City Council Meeting — December 1, 2021

Monterey Park. Recording in progress. And with that. Thank you. So hello everyone. This is Yvonne Yumeir. Monterey Park and the City Council of Monterey Park and the City Council acting on behalf of the successor of agency of reformer with development agency, the Housing Authority and Monterey Park financing authority and the Monterey Park Geologic House and Abatement District Agenda. Regular City Council meeting is called to order. Today's Wednesday. December 1st, 2021, and now is at 630. So this meeting will be conduct pursuant to government code section 54953, preface E, as implements by city council resolutions. Accordingly, council members will be provided with electronic meeting login information. They will not be feasibly present at the council chambers. Pursuant to the city council resolutions, the public may provide public comments utilizing the method set for the bill. Note that City Hall is currently closed to the public. It will not be admitted to City Hall. General information, document related to the agenda item available to the public in the City Closed Office located at 320 West Newmark Avenue, Modern Park, California 91754 during normal business hours and the City website at www.modernpark.state.gov.

The public may watch the meeting live on City Cable Channel MPKTV, AT&T U-verse, Channel or Charter Communication Channel 182,

or by visiting the city's website at www.monerarypark.ca.gov. The agenda may include item considered by the city council acting on behalf of the successor agency of the former Monterey Park redevelopment which dissolved in February 1st, 2012.

Successor agency matters will include in the notation of SA next to agenda item and number. Public participations in accordance with government's code section 54953, Pempsi E and City Council resolutions, 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 mpclerk and Montereypark.ca.gov. Written communications, if any, will be briefly summarized and include the name of each individual that submitted a comment. The The summary will be revert to the recorded video and played during the public comment sections of the city council meeting. To view the full tax of written convocations, please visit www.monitorpart.ca.gov slash agenda center. All written convocations are provided to the city council and file as part of the city administrative records. Via telephone, public comments may be submitted via telephone during the meeting before the close of public comments by calling 888-788-80099 or 877-853-5247 and entering soon 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 public comments, they would enter star 9, and then clerk office would be notified, and you would be in your rotation to make public comments. Press star 6 to unmute yourself and call upon to speak. Participants are encouraged to join the 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 come by time. The mayor and the city council may change the amount of time alLod for speakers. As part of the virtual meeting protocol, anonymous person will not be alLod to provide public comments. Important disclaimer, when a participant called in to join a meeting, their name and a phone member will be visible to all participants. Look that's all public meetings will be recorded. So actually I would like to also mention one more thing about the item 4A. The public hearing item 4A regarding redistricting will begin promptly at 7 p.m. in accordance with the electronic election code 21601. We will proceed with public communications then presentations at 7 p.m. we will finish up the item and we are at the transition to the public hearing at the conclusion of the public here we will revert back to where we left off so city clerk will just please prepare the flag and do the pledge of allegiance please put your right hand on your heart follow after me

i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the Republic for what it stands and the nation, the God, the liberty and justice for all.

The seatbelt, please call the room.

Thank you. All right. Council member Peter Chen.

Here.

Council member Hans Liang. Here.

Council member Fred Ternoso.

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Henry Loh. Here. And Mary Yvonne Yu.

Here.

Thank you. And now on city manager, city attorney, do we have any agenda, additions, additions, change or adoption?

Yes, Madam Mayor. We do have an addition to the agenda underneath presentations. Our very own police chief, Kelly Gordon, will be presenting a presentation regarding holiday safety tips.

and that would be the only addition. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. The city attorney. Yes.

And for public communications, while all public comments are welcome, the front does not allow the city council to take action on any items on, not on the agenda.

This council may briefly respond to comments after public communications is closed.

Persons may, in addition to any matters within the city council subject matter jurisdictions,

comments on agenda item at this time. If you provide public comments on a specific agenda item at this time, however, you cannot later provide comments at the time the agenda item is considered. So Cindy at Davide City Clark, do we have any public communications? Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Audience, if you wanna speak during public communications,

this is the time to do so.

Please use the raise hand feature. And if you are on the phone, press star nine.

Madam Mayor, we do have our city treasurer, Joseph Leon. Thank you.

City treasurer. Okay, oops. Okay, thank you. Committee, Madam Mayor, council members, and of course residents of Monterey Park. Joseph Leon is city treasurer. I'm here tonight as a result of the questions I received from residents with their concerns regarding the agenda of the last council meeting on November 17th, 2021. I want to assure the residents and council that I would never ask council to delegate my investment authority to any committee.

The information placed on the council agenda about delegating my authority to a committee was not requested by me. I don't know who placed that item on the agenda without my knowledge or consent. An independent investigation should be done to find out how this occurred. Finally, I want to thank the residents that approached me. This is a great city. We have so many individuals that are involved. I know a lot of individuals are shy about speaking at the council meetings, but I asked all the residents, and I tell them over, you know, always approach us, the elected officials, anytime. We're here to serve you. It was kind of fun because I was approached at the gym and I was approached at Rouseville shopping, and that's great. As far as I can't speak for the other elected officials, but as far as for me, anytime any residents see me or ever here in Monier Park, please feel free to come up and just say hello. And if you have any concerns, like I was asked about this previous item on the agenda, please come up and talk to me. We're here to serve you. Thank you very much. Good night.

Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other audience that wants to speak during public communications?

Madam Mayor, I do not see any other speakers for public communications and we do not have

any written communications.

Okay. Thank you so much. And so next will be staff communications for Recreations and Community Services.

Ho, ho, ho. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for allowing me to visit you this evening. I would like to remind all the good boys and girls out there that would like to send me a Santa letter for me to turn it in by this Friday, December 3rd, so I have enough time to respond. All letters can be dropped off in the red mailbox in front of Langley Senior Center at 400 West Emerson Avenue between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. I would also like to inform everyone that the Holiday Snow Village event will be held at Elder Park on Thursday, December 9th from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. The event will offer snow plate areas, entertainment, food and drinks offered by the

farmers market, a petting zoo, and photos with the Grinch and yours truly, me. Ho, ho, ho.

Happy holidays, everyone. Thank you. Thank you, special guests.

Thank you. And so next we have a presentation from the police chief, California.

Good evening, Madam Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, City Council members. I'm going to provide a presentation tonight on holiday safety tips.

It is that time of year when everyone is out shopping.

And so I'd like to just remind everyone of some basic but very important tips when you're out and about, not just shopping, but at dinner with your family and as you're out this holiday season.

You know, last year looked a little different than this year. So as we're all out and about, I think these are important. So city clerk, if you could move to the next slide, please.

So first we're going to talk about some parking lot safety.

If you must shop at night, remember well lit areas are your friend. Also, you want to make sure that you park as close as you can to your destination. Never leave your car unoccupied with the motor running or with children inside. Don't leave your packages or valuables on the seat of your car. If you're going to go from one store to another, don't leave your packages inside the car. Please put them in the trunk out of sight.

If for some reason you have a small SGV or something like that, please cover them in the back with a blanket so that they're not obvious.

It's really important. Those are what we call crimes of opportunities where often a criminal will see that there are things sitting inside the vehicle and they will smash your window and they'll take what they can see.

And they just may see a package. They're not going to discriminate. They're going to see it as a crime of opportunity.

Make sure that you locate your keys prior to going to your car so that you're not fumbling for your keys when you get to the car. Make sure you hold on to your purse, your handbag, your parcels. Don't put them on top of the car.

Don't leave them inside the shopping cart. If you can, if you carry a purse, please make sure that you

put the strap around your neck so that you can easily open your car door. Next slide, please.

ATM safety. This is a very important one as well. Try to use one that's inside the location. I know

this is a little more difficult due to COVID. But if you're going to use the ATM, please make sure that you do it during the day. If you do it at night, you really want a well-lit location,

only withdraw the amount of cash you need. Try not to do large withdrawals. You don't want to be at the ATM by yourself if you're at night taking out large amounts of cash. Please shield your pin when you're there, making sure you put your body in front of it, but at the same time,

being very aware of who's around you. Please avoid carrying large amounts of cash. Keep the

cash in your front pocket so that it's not in your purse or someplace where someone can easily grab it and be extra careful when you're carrying your purse or your wallet. Next slide, please. Home safety. Be really cautious about locking your doors and windows when you leave the house. If you're going to leave for an extended period of time over the holidays, please have a neighbor or family member watch your house and pick up your mail and your newspapers so that it's not obvious to someone else that no one is home. You can also call our dispatch and request a vacation watch while you're gone. An officer will do extra drive-bys of your home. Indoor and outdoor lights should be on an automatic timer so that no one knows exactly when you're coming and going. Please don't leave large displays of holiday gifts in front of the windows of your doors or in front of your doors. When you set up your Christmas tree or your other holiday displays, please make sure that it leaves your doors and passageways inside of your home clear so it's not blocking access with inside your home. Next, please.

Identity theft is always a big concern, but especially during the holiday season. Please make sure that you use legitimate websites when you're shopping online.

A lot of times, if you see HTTPS in the web address and the icon of a locked padlock on the left side of the URL, those are important.

You should also be sure that your email is sent to you with a promotional link so they'll point back to an altered link.

A lot of times, they'll come back with one or two just missing letters.

It'll look very similar, but just a little bit different.

This is what we call a phishing scam. They're typically designed to fool you so that you enter your name, your social security number, your birth date, your credit card number, and then they will come back and try to compromise your identity.

And sometimes, no matter how careful you are, it will still happen. I last week received.

PlusPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus.

RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus.

RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus.

RobPlus.

RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus. emails. Please make sure that you're checking them. Please make sure you're checking your

balances and your charges every day so that often they'll do one or two smaller ones. In this particular case that I experienced last week, they just went for one big one. But it's really

important that you check those charges frequently. And all of your credit cards should allow you to

set up a text message or a email that lets you know when when charges are made on your account.

So it's more important than ever to make sure that you're keeping track of those. And that can also be done with your ATM card if you use your ATM card like a credit card. Next slide, please.

