TV on.
TL;DR
The council approved the Per‑Capita park grant resolution at (15:00), extended Verizon’s sub‑leasehold agreement at (22:16), purchased two new fire department vehicles at (28:15), adopted nine new user fees unanimously at (46:06), formed the Monterey Park Geologic Hazard Abatement District at (52:37), approved the 2020‑21 investment report and authorized the treasurer for 2021‑22 at (74:23), and approved a tree memorial for Bill Sanchez and Johnny Thompson at (92:10).
- Council adopts Per‑Capita grant resolution for Barnes and Sierra Vista Parks15:00
- Council extends Verizon sub‑leasehold agreement for telecom improvements22:16
- Council purchases two new fire department vehicles under state cooperative agreement28:15
- Council adopts nine new user fees for city services46:06
- Council forms Monterey Park Geologic Hazard Abatement District52:37
- Council approves 2020‑21 investment report and authorizes treasurer for 2021‑2274:23
- Council approves tree memorial for Bill Sanchez and Johnny Thompson92:10
Summary
The council began by approving several operational items, including the Per‑Capita grant resolution for Barnes and Sierra Vista Parks at (15:00), a Verizon sub‑leasehold extension to support telecommunications improvements at (22:16), and the purchase of two new fire department vehicles under a state cooperative agreement at (28:15). These decisions were followed by staff presentations on the grant details, Verizon’s funding plan, and vehicle specifications, with unanimous votes in each case.
The meeting then shifted to new policy items. Staff presented nine new user fees for city services, and the council adopted them unanimously at (46:06). Next, the Monterey Park Geologic Hazard Abatement District was formed with officer appointments and rules approved at (52:37). The council also reviewed the city’s investment policy, approving a receive‑file and authorizing the treasurer to implement the 2021‑22 policy at (74:23), and later approved a tree memorial for deceased council members Bill Sanchez and Johnny Thompson at (92:10).
Transcript
Hi, everyone. This is Yvonne, Mayor of Monarch Park. Let's get started. ! The fun part is to read off the whole agenda. ! City Council of Monarch Park, City Council acting on behalf of the ! The Monarch Park Geologic Hazard Abatement District of the former redevelopment agency and the Monarch Park Financing Authority. Regular City Council meetings call to order. Today is Wednesday, call to order. Today is Wednesday, September 15, 2021. Now it's at 631. So, Excited Order N-29-20, this meeting will be conducted pursuant to Section 3 of Excited Order N-29-20 issued by Governor Newsom on March 17, 2020. Accordingly, City Council members will be provided with a meeting lock-in number and conference call number that will not be physically present at Council Chambers. Pursuant to Governor's order, the public may provide public comments utilizing the method set forth below. Note that City Hall is currently closed to public. You will not be admitted to City Hall. General information. Document related to agenda items are available to the public in City Club's office located at 320 West New Martin Avenue, Monarch Park, California, 91754, during normal business hour, and the City website at www.monarchpark.ca.gov. The public may watch the meeting live on City Cable Channel MPKTV, AT&T U-verse channel 99 or charter communication channel 182 or by visiting the city website at www.monitorpark.ca.gov. This agenda may include items considered by the city council acting on behalf of the successor agency of the former Monitor Park Redevelopment Agency, which they saw February 1st, 2012. Successor agency matters will include in the notation of SA, mixed agenda item number. public participations in accordance with the executive order number and dash 29 dash 20 and guidance from california department of public health on gatherings remote public participation is alLod in the following ways via email written communications public comments will be accepted up to 24 hours before the meeting via emailed to mpclark at monitorpark.ca.gov written communications if any will be briefly summarized and include the name of each individual that submitted a comment. The summary will be read via a peer-recorded video and played during the public comment sections of the City Council meeting. To view the full text of written communications, please visit www.maricart.ca.gov. All written communications are provided to the City Council and filed as part of the City's administrative records. Via telephone, public comments may be submitted via telephone during the meeting before the close of public comments by calling 888-788-0099 or 877-853-5247 and enter a Zoom meeting ID number 289-222-5995, then press pound. When prompted to enter participation ID number, press pound again. If participants would like to make a public comment, you will enter star 9, then clerk office will be notified and you will be in a location to make a public comment. Press star six to unmute yourself when called upon to speak. Participants are encouraged to join a meeting 15 minutes before the start of the meeting. You may speak up to five minutes on the agenda item. Speakers will not be alLod to combine time. The mayor and the city council may change the amount of time alLod for speakers. As part of the virtual meeting protocol, anonymous persons will not be alLod to provide public comments. Important disclaimer, when the participants call in to join a meeting, Their name and or phone number will be visible to all participants. Note that all public meetings will be recorded. So, okay, so, um, Vincent, our city clerk, would you please have the flag, uh, ready to do pledge of allegiance? So, everyone stand up, put your right hand on your heart and follow up after me. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, One nation under God, visible to liberty and justice for all. Thank you all. Thank you. And City Clerk, please call them.
Thank you. Council Member Peter Chan? Here. Council Member Hans Leung? Here. And Council Member Fred Sinoso? Here. Mayor Pro Tem Henry Lo? Here. And Mayor Yvonne Yu?
Here.
All present. Thank you.
Thank you. City Manager and City Attorney, do we have any agenda, addition, deletions, and change of options?
Madam Mayor, none from the City Manager's Office. Madam Mayor, none from the City Attorney. Thank you.
Cindy, do we have any public communications?
If you'd like to speak to public communications, there's a time to do so. Please use the raise that feature. Or if you're on the phone, press star 9. At this time, we have our Director of Vidas, Martha Garcia.
Good evening, Mayor Pro Tem and Council Members. Martha Garcia, Director of Management Services. In September of 2020, the Management Services Department completed the implementation of Phase 1 of the City's new Enterprise Resource Planning System, Tyler Muniz. Phase one included the general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, budgeting, and procurement. The implementation of phase two began in March of 2021. This phase includes the management of personnel and payroll. These two modules simply simplify the human resources and payroll processes. Phase 2 is expected to be completed by January of 2022. So far the modules in Phase 1 and Phase 2 are for internal staff uses to improve overall workflow and efficiency. And today I'm excited to announce that the Monterey Park Finance Transparency Module will be available to the public on Monday, October 4th, 2021. Finance transparency provides a highly interactive look at revenues, expenditures, charts, graphs, and tables. The information found on this site will be updated on a weekly basis for public viewing.
The city of Monterey Park is dedicated to providing a community with a transparent and a current view of the city's financial information.
Therefore effective October 4th, finance transparency can be found on the City of Monterey Park's website on the online tools page. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, Mata. Thank you. Audience, are there any other speakers for public communications?
Madam Mayor, there are no other speakers and there are no written communications for public communications.
Thank you.
Okay, I didn't get you. Do you have written communications?
There are none on file. Thank you.
Okay, thank you.
Okay. So next, we are moving to the consent calendar.
So for consent calendar, any of our council members would like to pull any of the item?
NEW SPEAKERS, MADAM MAYOR, I WOULD LIKE TO PULL ITEM 3C.
ANY OTHER ONE?
NEW SPEAKERS, I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE ITEM 3D AND 3E PULL AS WELL.
Okay, sure.
So do we get a motion to approve items 3A, 3B, 3F and 3G?
Before you take the motion, let me check with the audience. Okay. Thank you.
