City Council Meeting — January 19, 2022

to join the meeting, their name and or phone number will be visible to all participants. Note that all public meetings will be recorded. Okay, meeting call to order. I'd like to also do a flag salute, so please rise. Pinch the flag. Try to hold your heart. Ready to begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which

it stands, one nation under God. One nation under God, in the vote, and the justice for all.

Thank you very much.

Need it. Okay. Roll call, please.

Thank you. Council member Yvonne Yu. Here. Council member Peter Chan. Here.

Council member Hans Liang. Here. Mayor Pro Tem Fred Cernoso. Here. Mayor Henry Lo. Present. Thank you. All present. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Clerk, and Happy New Year. Okay. Agenda additions, relations, changes, and adoptions. I'm Mr. City Attorney.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. There are no reportable actions from the special meeting

and closed session that was held at 530.

The city council did, however, roll over items 1A and 1B

from the open session agenda from the special meeting.

And those were placed under consent calendar

for this particular meeting. I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. Mr. City Attorney, any questions? Council members. Okay, hearing none.

Let's proceed. Public communications. While all comments are welcome, the Brown Act does not allow City Council to take action on any item not on the agenda. The Council may briefly respond

to comments after public communication is closed. Versus may in addition to any other matter within the city council's subject matter jurisdiction,

comment on agenda items at this time. If you provide public comment on a specific agenda item at this time, however, you cannot later provide comments at the time the agenda item is considered. The communications, none, presentations.

We have 1A, new flashing yellow aero traffic signals. Mayor? I'm sorry, yes.

Did you want me to go ahead and check with the audience to see if there are any public communications for this meeting?

Of course, my apologies for not doing that. Yes, clerk, is there any communications?

Thank you, Mayor. audience if you want to speak during public communications now's the time to do so please use the raise hand feature or if you're on the phone press star nine at this time

and the first speaker phone number ending in 406 please state your name

R6 to unmute.

Happy New Year, honorable members of the Monterey Park City Council, Mayor Lo, Mayor Pro Temp Sornoso, Councilmembers Hans Leong, Peter Chan, and Yvonne Yu. My name is Charles Leong, and I have

the honor and privilege of representing the women and men of SCIU Local 721, 90,000 members strong. I wanted to make comments tonight to wish you all a Happy New Year. I hope you and everyone in the Monterey Park family had a wonderful holiday season. I want to reiterate what was said last month by myself and my sisters and brothers with SCIU Local 721 that we want to build a relationship with the city of Monterey Park. We have some unresolved outstanding issues with the Public Works Department. We have an issue that's been brought up in a couple of other departments. There's some issues that were brought up with relation to a supervisor. Your HR director is still relatively new, and she's helped set up a meeting for us. But we're looking forward to this being a year of results and of some positive action, collaboration, and relationship building. I know some of you on the dais are involved with your union yourself, so you understand the value that labor brings to the table, that the essential workers that we all are, that we all are part of, and the essential work that we do, what we've brought to the table for the last two years, especially during the pandemic. Folks want to feel valued. Folks want to feel appreciated. And we're hoping that 2022 will be a year of results. And we're hoping that the city of Monterey Park will work with SAU Local 721 in the Monterey Park chapter. And we appreciate you. And thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next speaker, Brian Kua.

Hi, this is Brian Kua from the Association of U.S. Vietnam General Chamber of Commerce. We would like to extend our request to establish a relationship with Phu Mì in Vietnam. First of all, Phu Mì is a new developed town within the department of Vong Thao City.

It's about 60 minutes away from Ho Chi Minh City in South Vietnam, which is the main economic city in South Vietnam.

And currently, Pumi is a seaport for all the cruise ships around the world to visit South

Vietnam.

To develop a friendship city within two cities, Montepal and Boone, we can expand the exchange in educational, the cultural and economic within two cities. Please, we would like to the Council to accept the proposal. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Mayor Aydoun, next speaker, Charles Mao.

Yes, this is Charles Mao. I'm the president of the City's, uh montry park sister cities commission and building on what brian quark mentioned i would just like to report that the sister city council commission met on january the fall and this matter of uh friendship city uh with whom for me was brought up and the commissioners unanimously voted to accept the the memorandum of understanding as is submitted at that meeting and and we we all feel that this is a good city for us to start a friendship partnership, friendship city partnership with because locally we have quite a few Vietnamese people residents of Monterey Park and in the surrounding area which have close relationship with

Vietnam. So I think it would be a very, very good choice for us to enter a relationship with FUMI. And so I will ask the council members to vote to pass the resolution item 6A, I believe, later on

to accept the MOU with the city of Thank you.