Be careful what you share online. Choose cash or credit over debit. I know right now a lot of places don't want to take cash because of COVID. So use your credit card versus your debit card

whenever you can. Your debit card links directly to your checking account or your savings account, and it's much more dangerous when you're using that because that takes money that you need to pay your bills directly versus your credit card. With your credit card, you're not out money from your savings or your checking, and it gives the bank more time to resolve that dispute.

If your credit card's lost, stolen, or misused, please report it right away. Don't wait. Be careful when you're opening new retail accounts because often that will be what gives others access to your information. Be careful of what we call skimmers. Those are devices that are placed on ATM machines, gas machines, even machines inside stores that take your personal information.

So if the machine looks like there's something funny on the outside, that's because it would probably be a skimmer.

Like I said, check your statements in your credit card and also your credit report. Next slide, please.

This is the big one right now. If you've been watching the news at all, there's been a lot of targeted robberies of people that are leaving shopping malls, restaurants, anything like that. looking, people are watching you and looking for anything that indicates that you might have something of value on you. So if you're leaving a higher end store or even a higher end restaurant, but it seems to not really matter where you're leaving. If you're wearing what someone might think is an expensive watch or carrying a more expensive purse, they're looking for those targets and what we call crimes of opportunity. So please check your surroundings. If you think you're being folLod and you're in your car,

please drive to the nearest police station or call 911 from your phone. Don't just go home and pull into your driveway. Please drive to a police station or call 911. And that will go to the nearest police station

and they will send an officer to respond to you. But it's really important that you know your surroundings. please be cognizant of what cars are behind you, what you're doing, and where you're leaving. This has been a big thing, fortunately not particularly in the city of Monterey Park, but as much as I want you all to shop in nothing but Monterey Park, the reality is that you often go to malls in different places, especially during the holiday season, and restaurants in different places, and that's often where this starts. Like I said, We haven't seen this particularly in Monterey Park, but it's really important that all of you are aware when you're in other places and in Monterey Park. We don't want to see it start. That if you see something, please say something. Please be aware of your surroundings. And like I said, if you feel like you're being folLod, please drive to the nearest police station or call 911.

And that concludes my presentation. And if anyone has any questions, please let me know.

Thank you. Thank you, Kaelin Gordon. Thank you. It's always good to remind people, especially during holiday season. And it's always like, yeah, put the safety issue and remind them one more time. But yeah, thank you for all the good information and thank you so much for your help.

Mayor Pro Tem Lo, you would like to say something?

Yes, thank you, Madam Mayor, and thank you, Chief Gordon, for that presentation. I had a question.

What kind of advice would you offer, if any, because people are also ordering a lot online now,

and there's always a risk of someone stealing these packages,

and so is there a way in which residents can minimize those types of deaths

when things are delivered while people are at work or away from their homes?

There's a lot of different devices. People sometimes will get a box that they will put on their porch that has a key lock or different ways that they make if they know they're having packages. Some people have ring devices, so they're watching and they know when they get delivered. If you're, for example, using Amazon, they'll tell you when it's being delivered. So if you know you're getting a package and you're not home, please ask your neighbor to possibly pick it up for you. those type of things certainly can help your chances of not getting your things stolen amazon also and some of the other retailers but amazon the most has pickup spots and they will tell you if you go to this store you can pick up from there versus having it delivered to your home they have some secure lockers in different places that you can receive your things from from certain retailers you can order online and then have it delivered to a store now as well So you can order items, let's say from Target, and instead of having them shipped to your own, you can actually choose, please ship to the store so that you can pick up directly from the store. So those are some different items and different ways that you can protect yourself as much as you can from what we call parcel theft.

Okay, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm doing quite hard work.

Thank you.

Thank you. So next we have about nine minutes to the 4A public hearing. So let's go on to the agenda consent calendar from 3A to 3H. Is there anyone want to pull any item? Council Member Liang? Yeah, I just want to pull 3B. 3B? Okay.

Okay. Council Member Chen?

Yes, I would like to pull 3C.

Okay.

And 3F and 3H. Okay.

Madam Mayor? Yes? We have a written communication for 3G.

Okay.

So do we want to do the written communication first for 3G?

Can we do that now?

Sure. Oh. Oh, you won't? Okay. Public communication for December 1st, 2021 Council Meeting.

One written communication. Item number 3G.

Consideration of award of contract to AKM Consulting Engineering for the Watermaster Plan update. Mr. Chu. The Watermaster Plan is a planning guide for maintaining the city's water system and provides

comprehensive recommendations for improvement that are necessary to meet the demands of the community. What are the top 10 capital improvement projects that were recommended in the current 2012

Watermaster Plan? Which are completed and if not yet completed, why not and how soon do you expect to get started on them. There are no other written communications.

Okay, thank you. Madam Mayor, sorry. Can I also check with the audience

to see if anybody wants to speak on consent calendar items?

Thank you, yes. Audience, if you want to speak on any

of the consent calendar items, 3A through 3H, now's the time to do so. Please use the raise hand feature

or if you're on the phone, press star nine.

I do not see any speakers for consent calendar items.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay. So, oh, Council Member Lea, do you have any?

Oh no, I was just preparing for if you call 3B.

Sure. So can we have a motion to approve 3A, 3D, 3E, 3G? Yeah, that's it.

So moved. Second.

Okay, a city clerk please call roll. Thank you.

Council Member Peter Chen? Yes. Council Member Hans Liang? Yes. Council Member Fred Cernoso? Yes. Mayor Proton Henry Lo? Yes. And Mayor Yvonne Yu?

Yes.

Motion carries.

Thank you. So let's go into item 3B, ruled by Councilman William. Wait for the reading of an ordinance of amending the moderate part municipal co-chapter 2.28 regulating the personnel board. Councilman William.

Yeah, I don't need a staff report or anything. I think we'll be able to cover this in the five minutes before the public hearing. You know, we had a lot of discussion about this at the last meeting. And I just want to summarize some things and just confirm that what I understood at that meeting is what's going to be moving forward. So regarding the, and we're talking specifically of the personnel board, the ordinance would mandate that the board must meet a minimum of once a year, but there is no maximum limit set by the ordinance so that the board has, or the chair and the board have the autonomy to schedule as many meetings as they deem necessary, as long as it's within the purview of the personnel commission. I just want to make sure that that is correct. I don't know if city attorney or city manager can clarify. You're correct, Council Member Leon, as stated. Okay. And I know that we had some discussions in the prior meeting, you know, regarding commissions and boards and things like that. And I think that, you know, if it's my understanding, you're currently preparing something for us on a future agenda. And I think when I last spoke to you, city manager, you were putting together some type of video or a public service type thing as an education for new commissioners as well as current commissioners. Is that correct?

You're correct, Council Member Leal. What we plan on doing is bringing back another item to speak about the commissions, the boards, and how they are administered and their roles and the chair's roles in each of those commissions. And then also we are putting together, staff's putting together a commission board 101 for the newer appointed individuals so that they understand what their roles are.

Okay, thank you very much. I think that as of our last discussion, it's definitely clear that we need to do some more of that type of education as well as for the new council members to understand what their roles are. what to understand what the commissioner's roles are and also what the commissioner's roles are in assisting the city council and making important decisions for the city. So I look forward to that. I don't have any further questions. I just wanted to clarify that first point to ensure that they have the autonomy to have as many meetings as necessary, as long as it's within their purview. So I have no further questions. Thank you.

Actually, I do have a follow-up question. So that let's say if they have minimum of one meeting, but they can call on as many meetings as they want. But how about the city staff? Are they alLod to cancel all the meetings?

As Council Member Leong mentioned, and as we have spoke about the board, there will be a minimum of one meeting a year. And if there is a necessity to have additional meetings, that will be brought forward to the board due to personnel issues, whatever it may be. It's hard to anticipate what a personnel issue may be that needs to go to the board.

But as stated, it really depends on what we are dealing with internally having to do with personnel matters.

So, sorry, Mayor, if I may interrupt for a second. So let's say for example, the personnel board wants to agendize and have a meeting. It may not be specifically about a personnel matter, but it may be something about questioning about how they handle certain things or maybe they need some education on something that they're not too keen on or that they have a lot of study on. Could they call those meetings as well? I mean, if it's not actually addressing a personal matter, but addresses something that's within their wheelhouse? You're correct.

They can. It would come to the chair of the personnel board.

Okay, thank you. I'm sorry, Mayor, to interrupt. I don't know if that's...

Oh, no, no, no. I think it's good to like understanding the whole procedure and then who has the authority to cancel the meeting and who has, you know, authority to call on a meeting. So I think it would be good to actually touch on it on the future agenda item when we talk about the commissioner.

Okay, thank you. So, Household Member Liang, would you like to make a motion to approve?

Sure, I move to approve item 3B, way further reading and adopt an ordinance amending the Monterey Park municipal code, chapter 2.28, regulating the personnel board.

Second. So city clerk, please call it.

Thank you. Council member Peter Chen. Yes. Council member Hans Leon. Council member Hans Leon. ! Council member Fred Cernoso. ! Mayor Pro Tem Henry Lo. Yes. And Mayor Yvonne You.

Yes.

Okay, we made seven o'clock. Thank you. Perfect.

All right, so now it's seven o'clock, so we start the item. Board A, public hearing to receive, let me see, okay, public hearing to receive testimony regarding redrawing council district boundaries PlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlus district boundaries pursuant to election code section 21601 so city clerk was the notice of the public hearing given in accordance with California law yes it was

okay so I know the city has created dedicated website on this subject matter all information regarding redistricting including the notice or available on the the city website at www.modernpark.ca.gov slash redistricting 2021, right? Okay.

So now I announce to open the public hearing. May I have the staff reports?

Thank you. So in 2019, the city transitioned to a district-based election in accordance to the fair and inclusive redistricting for municipality and political subdivision act,

otherwise known as the Fair Maps Act under election code 21601- I'm sorry through 21609.

Following the federal decennial census every 10 years district boundaries must be redrawn so that each district is substantially equal in population. It is important in ensuring that each city council

member represents about the same number of constituents. The maps must meet certain

requirements and has a total deviation of less than 10 percent or difference. At the second public hearing on October 20th, 2021, the National Demographic Corporation, otherwise known as NDC, presented the findings from the still balance analysis

using the 2020 census adjusted data

and concluded that the existing district map meets the FairMap Act criteria

with a deviation of 2.84%.