Audience, if you want to speak on consent calendar item, please use the raise hand feature or if you are on the phone,
press star nine at this time.
Madam Mayor, there are no speakers for consent calendar items. Thank you. All right. Thank you. So may I get a motion to approve 3A, 3B, 3F, and 3G? Already moved. Yeah, I will second. I will second that. All right. Thank you. Vincent, would you please follow?
Thank you. Council Member Han Seang? Yes. Council Member Peter Chan?
Yes.
Yeah. Council Member Fred Sinoso? Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Henry Lo? Aye. Mayor Yvonne Yu?
Yes.
Motion carries.
Thank you. And so for item 3C, adopt resolutions authorizing the city manager and our destiny to apply and receive grant funds from California Department of Parks and Recreation's position 68 per capita program. Council Member Chen? Yes. Can I have a brief staff report on this? absolutely
good evening mayor mayor platem and city council robert aguehry the recreation and community services director so before you tonight back in 2018 voters passed proposition 68 which is the state of california park and water bond and this bond was basically to fund local park rehabilitation and improvements through grants to local governments on a per capita basis. So the per capita program gives us an opportunity to apply for grants that will be able to fund and address some needed park improvements. Now, these do have to be capital improvements. They can't be maintenance projects. We do qualify to apply for funds within two per capita programs, the general per capita program and also the urban county per capita program due to the size of the city. staff has identified two locations where we would be serving severely disadvantaged communities, which is Barnes Park and Sierra Vista Park. And because those would be serving severely disadvantaged communities, based on the criteria of the grant, there would be no matching of funds for the city. All those projects would be paid for completely by the grant. So in order for us to submit applications for the grant funds, we would have to approve the resolution that you have before you tonight. So staff is recommending that city council approve the resolution that you have before you tonight. And that completes my staff report. I'm available for questions and be happy to answer anything.
Thank you, Director Robert Aguirre. And yeah, just a few simple questions. This is only for the application for this funding. So there's no guarantee that we'll get it or how much we will get.
So we are there's money set aside for each of the cities. So based on if you submit for qualified projects, then you will get that funding. In the general per capita program, we are qualified to get up to one hundred and seventy thousand. And in the urban per capita, up to about thirty eight thousand. So a total of 215, almost 216,000 that we can apply for that would be allocated to the city.
So it's kind of like pretty much guarantee this money.
As long as your application meets the criteria for the projects, yes.
Okay, good. So do you have any idea on what kind of projects or what kind of improvements or capital improvements that we will put in these two parks, Mons Park and Seattle District Park? I do.
There are some. Yeah, I do have some suggestions. I do know it's not a significant amount of money, so I would like to spread it out and address a few of our older issues that we haven't been able to. One is the Barnes Park amphitheater. The seating there needs to be completely replaced. It's long overdue. I think we've been trying to do that for quite several years. the Barnes Park gymnasium floor needs to be completely resurfaced and restriped that's been
long overdue I think the last time that that was done was over 10 years ago and then I'd also like
to address the pick sorry the pickleball and basketball courts over at Sierra Vista and get those completely resurfaced and new poles new baskets kind of similar to what we've done over at Garvey Ranch Park and really beautify that park with both the pickleball and the basketball court. And so within the funds that we have available, we actually should be able to address all three of those with that fund, with those funds.
Okay, good. Thank you. That's good to know. And is this fund going to be repetitive? It's a one-time allocation. I see. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Happy to receive those funds. Yes. All right. Yeah. Thank you. So, Peter, would you like to make a motion to approve?
I'm sorry. I have a quick question. I should raise my hand. No, Mr. Geary, thank you very much for that presentation. I'm certainly excited about the improvements to Sarah Parks and that's near my district.
Question. The community center that's at Sarah Park, what's the state of that community center? Does itself also need any improvements?
Definitely, I think one of the improvements that we are looking at for the future is the restrooms there. I think that's one of many of our parks, our park restrooms do need some TLCU definitely. so that the center itself is in decent shape it's the restrooms that I would say is probably could could use some some help okay thank you yeah yeah and I would like to suggest that we
may use the those are three million dollars that was not being talked about on those recovery funds to use it for the parks part of it of course for the restrooms or whatever that you mentioned about So we consider using those $3 million that we haven't talked about. So that would be good.
So I would like to make the motion to approve item 3C. Any second? I second. Vincent, please call vote. Thank you. Council Member Peter Chen. Yes. Council Member Hans-Leon. Yes. Council Member Fred Sinoso. Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Henry Lo. Aye. And Mayor Yvonne Yu. Yes. Thank you. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
For item 3D, requesting City Council to authorize the extensions of the sub-leasehold agreement between Casuda Canyon Restaurants and Verizon Wireless on the portions of the city property located at 3500 West Ramona Boulevard, Monterey Park, for the purpose of improving the telecommunication facility operated by Verizon Wireless. Council Member Zunosol?
Yeah, like a staff report, please.
Thank you. Good evening, Madam Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and Council Members. This is your Economic Development Manager, Joseph Torres.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak in front of Council. Staff would like to recommend that the City Council consider authorizing the City Manager consent for Casuda Canyon Restaurant to extend its sub lease with Verizon Wireless for two additional terms of five years each for the purpose of improving Verizon's telecommunications facility located in the Casuda property within the city property
on 3500 West Ramona Boulevard in Monterey Park. Please allow me to give you a little bit of a
background. Casuda Canyon Restaurant holds a leasehold interest in a portion of the city
property located at 3500 West Ramona Boulevard under a master lease agreement dated October
1970. Casuda Canyon, in turn, holds a sublease agreement with Verizon Wireless dated November
1991 within the Casuda property to install, maintain, and operate a telecommunications facility. Casuda Canyon Restaurant would like to extend the sublease with Verizon Wireless
for two additional terms of five years each. However, according to the master lease agreement,
Casuda Canyon Restaurant may not extend the sublease without the city's consent. If the city council extends the sublease, Verizon Wireless will improve the existing telecommunications facility.
And of course, subject to Verizon Wireless's obtaining all certificates, permits, and other approvals required by city, state, or federal authorities for the improvements.
There are no direct foreseeable costs to the city with the extension of the sublease between Casuda Canyon and Verizon Wireless. And Verizon Wireless is anticipated to pay for the entire telecommunications facility improvement.
Madam Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Council Members, that concludes my presentation.
I am here along with our Director of Public Works, Frank Lopez, to answer your questions.
Thank you. Thank you, Joe. Any questions from any council member?
Councilman St. Nessel? Thank you. So thank you for your presentation, Joe. So we have existing towers up there right now, right up in the hill by the restaurant?
Correct.
So I'm guessing that those towers are kind of camouflaged so they don't stick out like at other areas.
I mean, that hillside up there, it's pretty nice.
It's not real, what am I trying to say, the landscaping is nice and stuff.
So are these new towers or these additions also going to be camouflaged so that we don't see them and maybe spaced out so they don't become an eyesore up there?
