning up trash is political.

[44:24] I think it as my duty because we do have a lot of student volunteers again.

[44:31] And we actually did this clean up with Aspire, with Aspire students.

[44:35] And parents that came out and we cleaned up a lot in the alleys and the areas.

[44:40] It takes a village, as I said, it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to keep our city clean.

[44:46] Yes is a responsibility of a trash company.

[44:49] Yes is a responsibility of public works on certain areas and of our contractors.

[44:55] But it's also our responsibility as public servants.

[44:58] it's not political.

[45:00] It's a right thing to do. It is in our job as public servants. That's what we are. So we need to clean up. When we see graffiti, we take a picture of it. You send it to JPC and they'll clean it up. It's a duty of every one of us to keep our city clean. So I take offense when you say that it's political because it's not. When you get dirty, your hands dirty. When you go out there and sweat it out with the palm and tears. Yes, I am always cleaning. You had your time. I'm always cleaning up.

[45:28] That's just the fact, I've been to all the clean-ups, I've been to all the events with the students but treat people because it is important to be out there.

[45:37] Yes, we cannot all make it to all the events, but I make an effort to be there because our students, our parents, our communities to see us out there getting dirty because we are what we are, we are public servants of this community.

[45:49] We sit up here, we make decisions and we give direction, but we have to be out there cleaning up because we don't live in this community and we want to see it clean and sometimes people don't necessarily keep it clean and we need to leave by example, and that's all I wanted to say on that subject.

[46:07] This Saturday, I had the wonderful opportunity, thanks to one of our residents who's in

[46:13] our south and our mayor who was there to be, again, with the students from three people

[46:19] that got recognized from both Honeywell Park High School and from Linda Marquez for all

[46:25] of their volunteer hours that they've done, planting trees, doing tree care.

[46:30] It was a wonderful event we got to be there as our students got recognized for all their hard work for their leadership that they're taking in keeping our city beautiful and keeping our city green.

[46:42] And for me to have witnessed it, it was a wonderful event so I just wanted to bring that up because we do have a lot of our youth from all of our schools doing such a great job that we do need to make sure that we acknowledge it and stop talking about,

[46:57] So, you know, charter schools is in that when in reality this whole conversation is a whole

[47:03] other conversation when regarding the charter moratorium.

[47:06] One final note, I'll measure M, I really hope that MTA looks at this action from the council

[47:12] as a hand for us to collaborate.

[47:16] I know there's a lot of things that are still being negotiated when it comes to eco-rap it and

[47:21] with Santa branch and all these other projects.

[47:24] For me, I'm hoping that this is the first step to a collaboration and the MTA takes us seriously, especially because I still sit on the Equal Rapid Board, I'm still part of the Metro Council, and I, as I voted yes, I give my word to go out there and make sure that residents vote for the measure, but I also want to keep MTA accountable and making sure that the Southeast remains a priority in their books. So with that, thank you staff for everything and have a good night.

[47:53] I

[48:00] just want to go ahead and answer to some of the comments that my colleague Valentina

[48:06] Mesquita made earlier.

[48:11] He talks about bringing as many charter schools as possible and being knowledgeable when

[48:19] it comes to placing these charter schools.

[48:23] and I believe you bought it, you bought it on the charter school next to by 61st in Carmelina,

[48:32] which we're still dealing with that issue now, so that you show that you're going to listen

[48:38] to the residents at the time and so now we're trying to solve those issues and prevent those

[48:46] issues in the future. It's all about common sense sometimes when you make

[48:51] these decisions. In another note,

[48:57] I was at a smart city's event this past week

[49:03] and we were probably the only Southeast city and probably maybe the like the

[49:10] four or fifth city from California attending that event and they pretty much

[49:16] I explained different steps on becoming a smart city to when it comes to using technology to save revenue and provide more resources for our residents.

[49:29] So I think the city of West Hollywood, it's already kind of like ahead of the game from any other cities around here, small cities.

[49:39] So maybe we can look and or maybe set up a conference and see what they're doing so we can you know

[49:46] I start rolling the ball right and become a smart city. It involves different technology

[49:51] And I was amazed that you know some of the stuff that we're really doing on Pacific Boulevard

[49:55] It applies to being a smart city

[49:57] So you know our props to you know all of you guys will you know work on engineering public works and you know

[50:04] putting this plan together and

[50:07] And another project that I would like to see in the future, it's having an internet wire

[50:17] just throughout the Boulevard, but I make it a directional, so only people who are in

[50:27] the Boulevard can have access to that wireless internet, right, and not anyone's around in

[50:32] the vulnerable. And perhaps make it limited. So, you know, and then those who, you know,

[50:40] might want to unlimited internet, they have to, you know, pay a subscription and kind

[50:45] of like, you know, start reaching out to some, you know, private companies and see, you

[50:52] know, how we can start building a private and public relationship. I believe time Warner

[50:59] cable they already you know how by a program you know where you know they go into different cities

[51:04] and now that they merge with the charter communications that could be one you know possibility word

[51:10] you know I made a phone call the other day to the government of first lady so she's like I'll

[51:16] get back to you in one way she's doing research but I'll go ahead and give the input to staff so

[51:22] they can start looking into it because a lot of you know people will you know come to the

[51:28] Bolivore, there are some business in the Bolivore that don't offer, you know,

[51:33] Internet. So it's less appealing to, you know, different, you know, students around the

[51:38] Bolivore. And a project that maybe we should look into in the future, we want to, you know,

[51:45] promote education is a community college perhaps, right? Or, you know, bring a private, private

[51:53] but university into Haninon Park.