The city council received and filed public comments, took action to move forward with the existing maps, which was option A, and scheduled the third public meeting

for November 17, 2021. The fourth public hearing and introduction of an ordinance

to adopt the final map for December 1st, 2021, and scheduled December 15th, 2021 for adoption of the ordinance and the final map. So the city council held its first public hearing on July 21st, 21, second public hearing

on October 20th, 2021, and a third public hearing on November 17th, 2021.

And of course the fourth public hearing is being held tonight. So we reviewed this before, but the Fair Maps Act

requires that the districts must meet certain requirements,

including certain requirements for the maps. We also need to have public hearing. We have to have notices. And as you mentioned before, the city must have a website specifically concerning the redistricting. We also have outreach efforts and we also have translations. And the timeline for the adopted map is 205 days before the next regular election. And LA County has its own deadline for submitting the final map for November 8, 2022. The election is May 12, 2022. So the next step is to schedule the second reading and adoption of an ordinance adopting the final map for December 17th, 2021 in accordance to election code 21601. And the proposed final map was published on the city's website at the Montereypark.ca. at www.cda.gov slash redistricting 2021 on October 18, 2021, and at least seven days prior to its adoption. So with that, I or my deputy city clerk, Cindy, can answer your questions. Thank you.

And Madam Mayor, I just want to make a correction on the staff report.

the second reading is scheduled for December 15th, not December 17th as indicated on the Staffordbook.

Okay, thank you. So do we have any public speakers on this item?

Audience, if you want to speak on this item, this is the time to do so. Please use the raise hand feature, or if you are on the phone, press star nine at this time.

Madam Mayor, I do not see any speakers for this item,

and there are no written communications for this item as well. Okay, thank you.

And I will declare to close the public hearing.

And so for Council Member, do you have any comments on this item?

Okay.

I would move to approve item 4A.

Okay, second. City clerk, would you please call it?

Thank you. Council member Peter Chan?

Yes.

Council member Hans Liang? Yes. Council member Fred Sinoso? Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Henry Lo? Aye. And Mayor Yvonne Yu? Yes. Motion carries.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We'll move down to item 4B, Public hearing for considerations of resolution of the City Council of the City of Montert, California, confirming that 2021 annual reports and the levy of assessments for a downtown business improvement district number one for a program year 2022. So now we wanted to reopen the public hearing. City clerk, city attorney, whenever I see you, I know there's maybe problem or questions, so please proceed. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I believe that we were back on consent calendar item

number three C with regard to council member

Chen's query on that and Deputy City Attorney Joaquin Vasquez is standing by to give your

staff report on that. Oh right yes yes you're right thank you so much for yeah making sure that we are on going back to the agenda. So for consent calendar 3c a resolution approving the city's participation in the two national opioid opioid I actually talked to the city manager about how to So that's the drug, the litigation settlement and authorizing city manager execution of the related participation and subdivisions agreement.

So I know that is pulled by council member Chan. And actually I do, I also wanted to pull this item. So may we get the staff reports?

Hi, good evening, mayor, members of the city council and those joining us online. My name is Joaquin Vasquez. I'm a deputy city attorney, and I assisted in preparing this item. Very briefly, what's proposed here is the city's participation in federal litigation concerning the opioid crisis, and the defendants are various distributors and manufacturers that are alleged to have exacerbated and created the opioid abuse crisis. And so despite the city not being a party to this litigation, the city does have the opportunity to become a participant. And the proposed resolution would authorize the city manager's execution of the various agreements that would be necessary for the city's participation. There is a deadline for execution and the opting in, so to speak, for the city of January 2nd, 2022. And should the city agree to participate and the city council approve the resolution, upon execution of the agreements, the city would be eligible over a series of years to receive a certain amount of funds that is currently estimated to be just short of $500,000. And that number is notable in the sense that assumes that there is full participation of what are called participating jurisdictions. So these include states throughout the country, counties throughout the country, and cities throughout the country with a population over 10,000 people. And so the estimated number indicated in the staff report of the amount of funds that would should the city agree to participate is estimated based upon a hundred percent participation. So after the deadline of January 2nd, and it is known how many jurisdictions will be participating, we'll have an adjustment recalibration of the amount of funds that the city would be expected to receive as a result of this settlement. And in exchange for the city's participation, and receipt of funds, the benefit to the manufacturers and distributors is that the city releases any claims or opportunity to seek additional litigation against these manufacturers and distributors. That concludes my presentation. I'm very happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Okay. Council Member Chen, do you have any questions?

Since you have a question as well, so maybe I would defer to you first. Okay, sure. And so, yes, I would like to know, you mentioned that if we actually take on the money and participating in the settlement, so we will waive any further litigations opportunities for the manufacturer. So I wanted to know what the impact is so far for our residents. Do we have

any residents that suffer from this settlement? Thank you. I may have to defer that perhaps to to the police department as this was more as far as focused on the conflict resolution and not

necessarily which jurisdictions are the most affected. And what I can say is that we did see the estimated awards to various cities and a lot of variations between on the amount of funds the cities would receive. For example, a city not too far away was estimated to only receive 15,000, whereas Monterey Park is looking at $500,000. And that formula was based upon public services, public safety services, and not necessarily tied to the amount of abuse or damages to residents of the city. But as far as the use of the funds, they would have to be programmed to for what are called opioid remediation uses and be programmed for treatment and prevention purposes and as opposed to being no strings attached general fund monies.

I did want to note that. Thank you. Okay so from what I'm understanding is first of all Monterey Park will receive maybe half a million dollars compared to other city that they receive 15,000. But then when we take the money that we can only use it towards the opioid treatment center and preventions, but not any other things, right? That's correct. Okay, let me ask you, then first of all, do we have any residents or do we have any manufacturer of opioid in Monterey Park?

I can't say I know the answer to that. I would say that it's not unlikely that a lot of

that national chains may carry medication that is prescribed from some of the defendants,

including Johnson & Johnson. These are often common medically prescribed pain medication

treatment that unfortunately become tools of abuse. Madam Mayor, members of the council,

perhaps I can tag on to Joaquin's comments thus far. Always with a problem with a nationwide settlement is that you have to arrive at some sort of formula in order to settle with the various jurisdictions that are involved with it. And Joaquin can correct me if I'm wrong, but this settlement was set up basically along these lines, which is one, if you are a full service city, meaning that you have your own police and fire, the calculation is that you

have expended more in response.

police and fire. The calculation is that you have expended more in response to the opioid crisis in the jurisdiction than jurisdictions that contract with sheriff and fire.

! So the example that Joaquin gave. ! The difference between Monterey park and another city that would contract with sheriff and L.

! County fire.

The Monterey park cost in general would have been higher because we simply have greater responses based upon our public safety departments than would a jurisdiction that contracts.

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And it's not, these settlements aren't specifically designed

to reflect what the opioid crisis might be in any particular jurisdiction.

These are estimates and calculations based upon formulas

not actual damages to each particular jurisdiction. So there is some guesswork involved with it

and there's objective guesswork involved with it

and certain assumptions are made. So it's not, these settlements aren't tailor-made, for example, for the city of Monterey Park, whereby some accountant went and said, okay, well, you have a population of X. And based upon that, we believe that statistics would show that you would have a dependent population of Y. And so that's how we're giving you your settlement money.

There are various other formulas that are involved with it, but it's not specific to the opioid crisis.

rather it's tailored toward the assumed cost that each jurisdiction has made in response to the

opioid crisis. And there are no, I mean, we haven't produced any information showing exactly how much

the city of Monterey Park has expended over the past 25 years. Again, these are assumptions that

are made through the settlement discussions during the court proceedings. So perhaps that

gives a clearer picture on it. We can't directly tie the money toward particular people within the

city of Monterey Park. All we can do is make certain assumptions and accept the money and then respond by expending the money in accordance with the settlement agreement. So let me ask a follow-up

question. Can we spend the money on public safety like on police and firefighters? As long as we can

link it, I'm sorry, Joaquin, as long as we can link those services to responding to an opioid

crisis. So for example, and I can give a good example. Yeah. Is the, the drug treatment, Narcan, um, Naloxone that's used to treat folks that have suffered an overdose, um, funds could be used to provide training to police first responders to, um, be better equipped to deal with, um,

those types of situations. So we can actually better utilize the money in the city rather than not being able to spend them because if we don't have the problem then we can't really spend the

money right right some jurisdictions have opted not to accept the money directly but rather to

turn over the money over to the county of los angeles for the county of los angeles to prepare

a big pot of money to respond to the opioid crisis based upon the anticipated amount that

the city of monterey park would get our recommendation is to accept the money directly

so that police and fire within the city of Monterey Park can make its own decisions with

regard to how that money is expended to respond to the opioid crisis. For other jurisdictions,

$15,000, when you do the cost-benefit analysis, meaning that you have to certainly account for how you're using that money, really at that point, you're expending more money to keep track of the

smaller amount of money than it's worth. So we didn't feel from an objective standpoint that if that made any sense.

And I believe the city manager concurred with that analysis.

Thank you. And councilman Balea, you first show up. So you have questions to have?

Yeah, just really quick. Could it be used to buy the Narcan,

those types of supplies for our fire department and our police department? I would have to, I know training is definitely one of the identified components.

there's a specific list of what are fair game uses,

but I'd be happy to follow up and flush out more of the available uses.

Okay, and in terms of the provisions of this money,

when it comes to certain money and the strings that are attached, the strings are very explicit in terms of how you can spend the money. So on this, I'm understanding that it has to be used related to opioid prevention, education, training, et cetera. But do we have as a city the leeway to be innovative in terms of how we do that? Or do we have to follow a prescribed map that's outlined by the people giving us the money?

Sure. I mean, I think an example is useful here. some of the provisions or alLod uses are broadly stated to where I think the city can have discretion in how the funds are programmed. One example is interventions to prevent drug addiction in vulnerable use. So I think that's very broadly worded to where the city could program the funds in various ways to accommodate this particular allowance.