THERE'S A LOT OF FOLIGE IN THAT AREA WHERE THE ANTENAS ARE, COUNCIL MEMBER CERNOSO, AND RIGHT NOW THEY ARE INDEED CAMOUFLAGED TO BLEND IN, BUT I WILL ALLOW OUR DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC
WORKS, FRANK LOPEZ, TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION. COUNCIL MEMBER CERNOSO, GOOD EVENING, MAYOR, MAYOR PROTEN, CITY COUNCIL, THIS IS FRANK Lopez, your public risk director. These antennas are smaller than what you're used to. It's not really a tower. There's actually several antennas that are placed into the ground on the hillside. As our economic development manager stated, there's a lot of foliage, trees, and they're intermingled among that. And so they're actually pretty difficult to see from the roadway. The modifications that they're making are they're not adding anything new except for upgrading the existing piece. So I think the most extensive change is they might be taking one out, but they put it right back where it is. It's the same height. It's just updated equipment. The other changes just include upgrades to parts of the antennas. So nothing really is changing. There's not an addition of a new large antenna. As I mentioned, I think there's a remove and replace for one or two of them, and then upgrading of parts or portions of the existing antennas just to modernize them
and bring them up to the most current technology.
Okay. So the current ones that we have up there are camouflagers. I mean, people aren't going to be hiking up and down those hills. They just park and look out from the restaurant and see. I mean, they want to see a nice view. They don't want to see towers.
They're not obstructive at all, correct? You can't even notice them. Okay. All right.
That answers my question. Thank you.
Council member Hasker?
Yeah, just really quick. I just wanted to ask. I'm noticing that it's stated Casuda Canyon Restaurant. If I'm not mistaken, is that the Luminaria site? Yes, it's the Luminaria site. It's the hillside on the Luminaria site. It actually does stretch across that fringe along Ramona. It's up on the hillside.
Okay. I just want to verify because I wasn't familiar with the name Casuta Canyon restaurants. I believe that's their LLC. Okay. Got it. All right. Thank you.
Mayor, for time load, do you have any questions?
I don't. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you. So any council members and also would you like to make a motion to approve item 3D?
Okay. I make a motion to approve item 3D. Second.
Thank you. City clerk, Vincent, would you please call roll?
Thank you. Council Member Peter Chan?
Yes.
Council Member Hans Yang? Yes. Council Member Fred Sunoso? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Henry Lo? Yes. And Mayor Yvonne Yu?
Yes.
Motion carries. Thank you.
Thank you. So next will be 3E, a replacement of the two fire department vehicles, fire chief and division chief vehicles. And Council Member Sunoso, you have questions or you want a staff report?
Staff report, please.
Thank you. Fire Chief. Yes. The floor is yours.
Thank you. Good evening, Madam Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and Council, Fire Chief Matt Halleck. The agenda item before you tonight is for the purchase and replacement of two fire department vehicles, which are the fire chief's vehicle and our division chief's command vehicle. We are recommending waiving the bidding requirement and pursuant to Monterey Park municipal code and authorized the fire department to purchase two new vehicles under the state of California cooperative purchase agreement for a total amount of $209,403.90. For a background, the two vehicles that will be replaced with the purchase of these new vehicles are a 2003 Chevy Tahoe, which is our current arson vehicle with 145,000 miles on it, and our current reserve command vehicle, which is a 2000, I'm sorry, 1999 Chevy Suburban with 60,000 miles on it. Both of these vehicles with your approval for the purchase of the new vehicles will be put out of service permanently. And the current Chiefs vehicle, which is a 2014 Chevy Tahoe will then become the new arson vehicle. and the current frontline command vehicle, which is a 2009 Chevy Suburban will then become our backup or reserve command vehicle. The purchase of these vehicles, I said is $209,000. The majority of the cost for these two new vehicles is in what they call the uplift or the outfitting of specifically the command vehicle. It requires quite a bit of electronics and equipment to make it operationally ready. The funds for this purchase will be allocated through the American Rescue Plan Act, which was approved at a prior council meeting. And that concludes my report. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have.
Thank you. Council members, and also have any questions?
yeah so the new command vehicle from what i understand is kind of like a a um
like a rolling no we have that emergency um emergency operations um building across the street so my understanding this is kind of like a portable or transportational like a mobile command center yeah like that is that is that correct that is correct yeah it's
our we currently we have a 2009 chevy suburban which is our command vehicle so on any large incident when the division chief is dispatched to that incident he operates or manages the entire incident from that vehicle so when that vehicle is dispatched to say northern california on a strike team, which it has been the majority of the summer, we utilize our reserve command vehicle to be moved into the frontline status. Well, the current reserve vehicle is in need of repairs constantly, and it doesn't really provide reliability with which we need to operate. So that's the reason for the purchase. We are going away from a Chevy Suburban. the industry standard is now going to a pickup truck style vehicle. It allows for more maneuverability and practicality. Plus, it allows us to store our turnouts in a compartment away from the interior of the cab, which is more appropriate for health reasons.
And then also the cost for this new command vehicle, I'm assuming is to upgrade all the different equipment that's needed to keep you guys up to date as far as all that emergency type equipment, correct? Correct. Correct.
Yeah, that's the majority of the cost is, you know, the electrical system of the vehicle. We buy the vehicle. That's not necessarily the majority of the cost. It's the outfitting. It's the electrical system, the emergency lighting and operations, the command center. so to speak. And then, of course, radios and computers are not cheap. So that's where the
majority of the cost lies. And then the vehicle that's being moved to the reserve command vehicle, is that also going to be upgraded as far as its equipment? No, that's our frontline piece of
equipment. So it will be a perfect reserve apparatus for us to utilize. In the event that if we purchase this new vehicle, it goes out of the area. We have a now reliable backup or reserve piece of equipment.
So that already has the necessary equipment that you need right now. Correct. Okay. All right. Thank you. Appreciate it.
Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions from any council member? Okay. If not, Council Member Sonoso, would you like to make a motion to approve Item 3E?
Yes, I'd like to make a motion to approve Item 3E.
Thank you. Any second? Yeah, I will second that. Sure. Vincent, would you please call roll? Yes.
Council Member Peter Chen?
Yes.
Council Member Hans Yang? Yes. Council Member Fred Sonoso? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Henry Lo? Yes. And Mayor Yvonne Yu.
Yes.
Motion carries.
Thank you. And so let's move on to public hearing for a continuation of public hearing regarding modifying precise plan PP-14-02, conditions of approval for hotel relocated at 555 North Atlantic Boulevard. So it is continuing the public hearing originally noticed for August 18, 2021 to November 3, 2021. So for that, Cindy, Deputy Clerk, do we have any public speakers? Thank you, Madam Mayor.
Audience, if you want to speak on this item, please use the raise hand feature or if you are on the phone, please press star 9 at this time.
Madam Mayor, I do not see any speaker for the side. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. So for the staff, do we have anything that add to the plan or anything that add to item 4A?
Okay.
If not, then we don't need to do anything. We'll just continue the public hearing then. Is that the comment?
Yes, Madam Mayor. uh that is correct we do need a roll call vote to do so though okay
the continuation
oh wow okay
who actually okay
I'll make the motion continue the
sign okay continue the public hearing motion
and who second
second
council member Peter Chan yes council member Hans Yang yes Council member Fertzunoso? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Henry Lo?
Yes. And Mayor Yvonne Yu? Yes. Motion carries.
Thank you. So for item 4B, adoptions of resolutions updating user fee and charges. So let me open the public hearing for updating the master fee and charges. May I get an actually staff report on that?
Oh, yes. Harry Wong, financial service manager. You're still mute. So you're still mute yourself. So please unmute yourself. Yes.