Thank you.

There are no other speakers for public communications.

Thank you, clerk. Okay. Then thank you all for presenting those who have made public communications.

Next we'll proceed to presentations. First presentation item 1A, new flashing yellow arrow chrismic signals. I see we have our head of public work, Mr. Frank Lopez. Will you be making that presentation today? Yes. Good evening, Mayor. Thank you. I will. Okay. All right. Well, good evening, Mayor, again. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Council members, Frank Lopez, Director of Public Works, City Engineer. I have a presentation for you here tonight regarding flashing yellow left-hand arrows, traffic signals. Next slide.

So what is a flashing yellow arrow or a flashing yellow left turn arrow?

That's what I'll be going through in the following slides.

But essentially, as you see in this picture, this is what the signal head would look like for a flashing yellow left turn arrow traffic signal.

If you're familiar with what a protected permissive signal might look like,

essentially the flashing yellow arrow replaces the solid green ball that would normally be there. And so, next slide. The flashing yellow arrows have been used over about the last decade to help improve traffic flow and reduce collisions. They allow for more efficient left turn movements than traditional left, protected left turns, and thereby providing opportunities for vehicles to get through the intersection without having to wait for another full cycle. Next slide. Now, obviously, as the name implies, the signal heads feature a flashing yellow arrow in addition to the red, yellow, and green arrows.

And as I mentioned previously, the signals are replacing the traditional protected permissive signal with a green ball.

So the flashing yellow arrow draws attention for drivers to be cautious and make their left turn with caution as they must yield to oncoming traffic. Next slide.

So here again, we have the signal head you're looking at. We have the solid red arrow at the top, which means to stop or do not enter the intersection. We have the solid yellow arrow, which means to slow down or prepare to stop.

I'll jump down to the green arrow, which means proceed with your turning movement. And usually in this case, U-turns would yield in case they're right-turn cross-traffic movements. And finally, you can see the flashing arrow here, which means that they should yield. However, when it's safe, they may complete the left turn movement. They'd be yielding to vehicles and pedestrians and judging the safe distance to be able to make that turn.

Next slide. Here in the slide, sorry, just reiterates what I mentioned previously,

The submissive left turn requires the driver to make a judgment of whether it's safe to complete the turn, similar to making a left turn from a driveway or left turn lane.

And when the flashing yellow arrow is not active, the traffic signal works the same

as the traditional signals requiring the drivers to follow the rules for red, yellows, and

the green arrow lights, as I explained.

Next slide. And just for clarity, here we have the different phases of the signal. So you have the red arrow, which means, again, stop, do not enter the intersection.

The green, this is the sequence that the light would work in, again. So you would have a red, right, and you're stopped. You then would get your green arrow, and that is when you would proceed.

In this case, you have a protected left turn phase, and so vehicles will be able to make their left turn while the arrow is green. Then you would have a steady or solid yellow arrow, which would indicate that the signal is about to change, and so either you must complete your turn or stop.

And then finally, you would have the signal go into the flashing yellow arrow mode, at which time it can be used like a permissive turning signal, which means that, again, they would make the turn when it's safe. They must yield to oncoming traffic and pedestrians.

I'm going to show you which really helps to show you how the signal works. Go ahead and play the video please.

So there you have the green. So vehicles are making the left turn because oncoming traffic is currently stopped with a red. Next the steady yellow will go and the vehicle has paused.

Here you have the flashing yellow, the vehicles waiting for the cross traffic to go.

Then you have cars slow down again because of oncoming traffic. And then they make the turn when it's safe.

You go to steady yellow, the vehicle actually came to a stop, which was good. And you have your red again. Next slide. So we're going to have several new intersections with these flashing yellow left-hand arrow signal heads.

South Garfield and Graves.

Very specifically, I wanted to mention that one because that one is our first one. And it should be operational within the month. We actually expect to turn on the flashing yellow on about January 28th, barring any issues in weather, inclement weather. But the following signals will be coming within about a year.

That's North Garfield at Hellman, North Garfield at Emerson, and North Alhambra at Hellman.

And so we'll all receive the flashing yellow arrow signal heads.