So could the city produce like PSAs that we show on our local cable network about that, about opioid addiction or about awareness?

Yes, there are prevention programs and then there are also treatment. So there are various different flavors of prevention for youth and for adults, and then also for treatment. So I think we will have some leeway and discretion to use these and the funds in ways that would actually be useful.

Okay. Thank you. Those are my only questions. Thanks.

Thank you. Council Member Fresenoso?

So these opioids, is this something that would help with our homeless problem or the homeless? I know there's a lot of drug use among the homeless. Is this something that would help that situation?

I think a potential angle with the use of funds is addressing treatment and prevention for vulnerable populations. and I think the homeless population could very well be considered as part of a vulnerable population. So to the extent we can connect those, I think that would be a worthwhile use.

All right, thank you.

Thank you. Mayor Kochenlo.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Question, do we know our neighboring cities

if they have opted to also participate in this settlement?

I do not. I know the state attorney general's office and the county have encouraged cities to participate because the estimate that is presented before us is only realized with full participation. So generally, we do know the more folks participate, the more money there is. But unfortunately, at this time, a lot of cities are scrambling to make this January 2nd opt-in deadline. So it's not yet clear the numbers on participation percentages just yet. And that would include counties and cities. So a lot of different players that could opt in.

Okay, thank you. I think at some future point, depending on what action the city council decides on this item for us, it'd be interesting and maybe useful to find out the county and neighboring cities if they have opted them because, you know, like all global issues, drug addiction doesn't end at our borders or in neighboring cities' borders. And I think it's important, the policy perspective, to see how this could even be leveraged with, through a regional approach to adjust opioid drug addiction.

So, Mayor Pro Temlo, do you mean you want to hold off to this decision?

No, what I'm saying is that whether or not we approve this tonight, I would still like to find out what other cities or county have also participated in the settlement.

Because what I'm saying is that this is a regional issue.

And I think it's important that whenever we look at regional issues, see how we could approach it from the lens of regional solutions and regional approaches to solving these problems. That's what I mean. Madam, I'm sorry, Madam Mayor, members of the council.

I think this is just the initial step with regard to authorizing the city manager to sign off on the documentation necessary to obtain the funding. There still needs to be a plan for how that funding is expended. And I believe the city manager and certainly myself believe that both the police chief and the fire chief were the best ones to identify how these funds could be best used to combat the opioid crisis within the city of Monterey Park.

So I'm sure as we start receiving settlement checks that they will put together a program for city council approval. So you can do exactly as council member Lo was indicating.

Okay, thank you. Council member Chen.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. And yeah, when I read the staff report that you said the settlement was reached on about July 1st, 2021. That's five months ago. And there's a nationwide global, tentative global settlement. Now, we were never a part of the plaintiff. And of course, there's a close to five, half a million dollars settlement is coming to our way, you know, eventually.

So my question is, you know, when we always talk that when something is too good to be true, most probably it's not. So this is kind of like we did not participate at the beginning. And now after the settlement and we can see, OK, we have so much money coming in our way and we are part of this settlement. So how does it work legally?

I mean, is there any string attached or is there any downside to it or anything like this? Would this apply to the other lawsuits or other settlements that after the fact that we can still participate and get some settlement? So that's my question. Yeah.

So, Madam Mayor, members of the council, this is much like the big tobacco lawsuits that occurred about 20 years ago. There were nationwide settlements that occurred with regard to the big tobacco manufacturers and monies came into all the states and were distributed substantially similarly to this type of settlement, whereby local jurisdictions, regional jurisdictions, and state jurisdictions received a cut of the pie and continued to do so. To answer your question directly, yes, there are strings attached to how we can use this money. The alternative is certainly that Monterey Park doesn't need to participate in the settlement agreement.

What that means is that you would keep your options open for separately suing these manufacturers and distributors of the opioid products.

The cost benefit analysis to that, based upon the sophistication of the defendants and the amount of money that would need to be expended in order to commence lawsuits against those manufacturers and distributors, in my view, would be prohibitive.

It simply wouldn't make sense for the city of Monterey Park to be expending hundreds of thousands of dollars against these defendants hoping to receive a settlement on the back end of it simply because there's a settlement agreement now.

So this is not an unprecedented thing.

I use the Big Tobacco example because it's the most recent one in memory.

It immediately comes to mind.

But if you recall, part of the requirements for the settlement from Big Tobacco included that there would have to be anti-tobacco and anti-smoking campaigns that were launched, the prohibition on putting tobacco products on billboards and other types of advertising.

and many of us still remember the self-distributing cigarettes that came in the push machines that you would find in, for example, Denny's or wherever it was.

At least that's what I remember.

So all of those things were prohibited as part of that settlement, and the settlement money that was received by the various jurisdictions was used to encourage people from not starting smoking and also quitting smoking.

So this is a very similar type of settlement arrangement, and you are correct that the city would be giving up its rights to separately sue, but it's similar to other class action lawsuits that you might find in your personal capacity.

I just got one yesterday from with regard to Apple products and in order to participate in that class settlement that means you're giving up your own individual right to sue but you know it's it's a cost benefit analysis at the end of the day.

There are other things where the city of Monterey Park and the city council has directed that we do separately sue.

For example, the water treatment, the PFAS-Pofas class action lawsuit, that is something that the city is participating on its own,

but it's not costing the city anything because that is a contingency fee arrangement with the law firms that are involved. So this is a very long-winded explanation, and I suppose I give those a lot,

But I just wanted to give several different examples that this is not an unprecedented type of arrangement.

It's something that happens not frequently, but on an ongoing basis.

Thank you.

!

Carl kindly noted the option that the city has. ! ! When it opts in, ! The funds are programmed for the city and the city can decide to direct the funds to the county and wash its hands of it or take the funds on directly. PlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlus hands of it or take the funds on directly and use them on its own. And that decision is something that will be forthcoming and will be made every year. So should the city decide to receive the funds directly and feel that the reporting requirements and the impacts on city and staff are not worth it, it could decide for the next year to have the funds subsequently directed to the county. So there is flexibility from year to year to make that determination.

Okay, thank you for the explanation. And thank you, City Attorney Carl. Actually this time your explanation, I fully understand. Before, after your explanation, I may only understand part of it, but not fully understand. But this time I fully understand the options of the city. And I agree with you that, well, the city is not into making money or doing anything contrary to benefit the residents and service to our residents. That's our main business. business. And so, yeah, although I agree with you that the cost and the chance of winning the big guys, the pharmaceutical companies and so forth, for our city to sue them individually, it may be tough. So I have no problem in accepting the sentiment, and then we move on. And I also agree that we use that close to half a million dollars for education, for, you know, people to prevent people from going into drugs and addicts of any kind. Because it's not just killing people, but also destroying the future, especially to the students, to the youth. And so it's important that we use wisely on those money, the settlement money that's coming to us eventually. And we have to really put it into education and help a lot of people not to get into drug and help them straight in their careers in the future. So I have no problem with that. So thank you for the explanation and thank you.

So Council Member Chen, would you like to make a motion to approve items?

I think Hans has a question.

Okay, Council Member Lea.

Yeah, I wanted to know if we approve this and get the money, do we have a timeline or a deadline in which we must spend it? And are there any penalties for not spending it in time or not, I mean, are there any stipulations regarding how fast we have to spend that money?

I don't know of any particular deadlines that are imposed given the rush to decide whether we're in or out. So I would rather not speculate, but I anticipate since the awards are over a series of 18 years and seven years respectively to the two different pots that the award for each year would that have certain spending and reporting requirements, but I would have to verify whether there's any carryover for the funds not expended or any related penalties. And I think would be in a position when we get that additional information to come back and inform the council.

Great, thank you on that.

Thank you. So council member Chen, would you like to make the motion to approve?

I would like to make the motion to adopt a resolution approving the city's participation in two national up-line litigation settlements and authorize the city manager execute related of related participation and subdivision agreements.

I second. So city clerk, would you please comment?

Thank you. Council member Peter Chan. Yes. Council member Hans Leung. Yes. Council member Frasor-Noso? Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Henry Lo? Aye. And Mayor Yvonne Yu?

Yes.

Motion carries. Thank you.

Thank you. So next for item 3F, City Facility Security System, that being pulled by City Council Member Chen. So may we have the staff report?

Good evening, Madam Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, City Council Members. So as some of you know or don't know, our current surveillance system and security system within the city of Monterey Park does not meet the current security needs of the city. We have a lot of facilities and a lot of different places within the city that actually don't even have any type of security cameras. In June of 2021, the committee made up, we call it the Facility Security Committee, was created to review the needs of the city. It was comprised of PD, fire, public works, management services, and recreation.

So the role was to identify the greatest concerns, and that greatest concern that was identified was, in fact, a lack of a centralized, cohesive security surveillance system. The needs were identified based on what we think currently what the city needs now, which include things such as a way to what we call artificial intelligence search. And that's just a clever term for if we're looking for a particular type of car or a particular type of dressed person that we can actually put into the software and search hours of video within the system.

So that's just a fancy word for how we can search and what information that the system will spit out to us. Automatic license plate readers, cloud storage for 365 days so that we are in compliance with Public Records Act requirements and remote access capabilities. The committee brought in and invited three different vendors. One was Verkata, the other was Diversified, and one was ESH Security.

As a result of our conversations with each, it was quickly learned that really, Verkata was the only one that had the necessary experience in everything that we can, what we need.

The other two actually would install whatever cameras that we then had to find and purchase. Verkata actually allows us to do all of it.

They're recognized as a national security leader. They have really high technological advances that most don't offer, as well as the cloud base and the way that the real-time bootages can be obtained by users.

It's got built-in video retention, automatic cloud backup, very secure encryption. It has the strictest data handling and security standards.

And this will be a little boring for everybody, but it's important to note.

Their cameras are certified with NDAA and TAA, which is very important because the government actually states that we need to have a certain level of camera system and it actually can't be purchased from certain manufacturers because of global security risks.

They meet all of that and they meet all of the schedules and all the government requirements.