Yes, Madam Mayor. Good evening, Madam Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and Council Members. My name is Harry Wong, financial service manager of the Management Services Department. I'm presenting you today nine new fees added to the master fee schedule for your review. The last master fee schedule was adopted six years ago on August 5th, 2015. Since adoption, the adoptive fees have been automatically adjusted per CPI on an annual basis. These fees are current as of July 1st, 2021. For any new fees, the responsible departments have demonstrated the need and true cause for the fees. Tonight we're asking for approval of nine new fees added to this schedule that require council's approval. The new fees include room rental charges and replacement charges from library on page seven of attachment to the master fee schedule. A picnic shelter fee of non-residents on page 9, and a trash bin removal and right-of-way fee on page 16 of the massive fee schedule. This concludes my presentation, and I'm happy to answer any questions from you.
Thank you. Thank you. So any, actually before going into the public, sorry, council member questions, do we have any public hearing, any public speakers? Thank you, Madam Mayor. Audience, if you want to speak on this item, please use the raise hand feature or if you
are on the phone, please press star 9 at this time.
Madam Mayor, I do not see any speakers on this item. How about written communication? There are none on fire. Okay, thank you. Council Member Chen, you have any questions?
Yes. First of all, I would talk about my experience on the increase in charges because I've been using the Buns Park swimming pool to do swimming. And so it was charged regularly $5 per swim. left swimming. And then I think in July or some time ago, when I went, it was increased to 5.25, a quarter more. And so I have to go back to the car and pick up a quarter to continue my swim, to get my swim. So I know it firsthand. But the increase is only a minimal amount. And of course, it has been passed by even the previous council so it's just a cpi increase and not much else and it's only i think it's only two percent or less uh increases or across the board so which is not much and uh but i have a question for the librarian diana and agassia because i know that you have a few items uh new charges like the wi-fi hotspot, the charging cables.
What do you think about those new charges? I think it's pretty reasonable. And I know you're still waiving the penalty charges on the return of the books, right?
And then if we've been doing things for the public to save the money because of the pandemic and uh and then can you tell us the uh justification of this few items
although you know i i agree with that i i have no problem i just want to hear from you you know
you know your thoughts on those new items absolutely good evening thank you for the question uh diana uh so as city council knows uh the library lends more than just books and as the uh public libraries enter the 21st century, we're increasingly adding more and more items for folks. And especially during the pandemic over the past year and a half, we've really worked hard to increase access and to close the digital divide. So as a result of that, we've added a few new items for circulation. And as you mentioned, one of those is a Wi-Fi hotspot where we've also added additional Chrome books for use within the library, as well as Alzheimer kits for checkouts by caregivers within the community. So, you know, as a result of the pandemic, we've all seen that folks are working increasingly from home, people are doing online learning, and sometimes in Monterey Park, we don't always have access to high-speed internet. The library recently received, as a result of a grant through the state library, 10 Wi-Fi hotspots that we are adding to the collection that are able to be checked out by members of the public for two weeks. There's absolutely no fee to check these items out. They're free for use, and that service is covered for them. There's also, as you mentioned, no late fee for these items. If they're not returned on time, you're going to go ahead and shut that service off and give you a call and ask you to return that to the library so that the next person can use it. So what you see on the master schedule of fees and charges are not late fees per
se. But if these items are not returned to the library in a timely manner to make them available
for other folks, then we're going to go ahead and charge a replacement cost so that we can buy a new one if they're lost or if they're damaged so that we will have those available for checkout. Again, there's no cost for checkout of these items. There are no late fees as the city council waive those in February of this year. But the charges just reflect those costs for replacement, for losing those or for damaging them.
Okay, thank you for the explanation. It's good. And then on another item that you, that the new one is the French rooms charge. Before it's no charge, I understand that the French rooms were being used by a lot of community organizations and so forth. And of course, the pandemic is not open yet, but eventually it will open.
And I can see you have only one charge, right, for the French room.
and do you have any discounts for like the non-profit organizations in the city?
Yes, we do. So we've actually charged for the friend's room rental for the past several years. Prior to these updates, those room rental fees were included under the recreation section of
the master fines and fees schedule, but for clarity's purposes, we wanted to make sure that
those were included under the library section. So if you see at the bottom, we've got friend's
room rental. We've got a non-profit based outside of town rate, and then we have a non-profit adult organization rate based in town, would be $7 an hour, and a non-profit youth organization
would pay $4 an hour. So very reasonable. Right. And then what about those study rooms? Do you charge them? No, absolutely not. Because I don't see it in here, but I just want to make sure that those are for free. You're right. And those rooms are available on a walk-in basis.
Currently, they're not open because of the pandemic, but they will be reopened. They're available for checkout to anybody with a library card on a walk-in basis, and they're absolutely free for people to use. So we do have a lot of students that come in and use those rooms. People can come in and have meetings, you know, be on Zoom calls, things like that.
Okay. Thank you for your answers. And I have another one question for most likely our public work director from Nopis. You have one new item. It's on the new address. It can just some dollars, I believe. So is it mostly for the ADU's purpose?
Yes. Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Potem, Council Members. Yes, Council Member Chan. It is generally intended for ADUs, but anytime anyone would do an addition that would require a separate address. And we do have quite a few ADUs coming through. The amount of work for staff is very similar to a change of address.
We have to process paperwork and then make sure we send that out to postmaster and other agencies, including our own within the city dispatch. So they're aware of the new addresses for safety response.
Okay. Then my question is that if someone used the converted garage to ADUs, so does it need a new address or a new number, I mean, or they can use it, use the old one?
Yes.
Per our Park Municipal Code, all ADUs require a new address, a separate address.
I see. So even the garage conversion requires a new address.
Yes. Even, for instance, a JAD.
Unit A, C, or another number?
Yes. We are using like a unit A, unit B.
I see.
Okay. So the main building remains the same, and then the new one will be maybe a unit A, unit B, that kind of thing. That is correct. Okay. Thank you. No more questions.
You're on mute, Mayor.
I'm calling your name. So, Council Member Frizenosel.
I just want to ask a request of the librarian, Diana Garcia. So, hi, Diana. So, a request is you're going to be collecting some more fees, which I'm fully supportive. but I was just wondering, you gave me a tour of the library, I think it was about close to a year ago or so, and my feelings were a little bit hurt that you didn't have the 1973 Mark Keppel yearbook. I'm wondering what the fees that you're going to be collecting if you'll be able to purchase that yearbook.
So, you know, prominent people in the city could be viewed from their senior year there. So just to check that out.
You know, this might be a good avenue to issue a call for donations. If any community members might have yearbooks from Mark Keppel High that they would be willing to donate to the library, we have them in the local history room collection.
And we don't have a full collection.
So if anyone has that 1973 yearbook, we'd be happy to accept donation of that.
So I'm reaching out to my fellow graduates from 1973, those of you who are in the rest homes around Monterey Park. If you have a 1973 yearbook that you have collecting desks, feel free to donate it to our library, because I think that's one of them that we saw that was missing, correct?
That's right, that we'd be happy to accept that donation, absolutely.
All right. So thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Council Member Hansen. Oh, yeah, really quick. I just wanted to ask council member Sarnoso if he has a copy.
You know, I bought a copy of my freshman year and yeah, didn't have any more money after that.
I was thinking if you had it, maybe we could use the technology and scan it and make it make a digital version of it.