We've created a page under the Public Works webpage on the city website that will be providing some of the same information that I've provided for you here tonight. Should be active by the end of the week. We'll be updating it with current and new information which helps people understand how the flashing yellow arrow functions. We'll also be producing a video in collaboration with our police department to help explain the new signals and their operation. And that video may also be translated in Chinese and Spanish. And then, next slide. And finally, we just want to point out that whenever you can reduce delays and keep traffic flowing efficiently, it reduces emissions. And since these flashing yellow arrows have been studied and have resulted in up to 50% reduced delays, it carries that, then they will also help reduce emissions and have shown to reduce emissions by up to 12%. And so I can answer any questions that you have, but otherwise,

that concludes my presentation. Thank you, Frank, very much for that Okay, council members, let's see. I see Senator Chad has his hand up. I'll call upon you first. Thank you, Mayor. And yes, thank you, Director Nopis for the presentation. And one question is on the solid yellow.

Can you still make a left turn on the solid yellow? So again, the solid yellow arrow or the steady yellow arrow will mean that the signal is about to change and you should prepare to stop. However, if you're already in the process of making your left turn, you would complete it. But, you know, no more vehicles would get through. The signal will then change. So it means the same thing as another, you know, slow down, get ready for the signal to change. You complete the turn from the protected phase, but then the signal will change to flashing yellow. And then after flashing, then it will mostly… Flashing then allows you to make the judgment when it's safe.

And then it will turn to red. It will stop. After flashing yellow, you go to red.

And then my next question is that all these flashing yellow signals, is it on all four corners or four ways, right? So, no, it is not all four ways. If you haven't heard us say it in the past or me say in the past, you know, you always need a traffic city to validate a new traffic control device. and so left turns just like you know with stop signs must be validated by traffic volume and so we do warrant analysis and warrant studies and so in the case of well the first one that's going to be opening up is the south guard field at graves so the left turn movement will only be in the well the flashing yellow the protected and flashing yellow so it's protected permissive is what it's called, will be in the north-south direction. I see. So on Graves, there's no flashing yellow? No. So if you're on Graves going east-west and you wanted to make a left turn, let's say you're heading eastbound and you wanted to make a northbound left onto Garfield, you would use the signal the same way. You use any normal signal with the three, red, yellow, green. I see. Then what about the ones that you mentioned on Helmand and Garfield and Alhambra? Are they the same, just only two ways of flashing yellow? Yes, they will operate where the left turn, the new features of the flash and yellow will only be in the arterial or the major roadway, which for the two on Garfield would be Garfield and for the one on Alhambra and Hellman, it'll be on Hellman, I believe. I see. So when will it be completed? So Garfield and Graves is getting ready to be completed here within the month. plus or minus. The other three are currently out to bid. We should be closing bids and maybe by next week if we have enough plan holders. If not, we may extend the bid date a little bit just to make sure we get a larger number of bidders. And then once we bid the project, we'll bring that forward to council for award of that project that was part of the other three signals are part of the HSIP Cycle 7 grant. And then probably about 12 months for them to get completed.

You see. And I saw recently there's some public works and roadblocks on the graves and Garfield. So that's the working in progress of this changing the signals, isn't it?

Yes, yes. This past week they've been working on the hardscape, the ADA Ramsen. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, customer Chan. I see customer has his hand up. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, Frank, for the report. I just have some questions, a little more details on the, on these signals. Is it just operating based on a time loop or is it ones where in the, in the street you have sensors that are placed to be able to measure, you know, the impact of the traffic, I mean, whether it's blocked up or not? Well, it's kind of a combination, Councilman. We do have the loops in the roadway that detect vehicles there, and those loops help trigger the signal so they don't stay, for instance, in the green in one direction for any longer than it has to, so it'll know that there's traffic waiting and it'll switch. So we do have the loop detectors. Actually, I'm sorry, in this case, we actually have a camera. I'm so used to talking about the loop detectors. We have a camera detection system on this, which we're trying to upgrade to modern and current devices. So we have the latest traffic signal controller. We have the camera system to detect traffic all four ways. And so, but the camera works very similar. It detects that the cars are there and it triggers a signal. So, for instance, if when cars are not there, it allows the green to stay longer on the opposing side. Okay, and then just another quick question in terms of the phasing of the lights. I understand you have the red arrow, you have the yellow arrow, you have the flashing yellow, and then you have the green, right? Now, in terms of the sensor, the cameras, et cetera, would it, in certain circumstances, create a, for example, a red arrow, or sorry, a green arrow to a yellow arrow to a red arrow without the flashing yellow, given that the traffic is impacted, that even, you know what I'm saying? it's like even if we're flashing people couldn't make a left turn anyways because the traffic is impacted is that um or does it always follow the phasing of green yellow flashing yellow red so it will always follow that it goes you know green arrow to event to flashing yellow however it's not yellow first and then flashing yellow well yeah i just kind of shortened it But yeah, so go from red to green to solid yellow arrow to flashing yellow back to red. Okay. However, it could skip that whole phase completely if there were no vehicles in the left-hand pocket. And then it could go straight to flashing yellow, I believe, is what it can do. Okay. All right. Thank you. Oh, just a quick comment. I don't know if you're around, Frank, but I don't know how many years ago there was something that we were discussing this and my aunt, who has since passed, but she had a place in Vegas. And she was talking to me about this protective or permissive left turn because she was frustrated when she had to wait at a left turn, wait for a green arrow to make a left turn in City of Monterey Park when there's no traffic coming the other way. So it's taken some time. I don't know if you're around then, but it's good to see that we're utilizing the newer technology. And also, I was surprised also, Frank, for the information regarding the reduction in emissions. And, you know, that's a significant, I think, 12%. That's a good thing as well. So thank you for answering those questions. I don't have any more on that. Councilman Lang, any other questions, comments from my colleagues?