[51:57] Elements, K through 12, it's really important,

[52:00] but also higher education.

[52:03] And maybe that can be one possibility

[52:06] that Councilmember Amizhita can start making some calls,

[52:11] doing some research.

[52:13] It's easy just to talk about what can be possible

[52:17] or have staff do this research,

[52:21] but it takes more than that.

[52:22] And you know, at some point, so also as council members, we need to pick up that phone and make those phone calls.

[52:28] With that said, I just want to thank everyone for your hard work.

[52:34] Thank you, Councillor Bina, Vice Mayor Sonata.

[52:38] Good evening, everyone.

[52:40] I have made it no secret that I am not a biological mother, but I do have a minor under my care.

[52:46] I actually see him as my child.

[52:48] I actually refer to him as my child and the reason I'm sharing such a private information with you is because I take great

[52:55] offense when council councilmember mesquita kind of pairs to me or states that I would not take something as

[53:01] education important. Let me be the first one I was very active in choosing my child's education I

[53:07] continue to be very active in the school and this moratorium it has nothing to do with that it is

[53:12] It's basically a vision of land use in the community.

[53:17] Unfortunately, some members of our community and some of my colleagues have used this as political levy because elections are coming up.

[53:24] In regards to public safety and the comments that Mesquite said, I will state, just as the words that we gave out to our officers not a couple hours ago, I signed by my police officers.

[53:36] I know that their hearts are in the right place and they continue in my police department.

[53:40] they continue to service our community and I've seen it and I've given numerous rights

[53:45] along to first witness, first hand of what my officers go through and it's something

[53:49] very important so I do not make statements such as a mosquito lightly nor do I over

[53:55] ice, generalize any police department by any action of or you know discussion about the

[54:01] nation.

[54:01] We are our own police department, we all have our own culture and we do have and honestly

[54:06] and truly our police officers, go ahead and check our community.

[54:10] So when you make statements like that is kind of discerning to our police officers.

[54:15] And I have not stated anything of this because I believe that everyone has a right to address

[54:19] any board even if you're an elected official.

[54:22] That being said, it is in my understanding that when we took the oath or when we ran for

[54:26] office, we understood that we will be a moral compass or at least a guiding light to our community.

[54:32] is disheartening to hear when a council member uses public comment as a

[54:37] spoke opera to basically bash staff and the other council members for anything

[54:43] in everything that is controversy at that day or if you know there has people

[54:47] coming here wild up. It's unfortunately that you use this time as public comment to

[54:52] go ahead and you know attack staff, attack you know what the efforts of this council

[54:58] I also remember doing as a reminder, you have stated here up in the die as that you were actually going to be part of the student recovery day and from my understanding you did not attend that event in regards to the cleanup, I take my child to the cleanup events, and it's not because the city doesn't pay me or anything like that, I take him because I want him to be have pride in his community, I believe education is also in the home and I want to instill in my child that community is important and that coming in and together as community and picking up something is not necessarily just the

[55:28] act of cleaning up, but it's instilling in our children and our youth the values of

[55:32] caring for our community. Something that is something that we need to do and I, you know,

[55:37] as parents and I say that because I am one. Excuse me. Yeah, it actually is, I have voted for

[55:45] and will continue to support medical marijuana because it is a medical choice just like you state

[55:50] that parents have all these choices. Capacions and excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me,

[55:56] time. It is I am supportive of a medical marijuana and I go on the record on

[56:02] this because it is a medical option for people. I am no one to tell any

[56:06] individuals such as yourself has you know splyly say that I have no right

[56:10] to tell a parent what school to teach. I have no right to tell a patient what

[56:13] medical procedures or medical thing excuse me excuse me excuse me you are

[56:19] because you're again again I still remember I'm a skit that you had your time

[56:22] Again, Harris, on outiest time, thank you.

[56:26] Again, I will be quite honest, Councilmember Mesquita, you only show up to Council

[56:30] meetings.

[56:30] That's it.

[56:31] You, even the staff don't see you.

[56:33] So I don't understand why you're taking this time to publicly attack me when you have,

[56:37] your record shows that you have supported the problem that we have in May with Strip

[56:40] amongst others.

[56:41] You change your vote according to what, you know, it's fancy.

[56:45] I'd rather be a woman in my word and go down with that ship than be a person that flip

[56:49] flocks and changes and sells the community for anything. I am not lying. Really?

[56:55] Anyways, besides the council members, vice mayor council member, let's have a

[57:00] professional meeting. And this is council member, I'm Esquita, councilman Esquita

[57:04] everybody has everybody has their chance to speak. You spoke councilman Esquita, I'm

[57:10] going to call you out of order. Council member Esquita, you are out of order. Let the

[57:15] Record shows City, Madam City clerk that Councillor Marmasquita has been called out of order for his, as his first warning.

[57:23] Councillor Marmasquita, this is your second warning. Please.

[57:32] Madam City clerk, can you please note that Councillor Marmasquita has had his second warning.

[57:37] Vice Mayor Sena, can you please finish your council comments so that I can say mine.

[57:41] Thank you. Councilmember Amesquita. Councilmember Amesquita, you are out of order. First warning and second warning.

[57:52] Sergeant arms coming, please remove the councilmember.

[57:55] Sorry, Madame Mayor, could we ask for a brief recess?

October 4, 2016 - City Council Meeting Part 2

Agenda

Transcript