Well, they have one up at the History Museum, so if you want to see it, you can go up there. I'll be there Saturday at 2 o'clock. I'd be happy to give you a tour and show you the 1973 yearbook.
2 o'clock Saturday, all right.
2 o'clock Saturday.
Very good.
Pacific time.
Thank you. Any other questions? Actually, I do have just the questions myself. I did review all the fee on both before and after changes. And those actually just a few percentage increase seems reasonable, you know, at our cost of operation has increased as well. So that way we can try to break even, you know, expenses. And just the simple questions for those who suffer from pandemic and may not, you know, may not be able to pay a certain fee. Do we have any payment plan for them?
Yeah.
Harry, can you answer that? The fees are not across the board.
Way for suspended.
fees. But other service fees like public work fees, just like adding an address, stuff like
that, and also the trash bin fee that we're adding. So those fees are necessary to cover
the city's cost. Otherwise, we'll be using general funds to cover the work of the residents.
So unfortunately, those fees cannot be waived.
I see. Thank you. Martha, you have anything to add to that?
No, I just got online just in case Harry needed my help. He's doing a great job.
Okay, thank you. I have no more questions. So can I get actually a motion to approve item 4B?
I make a motion to approve item 4B.
Okay, any second? Okay, sure.
and Vincent please call Rue. Thank you. Council Member Peter Chan. Yes. Council Member Haaseang. Yes. Council Member Frisinosso. Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Henry Lo. Yes. And Mayor Yvonne Yu. Yes. Motion carries.
Thank you. So, okay, moving on to item 4C, Monterey Park, geologic hazard abatement district. So we will have to open the public hearing and receive, I think, the staff reports from Jonathan. Okay. The floor is yours.
Good evening, Madam Mayor, members of council. I am John Turner, the acting city planner on this project. Tonight I have brought before you the next step in the process that we've discussed previously. On June 16th, I actually came before you to get the final EIR certified for the project approval of the Good Views Project, which is located on West Garvey. Then I returned on August 18th to discuss the continuation of the public hearing for the Geologic Hazard Abatement District, which was then continued to tonight. Tonight, before you, as you mentioned, we have the public hearing, and then we have the three resolutions for the forming of the Moorpark GAD, which is the Geologic Hazard Abatement District. There is a second resolution that's adopting the plan of control, which was the document I brought before you before at the last meeting, appointing the officers of the GAD and then adopting the rules and then setting the public hearing for a future date. And then lastly, the third resolution involves installation of the maintenance activities and then setting that hearing. So if there are specific questions that council may have, I am willing to and able to address them. Otherwise, this is just the continuation of the previous city attorney who has something to add the continuation of the previous document.
Thank you, Madam Mayor and members of the council. Just to tag team on Mr. Turner's observations, you actually already adopted the plan of control. This particular item is the engineer's report for the assessment purposes. Everything else that Mr. Turner laid out is the formation of the Monterey Park Geologic Hazard Abatement District. And as Mr. Turner indicated, this is a continuation of the Good Views abatement process.
Just as a final note, this is a separate legal entity from the city. It's actually a subdivision of the state of California. And the intent of creating this is to shift all risk and responsibility for maintaining that hillside to a separate entity and allowing that entity to be completely responsible for maintaining it. Happy to answer any questions.
And then, sure, before that, Cindy, do we have any public communications, any public speakers?
Audience, if you want to speak on this item, please use the raise hand feature or if you're on the phone, please press star 9.
Madam Mayor, I do not see any speaker in the audience. However, we do have one written communication. Please go ahead. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. April 18, 2021, the City Council reviewed a plan of control for and initiated the formation of a proposed Monterey Park GHAD and to consider creating the MPK GHAD. CII remains interested in working with the City and looks forward to coordinating efforts regarding the MPK GHAD.
public
Madam Mayor we only have one rent communication okay thank you any questions from any oh okay Cal you have anything to add?
Yes Madam Mayor and members of the council just as a reminder there is one property owner for the parcel and the GAD noticing goes to all property owners involving the parcel so this particular property owner has not raised any objections to its formation
Thank you. Any questions from any council member? Okay, council member Versinoso.
This is a question for either the city attorney or for Mr. Turner. The hillside that you're referring to, that's not the hillside that's in the background there on Mr. Turner's screen, is it?
Well, no, but there is geologic activity there.
Okay. Maybe that'll be GHAD number two then, huh? Future.
There you go. Yeah. Yeah.
Thank you.
Any other questions? I guess the members have hands on it.
It might have to be geological and water for that one, Fred.
Maybe that'll solve our water problem too then.
Any other questions? Mayor Pro Tem Loh, do you have any questions? No? So we don't have any questions. Do we get motions to approve item 4C?
I make a motion to approve item 4C.
Okay, any second? I'll second.
Okay.
Vincent, would you please follow?
Thank you. Council Member Peter Chan? Yes. Council Member Han Se-young? Yes. Council Member Fred Sinoso? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Henry Lo? Yes. And Mayor Yvonne Yu?
Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. So moving on to last but not least, five new business, 5A 2020 to 2021 annual investment reports. So can we get a staff report from Joseph Villanueva, City Chair? Yes.
I'm trying to get this camera to look okay. I guess that's good. Good evening, Madam Mayor, Council Members, staff, and of course, Residence of Monterey Park. Joseph Leon, City Treasurer. Just giving you an update on investment policy. As City Treasurer, before I make any kind of investment, I first must follow the council's guidelines, which must adhere to certain regulations. And our city attorney, Carl Berger, has helped us to clarify those regulations, which are part of our investment policy.
He's helped us to clarify his regulations as part of our investment policy.
Always keeping in mind that security, liquidity, and return are our priorities. It's always been the case since before I was treasurer, and hopefully it will always be the case, the city of Minor Park. Security, liquidity, and the returns. That's why Minor Park has always been solid financially. Never had an issue.
The only change that we're requesting right now in the investment policy, if you look at the investment policy, it's part of the agenda tonight, is we're requesting to add the assistant city manager to our investment committee, which currently consists of Rambo, city manager, Martha Garcia, director of service management services, and myself. We're asking to allow our assistant city manager, which is now is Inez, to be part of the investment policy. I mean, investment committee, sorry. Recently, we had an investment meeting in which Carl, city attorney, and also the consultant, Michael Bush, joined us. After lengthy discussion, we agreed that we need to diversify our funds, our investment funds. Right now, all our funds, if you look at the investment report, it's with the CDS, LAFE, which is the state investment pool, and then the county pool.
and it's been agreed that we need to diversify always keeping in mind our priorities
and in the meantime i've asked oh actually we have a presentation coming up i believe october 6 from the chandler investment company to the council they're going to present to the council their suggestions how we can diversify our funds keeping those priorities in mind and i've also asked martha to look into other investment companies to make presentations so we can decide which program would benefit most
our city and our residents. I'm going to get that camera to work better.
Sorry. In the meantime, I've asked Martha to move as much of the reserve funds that we have in Laif to the county because the county right now has a higher return.
If you look at the investment policy that's part of the agenda, you can see that. returns on both Lafe and the county.
Yesterday, I know Martha informed me that she was going to move $6 million
from Lafe to the county, leaving $42 million in Lafe.
But I've asked Martha to look a little further, and hopefully she can move
more funds into the county so the city can get a better return on their investments.