So, Verkata came in and they brought a consultant in, which is called Reliant IT, and they actually did a consultation, a walkthrough, a site walkthrough of all of our city facilities.

So, all the city buildings, all of the park facilities, all the way down to our different water facilities.

The only one that we did not include is the library actually has a very robust independent camera system. So that was the only one that we did not include with this particular project. So Ted Alben is on the call tonight.

He is actually our consultant that we've been working with from Relevant IT.

As a result of those walkthroughs, 32 sites and 248 cameras were identified as what the needs and a site plan was created for the entire project.

Mercada is what we call a participant of PEPM, which I recently learned. And basically, the short story for that is it's a cooperative purchasing program for government agencies that will allow us to purchase directly through Ricotta, through Relevant IT by using Apepa. The final pricing for all of those 248 cameras, which includes the 365 days of storage, 10-year warranty, 10-year licensing software, is $775,374.

And you've got to throw in the 60 cents for just good measure.

as part of that then once we purchase the cameras then we will do a solicitation for bids to install all of those cameras that included includes all the associated network electrical at all of the

various sites that will go out in a solicitation for bids relevant it has given us an estimate for labels and materials and mind you this is what they do so they gave us a very

I think accurate approximation, which was $874,204. As part of the implementation of this project,

there will be a relevant IT project manager on site with us and help us to make sure that we have a smooth transition with the installation and then with the use. They will train us on how

to use the system and get everything up and running for us. As far as the funds from this, approximately 1.3 million will come from the American Relief Funds. And then as you see in

your staff reports, the rest of the funds will come from a few different various accounts that

are related to water, funds, sewer, and refuse because of where these cameras will cover.

The total for the project is what we're asking for tonight is $1.7 million for approval.

I am here to answer any questions. We also have a representative from Relevant IT on the line, as well as I believe Arcata is on the line. And I would be absolutely remiss if I didn't mention

that Lieutenant Bob Hung was on the line tonight. He's the one that actually was the committee chair

as part of this project. And like I said, this was a team effort, Public Works and PD and FIRE

as well as management services and REC all worked together to bring this tonight. I'm just the face of this proposal for all of you tonight, but really all the hard work and teamwork goes to everyone else

in identifying what the needs of the city are.

Thank you. Council Member Chen, do you have a question? Yes, thank you, Madam Mayor. And thank you, Police Chief for the presentation. And I would like to ask, so this civilians' cameras, are they installed in all city facilities, includes city hall, library, senior centers? and parks. What about the general streets?

Not in the general seats. This is all for city facilities and including the parks. This is not general public cameras. This is not

there's none of that. This is specifically for public facilities including our parks.

Okay. Thank you for that. And then you mentioned will read the automobile license plates and also include artificial intelligence. Does that include facial recognition?

There are different components of the software that allow facial recognition. That's not the component that we're using this for. With the automatic license plate reader, that allows us to really solve a lot of crimes. So if you have someone that pulls into, let's take City Hall, for example, pulls into the parking lot and then commits some sort of crime in the parking lot, we're able to then, if a lot of times people don't get the description, they get a vehicle description, but they don't get a plate. It will allow us, and that's what we call through that artificial intelligence, it allows us to search in the system and say, you know, white Ford or vehicle between this time and this time. And the system will then bring us all those and bring us all the plates with those, and then we can identify the vehicle and the plate, hopefully, that committed the crime. So it does have certain facial recognition features. Those features allow us to search different things. it doesn't we don't put a face in and it comes up with a name it's not it's not like that but it does allow us to search the system for certain descriptors

okay then my next question is that then will it complete into the privacy of the of the residents that's using the parks and coming to City Hall and using the in facilities.

No.

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And who are those people that has the authority to search?

As part of this project, we'll identify, once we have approval to do the system, how that's going to work. I mean, most of this will then sit right in the police department's hands. It will have to go with some type of city investigation, whether it's criminal or another type of investigation, to have access to the system.

Yeah, I would like to see some checks and balances on it.

Oh, absolutely. That's a very, very important part of it. It's just like every other system in the police department. Certainly this system will be no different than now. I mean, certain areas of our city, we, you know, facilities have cameras now. So all of those different protocols and procedures will be applied to the system.

Okay. And then I can see in your staff report is $1.7 million and $1.3 million plus will coming from the recovery plan. Is it part of the $4 million that we haven't appropriated? Is it part of that?

Do I make myself clear? Is it part of the $14 million that the city is going to receive? Is it part of that 1.3 million is part of that $14 million?

The 1.3 will be part of that $14 million. And Martha, our management service director, has also reviewed this and approved in the funding of this and where the funding sources would be. And she's also present tonight. But yes, that that will come from that money that we're receiving as part of the American Relief Act.

Good, good. So that will be will be good, you know, because this is a one time installation and buying of the permits, which is OK with that. And then what about the maintenance costs? Once it's installed, it has a lot of data. So you mentioned it will store it in the crowd. And then do we need extra personnel in the police department to monitor it? Or, you know, how does it work out? Because it will create a lot of data. and then you have to search through it when you need to search it. And so that will bear extra costs. And also the maintenance costs will this commonly charged annual fee to maintain the system.

And Lieutenant Hunt can correct me if I'm wrong, but the way I understand it, this includes all of everything that we need. It's a 10-year warranty on everything. So that will include everything that we need for those 10 years. Lieutenant hung can correct me if I'm, if that statement's incorrect, I'm not aware of a, of a yearly service besides what you see in front of you. And as far as additional police department resources, council member 10, I always want additional police department resources, but this is not one of those. It's going to require additional police department resources in terms of, you know, it would be the same now as if we get an active investigation. It would actually allow us to more effectively do our job because the search features and what is within this is right now with our current cameras, we literally, someone has to sit and watch through all of the video to see if they can see what they need. This, like I said, this big fancy word that we use, this artificial intelligence search allows us to sit and allows the system to do the work. So if we put in this hour to this hour, it can then look at all the different cameras that are in that area. It can provide us, you know, if we receive information that it was a white vehicle with four doors, it'll allow us to do those different searches depending on what area. So all the cameras and the system will work together so in totality it actually will cut down on the amount of time that we have to spend you know right now our different systems are all independent so we have to go to different places to pull video and get the information that we need this allows us to sit down in front of one computer and view all of the video that we need

and all of the cameras I see so there will be no extra charge other than this one from seven

million dollars right that's correct and and lieutenant hung hasn't gotten uh hasn't his face

hasn't come up to correct me so yes okay um council member chan just i want to let you know and reiterate what the chief has said is that the camera system has a 365 day solid state hard drive in each of the camera to record up to 365 days per the requirement in addition to that the Ricotta cameras are extremely sophisticated.

It would be able to upload the stream and the videos to be stored in a cloud database. And so it is not within our city system. It will not affect our storage internally and our servers.

It will all be included with the 10-year warranty. Hopefully that answers your question, sir.

Okay, yeah, that's my question is that no extra charge is incurred. And I think you said that the representative of Ricardo is here with us?

Yes, I believe she's here. And I know for sure that Ted, our consultant that we've been working with from Reliant IT is here tonight.

Can she get to her friends and say hi so that we know who she is?

Well, I think you can see, I think you can see Ted right now for sure.

Yes, I saw Ted.

And then also Reysa, can you...

Hi guys, I'm here as well to answer any questions. And so it's my colleague, Danny. Hello everyone, this is Danny. I'm also here from Burkata.

Okay, thank you. Yeah, I just want to know who we are dealing with, that's all. And hopefully next time when you come by,

well, after if the council approves this, and we can meet in person and talk about different things. So thank you for coming up here. And well, it's better to see people face to face. So looking forward to that. Thank you. Right.

You have council, okay, wow. There's, I think council, the um president also council president also came uh first so all right thank you um so for these

cameras once they're installed um are they protected what i mean by that is like you guys know where i live down here by this church that has a lot of problems and they installed cameras but they're very frequently stolen. So are these cameras, once they're installed, are they pretty secure or protected against theft and vandalism?

Yes, and Ted can answer that.

Well, Chief, go ahead.

I was going to say, we've been very careful about where we've placed them. A lot of them are inside city facilities. Some of our park facilities, that's a little more challenging. but by my observation of what we've been shown and the product we've been shown they're about as secure as we could buy so Ted can add to that he can talk them up a little bit but I'm very confident and if if one were to get stolen we would have those cameras replaced and if it got

stolen you'd have a video of the person who committed the act we've been installing and doing systems in the public space for cities and municipalities federal government for over 25 years and Mr. Chan absolutely you are correct there may be some expenses related to vandalism right related to damage but you know Verkata is going to warranty these cameras for 10 years. We've also created an approach working with Bob and IT to say we've got to make this simple and modular so There are only two different models of cameras so very easy to take them down once you pop once you can get past the vandal resistant housing and and the lens You can clean most of these with a garden hose. They're all water resistant and waterproof I don't think that you're really going to face the same type of challenges that you may have had in the past but clearly we've designed something to be modular easy to do easy to own and maintain, something that IT does not have to get involved if there is a ticket, like camera down, a maintenance worker with a ladder and a Phillips head, provided they know how to get to the secure enclosure, which is something that we're going to keep out of view. It's a very easy system to live with. And one of the things that we are excited about here is being able to provide a solution without creating a burden to the police department and the city. And, you know, by all means, this was something that we invested a month and a half in, in visiting all of the sites and trying to determine what was the minimum viable camera count and how could we work with the different agencies to create something that would be giving them a benefit without creating a burden. Another question you said, inconspicuous.

So I'm assuming just like the cell towers, like are in the Yale parks where they're kind of camouflaged like a tree or something. So you don't recognize them. So I'm assuming you guys probably have some kind of camouflage or something. So the cameras aren't conspicuous and people.