Okay. Hearing none. Okay. Thank you, Frank, for that presentation. Okay. Next presentation, item 1B, Petro Grande Improvements Update. Is that also on your show, Mr. Frank Lopez? Yes. Okay.

So this presentation is the Pichero Grande improvements update. I believe it's probably been a long time coming and so now we have some updates to provide you. Next slide.

So the original project may have been called Petro Grande beautification project. I've also heard just simply Petro Grande improvement project. But just to clarify, we're talking about the improvements that would have occurred or been constructed along Petro Grande between

Markland Drive and Arroyo Drive, which is shown here right in the center. And it's rotated a little bit, but basically from southwest on the left to northeast on the right-hand side. There

you can see the cemetery. So this project was being funded by proceeds from bonds issued by

the former redevelopment agency. These funds are now included in the general fund. And back in about 2016, the design contract was awarded to RKA, which is one of the firms that's done work for of the city, both through on-call services and other projects.

The project was to include rehabilitation of the roadway, beautification through new

landscape medians and parkways, improved sidewalks and ramps to comply with ADA. Another design consideration was to add bike lanes. If you don't know, the city several years ago partnered with BikeSGB,

which is now activist UB and other neighboring cities like the ball in parks and Gabriel money

to develop the St. Gabriel Valley bicycle master plan. Chapter five of that master plan is Monterey parks bicycle master plan. And so the master plan included this specific corridor and actually

a full corridor, the full corridor actually extends further east and further west

than these limits. However, without additional study and funding and coordination, it would have been difficult to build bike lanes through the whole segment. Next. This yellow border here

shows the portion of Patero Grande that would probably be able to accept bike lanes safely. Next. And this blue border here shows the section of the old project limits that would be very

difficult to add bicycle lanes on without removing features. One consideration at one point was to remove on-street parking and the intent was to come forth to council to discuss that. Possibly also removing some of the design features like the medians to try to fit in or squeeze in bike lanes.

you to get caught up into the details, just showing you cross sections of the roadway from the original design or the original conceptual design. So the top cross section,

so imagine slicing the road across. So you have sidewalk on the left, sidewalk on the right from each side. But in the top section, that is representative of Petro Grande between Markland and the marketplace, which is if you travel that direction, if you go to the marketplace, you know that's a nice wide section of the roadway. And so, again, it would have been easy, a lot easier to fit bicycle lanes through here. But you can see how we were fitting in the median and making roadway improvements and other improvements. The Lor cross section, I think it's pretty clear to see that it's much narrower. And with the median included, it would have been difficult, especially on the southerly side of the road to fit bike lanes. This section represents east of Marketplace Drive, so east of Saturn between Marketplace and Arroyo. And so, again, just pointing out a much narrower improved roadway, which would have been difficult to fit bike lanes in. Next slide. Then in February of 2020, Metro released its Metro Active Transportation Cycle 1 program, which is a grant program to fund active transportation projects that include transit, reach, and facilities improvements, bicycle facilities, pedestrian facilities, etc. The program would be funded through Measure M funds and it had identified about $857 million to be spent over the next 40 years through grant cycles of about two to five years. So we got in on the first cycle. Next slide. So, Iron Park Park submitted a joint application together with the cities of Montebello, Rosemead, and also LA County Public Works with Monterey Park as the lead agency.

We applied for what was called the, at the time it was called the Chavez-Riggin-Peturo Grande Corridor. It's been slightly modified since then. And so we were actually selected for award of the grant for approximately $6.4 million for active transportation improvements.

requirements. Next slide. So currently we're working to finalize the funding agreement with Metro. We hope to have that done within the next month, month and a half, after which

we'd bring that forth to City Council for approval and execution, and then it would go back to Metro. But also, again, this created new project limits, and one of the reasons why this project has been on hold. And those limits would be from the western city limits

or westerly city limits on First Street at Vancouver, and then Easterly to Atlantic, then to Riggin, to Markland, then to Patro Grande, and then along Patro Grande to our east city limits and continuing along Patro Grande through the unincorporated LA County

and into Rosemead along West Street all the way to the Alhambra Washes. That's the project that was identified and what we applied for.