At this point, that's pretty much the report. Always keeping in mind
that our priorities are security, liquidity, and returns.
And unfortunately, I know with the COVID and the pandemic,
our city has been slightly affected financially like all the other cities. And our returns this year
have not been as great as in the past. But hopefully that'll change in the future.
I'm here to answer any questions. I know Martha's here and also Carl. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And before we go into the council questions, Cindy at WCD Club, do we have any public speakers?
Thank you, Madam Mayor.
Audience, if you want to speak on this item, please use the raise hand feature.
Or if you're on the phone, please press star 9 at this time.
Madam Mayor, I do not see any speaker for this item. Thank you. How about written communication? They're on file. Thank you. Okay, thank you. so I see council member Chen you have any questions yes thank you madam mayor and thank you
uh just beyond our city treasurer for the presentation and I have two areas that I want to ask you about or the city attorney or the finance director mother uh on the you mentioned about the county investment pool. Now, is there any security challenges if we invest like, you know, what you recommend, the amount of money from LAF, which is usually the city has it. And then I know that the county LAF is started with the previous city manager, Paul Talbot and then of course you were there at that time. So my question is yes the county leave is more attractive because it pays more but in security is concerned does it has any security risk or is any like in the investment policy that we have to put in a certain percentage like the other investment instruments that we have some limits. So can you answer the REIC factor and the policy matter?
As far as I'm aware, there is no additional risk for the county. The county is solid. I mean, the whole issue has been discussed is not putting all our eggs in one basket. That's why we're looking into diversifying. But right now, as you can see by the investment reports, as part of your agenda, the county has a higher return. That's why I've asked Martha to try to put additional funds as much as possible into the county right now because it has a higher return. And that changes. In the past, LEAF has had a higher return. So it's not always – it fluctuates. Right now, the county has a higher return. so my suggestion is to put as much funds as we can you know to into the county right now to get the highest return and if it changes later on and we haven't diversified yet and late starts having a high return then we would money back to leave later on and we haven't diversified yet and life starts having a higher return then we would the money back to live. ! I mean of course the state is more secure it's a bigger. ! You know financial institution I mean it has more more funds in the county and ! But right now I haven't heard on this month I can let us know otherwise I haven't heard that the county has any financial issues. ! And also keep in mind too that the state is also a little more liquid. that the state is also a little more liquid because we can get funds out of the state I believe within 24 hours where the county will take a few days. That's why I want to have to be careful how much to put in the county. We don't put necessarily 90% in county but it's up to her. She knows more than anybody else I would think how much money we need to have access immediately. I don't think we may need $42 million immediately but But you know, she can hopefully do the numbers and figure out maybe $20 million that we need to have just in case of an emergency that we need to get right away because the county does take a few days to withdraw the funds. I don't know if Martha wants to add anything to this.
Good evening, council member Chang.
The county does not have the same type of safety
that LEAF does.
So by keeping our most of our funds in late, it does keep us keeps our funds safe.
But like our treasurer said, the L.A. County does have a higher rate.
So, you know, we can have your your council members direction as to how much, you know, to put into.
I would be willing to hear how much we should move into the LA County and how much we should
leave in LAFE, knowing that LAFE is much more secure than LA County. The liquidity in LAFE is like 24 hours. The liquidity in LA County can take up to eight days or more, and it takes two
signatures. And we're still trying to, we're working on how we're going to do this so that we
can move forward with our current policy that requires diversification. And that's why we're bringing in some investment firms to talk to us to see how else we can diversify so that we can
be in compliance with our policy. Okay, thank you. And I think traditionally the council does not you know, putting too much
what should I say? You know, too much direction or whatever. We look in the policies as well the exact money, how to move it, where to put it. Usually the finance committee will take care of that. And then of course so long it's within the policy there's a path by the council and we don't usually to the authority of your finance committee. So I just want to make it clear. So yes, and of course, we believe that the treasurer is an elected position and the finance committee has the expertise to do it. So I believe that you guys will do a good job. And then the treasurer and you both bring up the point. That's my second question. is about the investment company. Now, usually before, I don't think we ever used a finance company, and now is it something new, or what is that?
It would be something new for the city. It is something that other cities practice. I did reach out to Chandler because they were the company that's firm that was in my previous city, but we are going to bring in at least two other companies to present to us so that we can have the best option for the city and bring the council.
And what's the objective?
Diversification.
I see. But still have to be within the policy of the investment, right? And the investment company is what, making recommendations to you guys or what? What's the role?
I'm sorry, can you ask that question again?
What's the role of that investment company? They just give you the suggestions.
No, they are the experts in finance. So bringing in experts, they can provide us with a more strategic approach on our yield.
Of course, we would never put all the money there. We're trying to diversify. So we're only trying to split it between the LA County pool, LAFE, and an investment firm. So we're trying to spread it out because you never put your eggs in all in one basket.
So we're trying to spread it out so that we can follow diversification, which is part of our policy, but always, always keeping in mind that safety is first.
So Chandler, what they've done is they provide us a package that provides complete safety of any funding that we, any revenue that we have then managed for us. It's completely safe the way they set up the package.
And it could bring in more yield than what LA County or LAF could do right now. But again, we're going to go out to a couple of other firms so that we can bring in some more options and we can talk to the other firms to see which one's best for our city. But again, what they bring is they bring expertise. They follow compliance because a lot of these firms, we're reaching out to firms that only work with governments and municipalities, so they know the law. and we are
looking for diversification of our portfolio.
Does it cost the city to hire those investment firms?
It comes out of the yield, the revenue income, the interest revenue. It comes out of that and LEAF charges as well and LA County charges as well. There is always an administration cost to any investment that we do.
I see. Yeah, my point is that, yeah, if they make the yield, but if the charge is more than the yield, that means it's, you know, defeat the purpose. But, of course, there's something new, and, of course, we're looking forward to your findings, and maybe you may report back to the council as well after you interview those investment firms and find out the best and the cost and everything, right? So I'm looking forward to hear that. And I think our city treasurer has something to add to it.
Yeah, I just want to add to that. Whatever firm, if we use a firm, investment firm, of course, it has to be safe, investments, and the yield has to be more than, and I've already told them, it has to be more than Laif or accounting. It doesn't make sense to invest with a company that we're going to get less return than we have now. And they've said that they can, so we're expecting to see what happens. And like I said, we'll have a few companies come to us, and then hopefully we'll decide and make a presentation for the council so everybody's aware of what they're presenting to us. And then as far as the funds, I still believe at this point that since we haven't diversified, move as much of the funds that we have to the county with a higher return right now. And I'll leave it to Martha. I know she said that she mentioned about having the council come back to us, But I think Martha, you're in a better position to decide how much funds that we need to have immediate access to and how much funds that we can move to the county for now to get a better return. I don't necessarily think it's $42 million that need to be in LAFE, but there has to be a certain number that she can feel comfortable with leaving in LAFE and then moving the balance to the county for now.
So, Council Member Liang, you have any questions?
Yeah, just some real quick things. I understand here we see that it's a receiving file. The second part of the agenda item is adopting resolution authorizing treasurer to implement the city investment policy. The city treasurer had also mentioned something about adding the assistant city manager. Is that, I mean, as part of the committee, is that part of the resolution? Is that something that is part of this agenda item or was that a recommendation that he was making?