All the housings are paintable. So if they're going up on the side of the building, we can ask the integrator installer to color match the background of the building trim. It's typically it's a traditionally easy thing to do. It doesn't affect the camera doesn't affect the warranty so that that can be done We also would say please remember that signage is important too And letting people know that the parks and other public areas are protected By surveillance, I think most people appreciate the benefit of that as the deterrent right and uh We we certainly understand through the collective experience that those people who are motivated to you know act improperly you're not going to be deterred by signage or cameras or fences or lighting but at least you have a terrific opportunity to recover and to heal and to forensically resolve things and that's that's what and and this system does a great job of doing that for authenticated users they will be able to actually interact with live video on on a cell phone or an in-car computer system without having to buy anything new, without having to license anything new, without having to put up a new communication tower or whatever is on your Motorola stack. A lot of things, a lot of pluses here.

There'll be signs put up in the parks and the different public areas where the cameras are saying that these facilities are under surveillance by cameras or protected by cameras. So public will know.

We will be coming up with appropriate signage to appropriately deal with that once we move forward with having the system installed.

And then another question for you, Chief. You said you have some old cameras that are currently being used. Are they still usable or are they going to be discarded? Because I'm thinking about this building that's by my house that's constantly being tagged. Can one of the old cameras be installed there to help with that problem?

We won't have to look at that one separately. The equipment that we have in our facilities right now is very, very old and outdated. And it's not just a matter of having a camera. It's a matter of having a appropriate hard drive. For something like that, there are some other solutions that are available on the regular market that would, I think, be better solutions for that.

Oh, okay. All right. Thank you. Mm-hmm. Thank you, council member.

Yeah, really quick, just to kind of piggyback on, you know, Fred brought a good comment, a question that I wanted to ask regarding the cameras, you know, in the staff report, you have a listing of existing and current camera locations, and then you have a listing of proposed camera locations. So the question I have is in terms of interoperability, Are we going to be able to use the listed existing cameras as part of this integration?

No, every single camera that we currently have will be replaced.

Okay, so there's no...

The reason for identifying both is that it has to do with what cabling and what things we think we're going to have to run in order to accommodate new. that looks a little different than accommodating the old, but we will be replacing every single camera that we have because our current cameras don't have any of the 365 day or any of the features that these new cameras have.

Okay, so there's no way to salvage, if you will, or get some kind of benefit from some of the equipment we have already?

No, and like I said, our current equipment is more than at the end of life. Trust me, I love... PlusPlus.

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RobPlus. RobPlus. if we could save a camera here or a camera there it doesn't allow us the interoperability so for

contact cameras are very specific now let me ask you this uh if there's any shifting uh of personnel to different locations and such uh are these cameras going to be able to move to different locations yes yes yes so uh if we install it say in city hall or whatever and we're going to move to another location or that location no longer is being used we're not going to have to contract to have a whole new set of cameras put in we can take the ones that are there and move them

to a new we should be able to take our current cameras and move them to a different location it would just require us to run new cabling okay thank you can you put one camera in my house

I don't think I don't think you want anyone from city hall taking a peek inside your house but

thank you uh mayor from town low you have questions yes I'm madam mayor and actually a very quick

question but um chief gordon um the current stock of equipment we have when were they installed

I know they're probably very, but in average, when were these systems installed, the current systems?

A lot of our systems go back to the 1980 when the facility was constructed.

1980, you said? Yeah.

Some of these equipment is...

Yes. We've had some cameras upgraded and some lines upgraded in different places, but some of the some of the cameras are in a lot of it is very very old

and they're probably also very energy inefficient yes i see wow okay wow half a century that's wow i'm surprised we didn't do this sooner then

so what's the timeline for these being installed up and running what if you know when we approve

it tonight how soon will it be in operation um as soon as as soon as and i'm going to speak from a a positive point of view as soon as we get this approved we will start working through the contract uh with them we've already um gone down that um for the particular purchase we will get out a solicitation for the bid for the installation um you know it just is going to depend And before I could have probably given you a more accurate timeline, but I think due to COVID and a lot of the problems that, you know, getting certain things, we know that part of the importance of acting now, especially on the camera side, is that we know we'll be able to still be able to get those products right now. The longer we wait, the harder that we'll get. And it will be depending on what the timeframe for the contractor is. my hope would be that we could have this done in six to nine months ted could correct me if if he thinks that's unreasonable but i know that in our our discussions we've talked about in the next six to nine months so i'm gonna i'm that's what i'm gonna tell you we're gonna shoot for i think worst case scenario would probably be um a year but i i would hope that we could get

this accomplished in the next six to nine months if i may sure yes the the way that this team had approached this project is by looking at different departments within the city and saying you've got the water and power, you've got reservoirs, right? You've got treatment facilities, you've got historical sites, and you've got parks. We can, it doesn't all have to get done immediately, and small milestones of progress can likely be made very easily within the first six months of next year. And depending on how the integrators ramp up with this, it's really not a very long project duration. It's calculated 160 day project duration start to finish. We also internally took this model to four different systems integrators that we work with on large municipal projects. and we asked them, what do you think the biggest challenge is going to be? And they said permitting because we do have to make some electrical improvements at the sites to put in some conduit. And even though it's just one or two outlets, those are the things we know in advance and we're going to get ahead of them. So again, six to nine months is not unrealistic, Chief.

All right. So then that's a question for Frank Lopez then, right? as far as the permits and doing the electrical work? Does that get to be a priority? Go ahead.

Public Works has been involved with this from the very beginning. So we're all working hand in hand.

Frank and his team has been part of this. So that won't be an issue. We're going to continue to,

I want to make this really clear, like I said in the beginning, this is not just a PD project. It's just because it's security that I'm the one presenting it tonight.

but Public Works has been very involved in this from the very beginning.

This has been a complete team effort by all the departments to get where we are today in this amount of time, and I'm confident that this partnership will continue

and the teamwork will continue.

So, you know, Frank wants to chime in, but I do know that Public Works has been right there,

like I said from the very beginning on this and has done all of these site visits with Lieutenant

Hung and knows what each of the building looks like. We couldn't have done this without them.

A lot of these buildings that it's being installed are public work buildings. So I'm confident and

as we always do here in the city of Monterey Park that we will hit this out of the park as a team and get it done in a timely manner.

oh okay so i like your description of it working together as a team so hopefully it could bring home a world series for us here in monterey park right all right yes let this count i know how to i know how to speak your baseball language using a baseball analogy right so we'll get some t-shirts and say uh monterey park um surveillance camera champions or something there you go i like your

I like your thought, Rob.

All right. Thank you.

Thank you. So any other questions from any council member? Okay. No, then may I get the council member Chen, would you please make a motion to approve item 3F?

Yes. I would like to make the motion to approve 3F. And city attorney, is it enough or do I have to read the whole thing?

That's plenty. Thank you. Okay. I'll second.

All right. So Vincent, please call.

Thank you. Council member Peter Chan. Yes. Council member Hans Liang. Yes. Council member Fred Sennoso. Aye. Mayor Pro Tempeter, Henry Lo. Aye. And Mary Yvonne Yu.

Yes.

Motion carries. Thank you.

Thank you. So next item would be item 3H, traffic signal.

I'm sorry, but wasn't there a public comment for 3G?

Yes.

Okay, are we required or can we ask staff to respond to that question?

Sure. And so, who staff is that? Oh, Frank Lewis. Would you be able to remember what the public comments is for item three?

Or maybe our clerk can we read that question?

Madam Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Council members, that question had to do with the water master plan, the update. The speaker basically wanted to know, do we have any timelines on when the past water master plan identified CIP projects, when we would have those completed and do we have any dates tied to any future ones that we are doing? So I'm sure Frank can run with that. Yes, good evening, Mayor, Mayor Portem.

Yeah, several of the projects from the previously, the previous Water Master Plan that were recommended have been completed. Not all, unfortunately. However, we do have several projects on the current CIP budget for this year. some of the funds that were intended for some of the CIP projects were redirected towards the CGTS water treatment plant and that was one of the reasons why we weren't able to complete all of the projects but we are continuing to work on those and as I mentioned they're in the current

CIP budget this year so okay would it be possible perhaps as a follow-up as far as when those

existing ones will be completed? Sure, yeah. We'll be preparing and some of this is already in the budget. There's a five-year CIP that lists the projects that are proposed and what year, fiscal year they're proposed. But we can come back with a list as well. Okay, thank you.

Thank you. So we move to item 3H, traffic signal improvement, HSIP cycle 7, authorizing authorizations to advertise construction bid package. Okay, so Council Member Chen, you put this item. Do you want staff report? Yes, please. Thank you. Frank Lopez, the force.

Yes. Yes. Again, good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Council Members, Frank Lopez, Director of Public Works. The item before you tonight is the traffic signal improvements funded by the HSIP cycle seven grant funds. We're asking council to consider adopting a resolution, approving the design and plans for the project, as well as authorizing staff to solicit bids. Staff work with consultants to prepare a construction bid package that includes both plans and specifications for this project. And again, we're asking for your authorization to move forward and advertise. Just to give you a little bit of background, several years ago, staff applied for and did receive grant funds from HSIP cycle seven. Back in June of June 21st of 2017, council approved the funds and appropriated them. As a matter Africa was 312,160, as well as a local match of 17,640 for measure R for this traffic signal improvement. Design didn't get started until later in about 2019. And as we started that design process, it kind of became evident that the scope needed to increase to be able to meet state requirements for both ADA as well as the signal polls, et cetera. And so we went back to Caltrans after revising the scope and providing some additional information and were awarded additional funding of $520,340. And on December 18, 2019, council approved that and appropriated that $520,340, as well as an additional local match from Measure R. And then that brought the total funding for this project to $925,000. So this project involves several, three intersections of traffic signal modifications that includes new poles, cabinets, controllers, conduits, all related apprentices, pedestrian improvements, as I mentioned, ADA. So that includes the ADA ramps, sidewalk and gutter that's related to the ramps and their improvements, striping. But the key thing was to add the left turn capability, protected, protect permissive left turn at those intersections. Staff finalized the design and then worked through the process for HSIP funding with Caltrans, and we finally were able to be authorized. The authorization is called E76, and at that point, we can move forward with the construction phase and actually advertise. And so So tonight we're asking for the authorization to advertise.

And that concludes my staff report. I can answer any questions you may have. Okay.

Council Member Chen, you have any questions?

Yeah, thank you, Madam Mayor.

Yes, the three intersection that's in question in here is very important,

especially the one on the Maquibu School, the Alhambra and Helmand. And it's quite an interesting location because it's the Maquibu School and also it's a bridge to the others over the freeway

and a lot of traffic when it's school,

like early in the morning and after school at around three. And so this is a good location to tackle the problem. And of course, students, when they are late or they're dashing across the street, they create a lot of unsafe.

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RobPlus. perfect, I want to say. There's always those unknowns and variants, but this is, you know, it upgrades pedestrian safety. It upgrades, again, left turns, the striping that's related,

the ADA ramps, so. Yeah, that's good because a lot of students and parents are using that intersection. And then as well as the other two intersection on Garfield and Emerson, and of Of course, we experienced a bad traffic accident before, a few years back. And then on Garfield and Hellman, it's also a very busy intersection. But my question is on these two, well, actually all three intersections, they're very tight in space. actually not much we can do about it other than with the left turn control because we cannot widen the street because it has buildings in it. So do you have some kind of ideas that we can do to improve the traffic and the safety? I mean with all the cabinets and all the poles and the signals and everything, do you think with the tight spaces, it can still do the work?

Yeah, well, as I mentioned early on, part of the reason why we went back to Caltrans to ask for additional funds was because we realized that just doing signal improvements, in other words, the lights and how they operate wasn't enough. Absolutely, you're right. The right-of-way that's there is what's there and that's what we have to work with. We went through an extensive design

and were able to fit in the appropriate, for instance, ADA ramps, which at those intersections

were tight. But we feel that we have a design that works. And yes, we were able to fit in the

features that we feel add this additional safety, additional levels of safety, both with regards to

pedestrian, the left turns that allow those protected left turns.

Yes. And also, I want to.

Well, we talked about it before. Oh, well, we haven't in the council meetings, but I've been to the Alhambra presentation, you know, after the 710 measure on many and there were proposal by Alhambra City and also Metro on the studies that will do a lot of work on the on-ramp, off-ramp, on Fremont, Atlantic, and Garfield. So Garfield and Hellman is one of the intersections that is the target here. So please work with Metro and Alhambra City, because that's connected to Alhambra as well, that we can maybe, I don't know if we would overlap the work, or if they move the ramps, the on ramps and off ramps. So how does it affect, you know, our work? And so I just want to point it out that it's common. And but I don't know how far they are into it. But just don't want to do some duplicate work or, you know, works that they are trying to do and we do it for them. And so that kind of things. So see if you can coordinate with them and and get the most efficient way and the best way to handle the situation. because I really don't know. I saw the plan and they have the, like, the signal instead of on the stop signs in the off-ram and on-rams. They have a signal right in between. Only one signal controls for on-rams and off-rams. So it's quite an innovative idea. So please look at that and see what we can tag on and get the best out of it.

Yes, absolutely. We're definitely coordinating with Alhambra with regards to the 710 projects. The actual construction of those projects is probably still several years away, but we'll coordinate with them and take a look and make sure.

Okay, thank you. Mayor Pro Tempo, you have any questions?

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Well, question and probably a comment as well, but because one of the intersections involved is Alhambra Avenue and Hellman, and because in the staff report we're talking about pedestrian improvements, but I'm just curious.

our conversation is about how do we also, if we can, improve pedestrian safety for anyone

that uses the bike lane? Because as many of you probably know that from Graves on Ojibwe

avenue to hellman there's a bike lane and um i would imagine sometimes uh or it could be often

the case that um students may use that bike lane to get to school um uh but nonetheless you know i

mean that's that i know the city in the past has made a commitment in some sections to have bike lanes which hopefully will be part of a more comprehensive uh uh bike system but i'm just

I'm just curious, like, are those parts of the conversations and should they be how to also add safety to those intersections for anyone that uses their bicycles?

Yes, Councilman, and I don't have the plans in front of me right now to give you the details of it. But obviously, when we take a look at the intersection, we were looking at all the features that already exist and how the intersection is going to function with those features.

um you know off the top of my head i can't tell you that there's a specific uh you know item that's

to the bike but the whole intersection is intended to operate more safely and so i think that in and

of itself um we we can take a look at that uh closer you know and if there's something we can

do that's additional um you know we'll take a look at that absolutely but uh the the engine the engineers, the consultants, they take a look at what's there and how all of that is going to work together. And so it's not just, oh, we're going to put in a left turn signal and, you know,

put in all those features. We're looking at the intersection, the fact that it's adjacent to the

high school, the fact that it's a high pedestrian volume, the fact that there is a bike lane that comes and interacts with that intersection. So those improvements are all meant to work together.

Okay. Okay. Again, I just make sure that, you know, that's not overlooked. That's all.

Absolutely.

Okay. Thank you. So, let's see. So if we don't have any other questions, then can we get a motion to approve item 3H? Yes, I make the motion to approve 3H. Okay. Any seconds?

I'll second that. Sure. Vincent, please.

I'm sorry.

Council member Peter Chan. Yes. Council member Hans Leon. Yes. Council member Fresno. Yes. Mayor Pro Tam Henry Lo. Aye. And Mary Banu.

Yes.

Motion passed. Thank you.

Thank you. So now we can with the public hearing for B. Okay. Public hearing for considerations of resolutions of city council of city of modern park, California, confirming the 2021 annual reports and library of assessment for downtown business improvement district number one for program year 2022 so i would like to open the public hearing and any staff reports that we have

good evening madam mayor mayor pro tem and council members this is your economic development manager

Joseph Torres. On October 20th, 2021, the City Council set the date for a public hearing initially for November 17, 2021, regarding the assessment of businesses within Business Improvement District Number 1.

bid assessment revenues, as you know, fund promotional activities, and special events to benefit downtown businesses. Council adopted Resolution No. 12274, but requested to amend the 2021 Annual Report. Staff needed additional time to revise the 2021 Annual Report and requested that the item be continued from the November 17 Council meeting to today's Council meeting.

I am now, or staff is now recommending that the City Council consider reopening the continued public hearing, receiving both written and oral comments, and closing public hearing.

Staff also recommends adopting the resolution in confirming the 2018 to 2021 annual report and the levy of assessments for business improvement district number one for program year 2022.

That concludes my staff report and I am available for any questions.

Okay, council member Farsinoso, you have any questions?

You're on mute.

I'm sorry, I thought you guys could read lips.

I actually spoke with Ron, I found a small error.

So on page 345,

where it says ending reserves as of 10-21,

there's 136, 151, 12. And if you go to page 348,

it says reserves as of 10-21, 131, 151, 12. Those two numbers should be the same number. So just a small correction there. and then what I wanted to ask again is the bid schedule the fee schedule that's based on employees right? How many employees each of the different businesses has determines how much they get what their fee is?

That is correct.

Okay and then one more question so as of October So in November 2021, the reserve is $136,000. So I'm guessing that's the amount that they should have in their bank account, right? 136,000?

Yes, that is correct, Council Member Cernasso.

Oh, it seems like they're doing okay then. It's financial anyway. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. So any other questions from any Council Member?

Okay, if we don't have any questions, then may I get the motions to-

Public comment, public comment.

Yes, okay, do we have any public comments?

Okay, Mayor Yu, members of the audience, if you want to speak on this public hearing item, please use the raise hands feature

or be on the phone, press star nine at this time.

Madam Mayor, there are no speakers on this item, nor are there any written communication. Thank you. Okay, thank you.

So we'll move to.

Okay. Yeah, move to approve item for the.

Okay, sure. I'll second. Okay, Vincent please call roll.

Vincent on mute. Okay, council member Peter Chen. Council Member Hans Leung? Council Member Fred Cernoso? Aye.

Mayor Pro Tem Henry Lo? Aye. And Mayor Yvonne Yu?

Yes.

Motion carries. Thank you.

Thank you. Move that to new business item 5A, Adobe Resolution to Cast Votes for Representative of the San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority Board.

So do we have any staff reports for that? City manager? Yes, Madam Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Council members. This item had been sent to us by the Water Quality Authority for the council to take action on voting for a board member for the Water Quality Authority. There are two nominees that have been submitted. Earlier today, around five o'clock, Jorge Marquez, one of the nominees called our office to let us know that he is withdrawing from the nomination due to increase duties that he may have. And he could not fulfill his board membership if he was elected to the board. So he let us know that he was withdrawing. He left that message. I did call him back to verify that, and he did verify the message. So I'm just giving you that information before you take a vote. He did mention to me that the city of Covina that he represents as a council member is voting for Robert,

Robert, what's the nominee? Robert Gonzalez. Yeah, Robert Gonzalez. So that's basically what this report's all about. It's counsel's action on how you. on how you would like to vote. One other reminder to you, I thought you could have split your votes. City of Monterey Park has six votes. I thought you could split your votes, go three and three. That is not the case. You have to use all six of your votes for one nominee. And that's the end of the report.

Okay, thank you. So that's pretty much a no brainer for this item. PlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlusPlus then can we get a motion to approve that we nominate Robert Gonzalez for the water basin. Authority board.

Move to approve nomination of Azusa council member.

Mayor.

I'm sorry, he's a mayor. Oh, I'm sorry. No, I said.

Well, he referred to him as council member Robert Gonzalez. So.

and his candidacy for the San Gabriel Water Quality Authority.

So if I may, Mayor Pro Tem, just amend that motion to cast Monterey Park six votes to Robert Gonzalez. I think he's nominated already. So if that's okay to amend it to casting our six votes.

Just to clarify, yeah, that's fine.

Okay, I'll second that.

Okay. Vincent, please call over you on mute.

Right. Council member Peter Chan.

Yes.

Council member Hans Liang.

Yes.

Council member Fred Tsunoso. Aye. Mayor pro tem Henry Lo. Aye. And Mary Van Yu.

Yes.

The motion carries.

Okay. Thank you. All right. So item six, a resolution to support of the city of modern park decorations of the November 14th to 20th, 2021 as United Against Hate Week. So any staff reports on that?