That is part of the, it's in the staff report and it's in the investment policy to be added.
Okay, got it. And then we are, this is a receiving file. We're not making any decisions about any movement of money or anything like that on this item, correct? Yes. Okay, and then as Peter said, I'm also looking forward to the October 6th meeting. It's always great to get some professionals to give us some insight whether we make a decision one way or the other. Any decision we make is always better when it's an educated decision. So I'm looking forward to that as well. Thank you, Martha. Thank you. Thank you, Joseph.
Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Leão. And actually, I do have a few comments. I'm sure you guys understand too, the higher the rates, the higher the risk. And the smaller the entity, the higher risk too. For example, if we're putting money to a city, then we're taking higher risk than putting money to a county. So in order to make decisions, we have to have data to justify it. For example, just a very simple question. I'm not putting Martha on the spot, but maybe Joseph, you're actually the one who suggested to move it to the county. then I may actually ask the question is, what is the current county credit rating? And what is the bonds and the one that county is doing as a bond of credit rating for the investment fund? And also the historic data on their interest rate, like how high the volatility is it? Are they fluctuated much or not? or I know we currently have good credit rating as a city, but then making big changes will take risk of losing our high credit rating. So my suggestion is that even though we decide to move it, we should do it slowly, not like a big chunk of it and putting into it. As I'm reading the Los Angeles County Poor Investment Funds, their backing is tax collector. And so how about the tax in the future of L.A. County? Are they going to collect the proper tax that they're supposed to collect? Or are they having some risk of not collecting the right amount? And so the interest will go Lor or the credit will go Lor so that our funds will be at higher risk so that our city credit rating will be pulled down by them. So there's a lot of things to consider. I'm not saying just, you know, like only considering the U that we should put all, you know, most half of our money to, just to diversify the basket. But then we also have to make, understand what the decision behind the data, I mean, the data behind the decisions that what to justify. So, I mean, if you don't have the information, I would love to have it on October 6th. And what is the current LA County credit rating is. So for us, I mean, we get a credit rating from standard pool like AA and AA plus. So, but then how about the LA County? How about the state? How about the lift? We wanted to actually make a little more understanding before making, you know, $42 million, you know, into a fund. So just my two cents. Council Member Hansman, you have a question?
Yeah, just to follow up on that, Martha. not only if you could also not only get the current credit rating, but if you can get maybe like the past five years or 10 years to see if there's a trend, like has a credit rating been steady over a long period of time? Was there a drop and then an increase or an increase and then a drop? So instead of having just one snapshot, we can at least get maybe five years and we could see if there's a pattern. Great. Thank you.
I will do that. Thank you. Thank you. So if we don't have any questions, so do we get a motion to just approve? I believe what they're asking for right now is no movement yet, but only to approve the item 5A only on the receive and file of the 2020 to 2021 annual investment reports and adopt the resolutions authorizing, but treasure to implement the city investment policy for 2021 to 2022. So may I get a motion to approve that?
Yeah, I move to-
City manager show up. Moran, you have any questions?
I'm sorry, Mayor, Mayor Portem, Council members. I just wanted to get a little bit of clarification because I heard something in the motion
that not to move any money until we come back in on the October meeting to have some discussion is that correct yes okay thank you very much
just wanted some clarification yes so a motion to approve 5a
okay oh okay any second I second so uh Vincent City Club would you please call You're on mute, Vincent.
Sorry. There you go. Council Member Peter Chan?
Yes.
Council Member Hans Leung? Yes. Council Member Fred Sinoso? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Henry Lo? Yes. And Mayor Yvonne Yu? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you.
! And next for the city communications, Councilmember Chen.
! Thank you, Madam Mayor. ! ! Thank you, Madam Mayor. ! ! Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you, Madam Mayor. ! Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you, Madam Mayor. ! Thank you, Madam Mayor. And last Saturday, all the council members attended the 9-11 Memorial Patriotic Day. And so that was very well attended, although it was under the pandemic. And we don't, you know, let a lot of people come in for the safety of everyone. Don't let a lot of people come in for the safety of everyone. And after the 9-1-1 Memorial Patriotic Day, we moved to the fire station 62 and do the ribbon cutting and have a tour of the new fractured, which is really nice. And I think it will make a big service to the area and for the city of Monterey Park. So thank you, fire chief and the firefighters for all of this. and thank you to city staff and the police and fire to host the 9-1-1 Patriotic Day. And also, I received, I think the other council member and city staff received that Judy Chu, our Congress President, has issued congressional records for Bill Sanchez who passed away, you know, just last month. And so I would like to ask the counsel, because her congressional record is quite long, so I don't want to read it. And maybe we can set a date and invite the Assange's family to receive that congressional records. And also, I would like to suggest to have a treat memorial for Bill Sánchez and also Mr. Johnny Thompson to ask the family to receive the memorial, the treat memorial, and then presentation of the congressional records at the same time. And I know that the treat memorial has a committee that approves it once a year. But because of Mr. Bill Sanchez and Johnny Thompson are very important to the city, and it's a big loss for the city that we don't have both of them. So I would like to ask the council members to make it an exception and approve the tree memorial for both of them, for Bill Sanchez and for Mr. Johnny Thompson. and of course you'll have to go through the public procedure to have the treaty memorial committee to go through this and approve it and then we'll do it properly in the council to set a day and invite the family members to do the treaty memorial so I would like to ask the council to support this treaty memorial for two persons that's very a big loss to the city. And so I'll just leave it at that. So hope you guys can support this idea. City manager, you have something?
If you just want to give us direction, we'll move forward and then we'll bring back a package to you all having to do with the recommendation. I don't know if you even need to take any motion. Just provide us direction and we'll move forward.
Yeah, I would like to have that direction the tree memorial for Mr. Bill Sanchez and Mr. Johnny Thompson. Thank you.
Thank you. Council Member Liang.
Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, just briefly, I attended the Patriot Day Memorial as well. I really want to commend again the staff, Fire Chief Kelly Gordon and Police Chief Kelly Gordon, Fire Chief Matt Halleck and all of the first responders from our city that showed up. It was really quite a sight. It was done very well, very honorable, very dignified. And I was very proud to be part of that ceremony and very proud of our city for their efforts in making that a very significant and impactful Patriot Day ceremony. So thank you for that. And then also, as Peter said, we did have the wonderful opportunity of cutting the ribbon on station 62. You know, many people know that station is decades old. And, you know, we're very happy to provide a new station for all of our residents, as well as for our class one fire department. So thank you again to all the people that put that together. We're looking forward, you know, for all the final little touches to be finished on that us to, you know, the landscaping and all that. So it's a wonderful progression for us in the city. And thank you to everyone for their contribution. Thank you.
Thank you. Council Member Fresenoso.
So I'm wondering if Assistant City Manager Inez Alvarez would be able to bring up the flyer for the Monterey Park Community Cleanup Day this Saturday. She has that available.
Inez?
I'm sorry, Councilmember Sronoso. Actually, I don't have that available. If you want to, I could check with Cindy. I'm not sure if we have it from last week's last council meeting's presentation.
Deputy City Clerk, by chance, do you have that from last week's presentation that you can pull up?
Sorry to put you on the spot.