City Manager? Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Council Members,

as you recall at our last council meeting, it was agreed upon by city council that you would declare this week

or at the last council meeting United Against Hate Week

and you requested staff to come back with the resolution declaring that week, the hate week, United against hate week,

before you, you have that resolution to solidify and make that resolution to tuition.

Okay. So any questions or any public comments?

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Audience, if you want to speak on this item,

please use the raise hand feature or be on the phone.

Please start nine at this time.

Madam Mayor, there are no speakers on this item nor are there any written communication. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, so do we have questions?

Yes, Madam Mayor, please, if I may. Actually, I just want to, well, first of all, let me just say thank you to the city manager for the update. If you're caught the last company, I mean, we had agreed to acknowledge this week and with a follow up have the resolution,

but I also want to thank one of our residents

who brought this to attention of our clerk, Ms. Susan Trung.

And actually let me also segue into Ms. Trung's

work in community. So she is a resident of Monterey Park,

but she actually has been organizing community walks every Wednesday between 7 and 9 at Sierra Vista Park because of the heavy presence of

seniors who socialize, they do their exercises, not to mention some of our youth who play basketball.

This came out of concern of the rise this year of specifically hate crimes directed towards

Asian Americans. And so Ms. Truong and some other residents have coalesced around an organization

called Asian Seeking Action or ATA. And they actually have also done community walks in San

Gabriel where there have been unfortunately reported in the news attacks against some seniors.

And so it is through the work that Ms. Truong have done that she also contacted our city

to adopt this resolution,

which is a county adopted resolution as well as resolution that's been adopted nationwide.

Okay. Any other questions, comments from any council member? Council, oh no. Okay. So, okay. If not, then can we get the motions to approve item 68?

Move for approval.

I'll second. I'll second it.

Okay. Vincent, please call me.

Council member Peter Chen.

Yes.

Council member Hans Leanne. Yes. Council member Fred Sinoso. Aye. Mayor Henry Lo. Aye. And Mayor Yvonne Yu.

Yes.

Motion carries. Thank you.

All right, so future agenda. So the closing remarks, so Council member Chen.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. And wish everyone has a wonderful, nice Thanksgiving holiday. And after a few years without any parties or whatever, I had a big party, a Thanksgiving party. And I welcome all the council members and staff come over to my house to finish my leftovers in the refrigerator. But it's a leftover, okay? And if you don't mind, come to my house. We can have a good dinner. Thank you for that. And also, we, the council members, attended the flag raising by actually council member Fesinosos' uncle, Frank. Uncle Frank did the flag raising on the fire station 62 because American Legion 397 donated a United States flag to the station. And thank you for Uncle Frank, have the honor to raise the flag. So thank you for that. And also we do attend the coffee with the cops. A lot of residents came and I want to thank the police department putting this together so the residents can talk and chat with the cops over donut and coffee. So that was a very good event. So thank you for that. And just wish everyone stay safe and holidays coming. So wish everyone has a happy holidays. And also would like to, since we have the mayor rotation pretty soon, and I would like to propose the council representing to the different outside commissions be taken up. Maybe someone wants to change the commissions or whatever. So let's consider those maybe sometime next year in January or February. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Neck.

Thank you, Mayor. I attended the flag raising as well. it was um i have some really great pictures i'll share uh with the city um it was really an honor to have uh as as peter said uh uncle frank uh councilmember sonoso's uncle world world world war ii veteran uh actually raised the flag that was uh really nice i also attended uh sort of an informal meeting along with uh mayor pro tem low i think he discussed that before over at sierra Vista Park and we met with Susan Truong and the Asians Taking Action group. So we had some good discussions and you know we're very happy that they're taking the time to be out in the community and be present. Other than that I have nothing to report. I want to wish everyone a happy holidays as usual and let's all stay vigilant. We've all seen in the news new variants are coming out and And we have Christmas and New Year's that we all are planning to celebrate. So let's be vigilant, make sure you get your vaccines and stay safe. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilman Feshan-Mussel.

So I also want to thank Fire Chief Matt Halleck for inviting my uncle, like Council Member Lang and Chen mentioned my uncle's a World War II vet, 96 years old, but still going strong for 96, is able to hoist that flag up there and give a proper salute. And then they also invited him to have lunch. I think it was yesterday, wasn't it? Yeah. I mean, I'm getting old too, so I forget. It was yesterday. So he had a good time having lunch with the fire fighters at the station 61. So thank you, Chief Matt. And then also I was wondering if Santa could come back on the Santa that appeared earlier. He could make another appearance if he's still on. If he hasn't gone home to the North Pole yet, is Santa still here someplace? No more Santa?

No, unfortunately Santa's already gone back to the North Pole. He had to get

started on finishing up all the presents for Christmas.

Had to beat the rush hour traffic back in the morning. He's back in the workshop with the elves.

Because someone I know submitted a letter to Santa a couple of weeks ago and we haven't received a response yet. So I don't know if we're on that term. Yeah.

The deadline is this Friday and responses from what I understand from Santa, the responses will start, they'll start receiving them after the December 3rd.

Okay, because just didn't know if this person was a been naughty instead of nice and didn't get a letter from Santa so okay I'll let them know that letters coming soon. For the snow village that's happening I think a week from tomorrow I've never been to one before. So I have an inner tube that can I bring my inner tube and is there like a hill where it could slide down the snow and or maybe like a toboggan where all five council members could get on the toboggan slide down together on the.

So we do have two sled runs, and we do provide the sleds for those sled runs because they fit right into the snow run. So two people can go down at a time.

So if two council members would like to race each other down, we can certainly make that happen.

Okay. Well, I'm putting out a challenge to my fellow council members to have a race down the hill. And then can City Manager Ron Bowe make an appearance? I have a question. for him. So Ron, for resolution United against hate week, I'm in support of that fully, but being a Dodger fan, does that apply when we go to the stadium and go against the Giants? Is that like an exemption for the hate's kind of a strong word, but a strong dislike for the team up North?

I think there's probably a resolution somewhere along the lines of dislike might be appropriate.

So maybe we can make an amendment to our hate week thing that a strong dislike for the team up north. Don't want to mention names, but I think everybody knows what I'm talking about. So. All right. And other than that. Just want to wish everybody a happy I guess we're going to meet before Christmas. Right. So I'll hold off on that until next time. But just want to make sure Santa knows that, you know, we're expecting a response. So come on through Santa. So that's all I got. Thank you.

Thank you. Mayor Frotempo. Yes. Thanks so much, Madam Mayor.

You know, I also just also want to mention that I think some of us last year had an opportunity to meet Councilman Sanoso's uncle Frank when they did a caravan for his birthday. And so, you know, I think it's always special to meet our local heroes.

And so, you know, thank you, Fred, for sharing Uncle Frank to our community.

Also, I also wanted to just acknowledge tonight that I recently made an additional appointment to one of my commissions.

And I'd like to just acknowledge Mr. Rufus Sprague, who I have recently appointed to serve on the city's commission on aging.

And as always, we appreciate those in our community who have stepped up and offered to put in their time to advise and counsel on how we can adopt policies to make the city more responsive to its residents.

and in this case to our senior citizens community.

So again, thank you, Mr. For First Break

for stepping up to serve.

Also, I wanted to report to the city council that about two weeks ago,

I was given a unique opportunity by the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments.

Two weeks ago, the COG invited council members

from throughout the Singapore Valley to tour and spend the night at the Esperanza Villa in

Baldwin Park. And for those of you who may have read about the news or heard it on TV,

the Esperanza Villa in Baldwin Park is the Singapore Valley's first tiny home village.

and this project, the pilot project,

but it was made possible by a grant by the county

in cooperation with the St. Louis Valley Council of Governments

and, of course, the city of Baltimore Park,

which stepped up and offered to be the pilot site for Esperanza Village.

But it's 25 tiny homes. and

Monterey Park.

RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus. RobPlus.

RobPlus.

they had their official opening of Esperanza Villa.

And I also attended that ribbon cutting as well.

That was attended by Supervisor Carlos Solis,

our Congresswoman Judy Chu,

of course the officials from Baltimore Park.

But because this is a regional project,

officials from the Sangamah Valley, the COG, local area,

council members also see this project and whether or not it is a model for the region to address the homelessness that we're all facing in our collective region.

So it was a very interesting experience.

Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Potemba. Actually, I also got invited to the tiny home. But then, yeah, actually, I was in San Francisco, so I cannot attend. I think you were actually in a better position. And that is, I don't know if I'm tiny enough to fit in. with my husband.

They're very spacious. They are very spacious. And I mean, if anyone did, I can share pictures that I took. But the home themselves, I mean, they have a twin-size bed as well as air conditioning and heating, Wi-Fi, shelving, tables and chairs. I mean, it's almost like a little room, you know, in college.

Wow. Oh, good, good, good to know. Yeah. So it must be a good experience. So thank you so much for letting us know. Oh, council member. I have a question for Henry.

How many approximate, how much square feet is those tiny homes?

Oh, that I do apologize. I, you know, I can find out.

I'm sure the COG would be willing to share the information.

Again, I mean, I guess if I wanted to visualize how big a typical twin bed size is,

but it was flush against the wall as well as there was enough space for a small desk and a chair and shelving to put your stuff.

So, you know, I'd have to get dimensioned, but it seemed at least space enough for all of those, all of that furniture,

as well as I mentioned, air conditioning, heating and lighting as well. So you think like 20 by 20, 20 feet by 20 feet? I would imagine probably. Probably. Yeah. Thank you.

Thank you. And then I also prepare like a 200 small Christmas gift to our staff. I'm sorry if you have not received one as this is the maximum capacity my sister can make. And she make about 200, actually lotion this year. She made 200. I kept one to myself. It is just a little something for all of you. Last year I gave of some soap as gift for cleaning your hand and i think after one year of cleaning um i think we need lotion this year so i hope you like as my house become a factory every weekend and my mom was help packaging you know help packing the gift and my sister family prepared the lotion i'm the laziest one as i only responsible to pay so but anyway so um yeah i wish everyone you know a happy holiday we can save it also to the next council meeting but um yeah if we don't have any last minutes comments questions from anyone last call all right so now's the meeting adjourned thank you