That's okay. Sorry, we just, yeah, we didn't have it ready. But let's see if we can grab it. Okay. Well, in the meantime, you folks know I've got my Dodger jersey on. I've been watching a lot of the games lately because we're pretty close to the playoffs. But during the commercial time, one of the Dodger pitchers, Walker Bueller, is asking the residents of Los Angeles to take pride in the city and do their part to clean up on, pick up any trash, bulky items, things like that. So we're asking the same of the citizens of Monterey Park. We want to do better than the residents of Los Angeles, and we want to have a day here on Saturday, the community cleanup day. It's going to be at Garvey Ranch Park on the, not the Orange Avenue entrance, but the other entrance on Alhambra Avenue. That'll be your entry point. And we'll have some bins. Looks like she's going to bring it up. So there's the flyer for this Saturday.
It's from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Garvey Ranch Park. And there's the address. Bulky items. Those are the list of bulky items there on the right that you can bring, furniture, rugs, mattresses, appliances. Appliances that don't contain Freon will be accepted, but if it has Freon, please don't bring those. And no electronic waste, so no televisions, printers, computers, and other electronic devices, and no hazardous waste such as batteries, bulbs, paint, oil, et cetera. so we hope that our citizens will take it to heart even if they don't have any bulky items but if you see maybe some bulky items on your street that have been there for a few days if you have the opportunity to bring them in a truck please bring them so that we can clean up our city and make our city look a little bit more presentable so Inez or Ron do you have any other thing to add on the cleanup day Saturday or Frank I guess the Public Works Director
no that was you did a great job Councilmember and thank you Deputy City Clerk for finding the flyer for us
appreciate it yeah thank you Cindy and again sorry to put everybody on the spot I should have let you know ahead of time but thank you for doing that and hopefully we'll have a good turnout on Saturday so thank you
Thank you. Mayor Portendo? Thank you, Madam Mayor. And actually, thank you to my colleague,
Councilmember Fritz, and also for reminding the residents of the Community Cleanup Day.
I actually have a follow-up question that is somewhat related to the Boqui Item and Cleanup Day.
A resident actually asked me, and this actually never occurred to me, but I guess some cities
have days in which if you have, I guess, surplus medical items, that they can be, I guess,
taken and dropped off because I guess sometimes you may have expired medication or
yeah, probably medication that you don't need or it's expired, but you're not supposed to
throw it away either into the wastebasket.
And so have we ever done or included in our collection an event that also includes a pickup of medicines
or I guess biomedical materials that shouldn't be thrown away, but do we have a way of also collecting them
in a way that's done safely?
Anyone else?
i'm not sure if um mayor pro tem mayor council member i'm not sure if uh acm uh inez alvarez wants to chime in or probably works director uh frank lopez but i'll uh give it a shot usually what we end up doing when they're looking to dump something hazardous like that when you're talking about pills and medical expired prescriptions.
That's usually done at a hazardous waste event because you can bring everything, including the freon that you may drain from a refrigerator. We have been trying to utilize the L.A. County's hazardous waste drop-off, which is usually at East Los Angeles College. But because of the pandemic, the college has been used for testing and also vaccination. So we haven't had one in about 18 months or so. We've been trying to coordinate with the county because they have the resources to be able to do that. So we're thinking about trying to do something along that lines to be able to do that because you're not the only one that has been asked. We have been asked as staff members, when are you going to do something like that? But it's really difficult right now to coordinate something other than the L.A. County Roundup. But I don't have any dates for you or when we could do that. But we've been trying to do something additionally other than what we have right now. Okay. No, thank you for that update.
And I appreciate that report. And I'm glad to hear that other staff and personnel at the city have been hearing the same requests about, especially the medicine. I'm just curious, because, well, besides ELAC and the county, but, you know, also we have two hospitals in Monument Park.
And so is there any way in which we can work with them to do a collection, especially if it's surplus medicine that we don't, again, want to put into the trash stream?
Because it may also end up in the wrong hands.
I won't answer for our chief of fire, Matt Halleck, but I do know that they assist us in getting rid of the hyperdermic needles for the people that need to have injections.
We have a needle drop off in the restrooms, so they help us get rid of that. They do have a connection to be able to do that. We will walk down that road with Chief Halleck and see if that's something that we can coordinate with the hospital, but that's a great idea.
Okay. Sure. Thank you very much. No, thank you for, you know, listening to my comments. And also, I'm glad that, you know, we're going to look at doing that as well. I'm sure our residents will be very pleased also to hear that we're going to do something about that. and I just also want to
add that I'm really glad that we were able to do an in-person 9-11
event especially given that it was the
20th anniversary and I want to thank Chief Halleck for being
the emcee as well as
Chief Gordon for very poignant
remarks about her memories and experiences on that day and
also to all of our first responders in the city thank you for all that you do
for residents. I think it was very fitting that on 9-11 that we also were able to see the completion or near completion of station 62. Because I think, as I've said before,
that this is a wonderful symbol of the community's investment in its public safety program. And then also really, we have also a short appreciation for first responders by using public monies to build a modernized facility for them. I'm very deserving of fire personnel. And thank you so much. And also, you know, looking forward to this weekend's community book item and cleanup because it's at Gara Ranch Park, which is literally around the corner from where I live. So I hope to see the community out there.
Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Portemolo. Council Member Hunsdown, you have anything to add? Oh, okay. Okay. So to me, I'm excited actually to, I wanted to appoint Elizabeth Yang to the Business Improvement District Advisory Committee. Her law office is actually on Garfi, where Business Improvement District located. I know Elizabeth for almost three years. And to me, she's a wonder woman, smart, positive, and energetic. And she's an engineer, lawyer, real estate broker, and is a Marnier Park resident for over 10 years. Monterey Park. Previously, she was the Chairwoman of our Design Review Board Commission, but it becomes more of an passive advisory positions to our Planning Commission. So we look forward to Elizabeth's leadership in the BIPAC, sorry, BISAC Committee as it's so important to Monterey Park future development, especially in our downtown area. And yeah, I mean, echo all previous Council members that we also attend the Patriot Day and our five stations, 62 grand opening ceremony on September 11. And actually, when I recall, you know, the events, you know, I was mentioned at the speech, and I wanted to bring it back again, because I was a little bit scared when I recall. I remember, you know, a group of Morgan Stanley, you know, people located on the World Trade center on 61st floor, which I know them, I know some of them. And it brings back more of my memory that actually a few years before that 9-1-1, you know, I got a job offer from Morgan Stanley Investment Bank, but they want me to relocate to New York. I almost jumped onto the plane and ended up, you know, I turned down the offer because I don't want to leave my family. So it was like, you know, some kind of memory that I had a few years ago, I'm sorry, a few days before that. But for the fire station's 62 grand opening, one of the reasons for the expansion is because we want a built facility to cater to include female firefighters. And I will be so excited to see if we have our first female firefighter joining our family. So with that, I wanted to have a last call. Okay, Council Member Chen.
Yeah, and I just want to repeat my request for the other council members for the tree memorial for Mr. Bill Sanchez and for Mr. Johnny Thompson.
Do I have any, because I'm the only one talking about it, so I would like to see if the other council members is on this.
Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. Thumbs up.
Okay, thank you. Thank you. So student manager, please go ahead and notify the Parks and Rec Department and the Treat Memorial Committee and get it done as soon as possible.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Last minute. So before we adjourn. If not, okay. I declare to adjourn the meeting. So thank you very much. Good night, everyone.
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