Next slide.

So here I wanted to show you the new project limits. Next. And there you go, highlighted in yellow. I know it would have been difficult to see. So First Street at the West Relief City Limits about Vancouver. And as I mentioned, it follows First Street to Atlantic, to Rigan, to Marklin, to Petro Grande, and on east there. Next slide. So the new project or the project now proposes continuous bicycle facilities through that whole corridor. That would be Class 2 and 3 bicycle lanes. You may be familiar with a project we did a few years back which already has included some Class II and Class III bicycle lanes through the Riggin corridor. And so we'd be connecting to those now all the way from again from Rosemead on the eastern side through Petro Grande through Markland Riggin. And so it would be a continuous bicycle facilities. And on the westerly side, one of the reasons we chose First Street rather than Cesar Chavez was because the county actually did not like Cesar Chavez for bicycle lanes. And they chose to move their facility down. The connection for their bicycle facilities under a separate project would be along First Street. So we would be connecting to the county facilities, which would mean that we have continuity and connectivity regionally. And so also we want to make sure we are providing continuous and connected pedestrian facilities. So we'd be filling in gaps with sidewalk, rehabilitating our roadways, making sure ADA ramps are compliant. it. And so we would be replacing ramps at several intersections and several other traffic safety improvements, push buttons that include the countdown heads, improved bus stop infrastructure and street lighting and signage, of course, and striping. Next slide.

Here's just another map or diagram that kind of points out the different sections of the

project. Briefly, you know, the kind of light blue is class two bike lanes. The red is class three. The solid are facilities that are already constructed, existing. And so the dashed is where we're proposing new facilities. So you can see that from we start on the right hand side from Rosemead. We're proposing class two bike lanes all the way from Rush Street and down Petura Grande with some class three bike lanes through Markland and Riggin to connect to the existing Riggin facilities and then to connect over to Atlantic and then First Street. Next slide. Here are just a couple of cross sections of the roadway again. These are conceptual, so that's why they look a little bit different. They just show the roadway width in the section along Petro Grande between Marketplace and Arroyo, which kind of shows the much narrower roadway on the right-hand side, this is the section up at the top. And so the improvements below, the proposed improvements would connect sidewalk, connect curb and gutter to provide the room for bicycle facilities. It would widen the curb to curb area. Next slide. That concludes my presentation I can answer any questions for you. Thank you, Frank. Okay. Wonderful presentation.

Council members, questions and comments? I see Mayor Pro Temp has a hand raised. Mayor Pro Tempston also.

Thank you for the presentation. Frank, can you tell me what the difference is between the different classes of bike. You mentioned class two, class three. What does that mean? Sure. Yes. Sorry. Class two bicycle lanes. Well, I'll go through the four classes just real briefly. Class one bike lanes. That's a bicycle trail, completely separated bicycle trail, usually two way. Not very many, if any, crossings. In other words, you enter the bike trail, you exit the bike trail. Once in a while you get some crossings if it goes across major roadways. That's a class one. Class two bicycle lanes are the painted bike lanes that are usually about four feet wide that you see alongside the roadway. Sometimes where there is parking, sometimes where there's no parking. So you'll see about a four foot wide striped designated area for bicycles. Those are class two. Class three, which are called bicycle routes, bicycle Boulevards. Those are usually indicated either by signs that says bicycle route or by painted, they're called sharrows. And so kind of a couple of chevrons with a bicycle symbol. And so they share the roadway with the vehicles. And although I know some people might consider that, you know, what's the difference between just riding your bike? Well, this is a designated bike route to connect different bicycle facilities. And then class four is similar to a class two, except it's protected, it's separated by some kind of barrier. So these are popping up now in different agencies, different cities. And so it's a bike lane. It can be one way or it could be a two way, but it's usually protected or there's a barrier. It could be curb or a median, a planted, you know, a thin landscape median. Sometimes it's simply permanent delineators with sometimes planter boxes in between. But they have more separation. They have more protection barrier. So that's class four. So I know Regan here by my house had those painted bike lanes. I'm guessing that's a class two? Yeah, it has a combination. There's a section that has the class two painted bike lanes, which the bicycle would ride between, and then it also has sharrows. Okay. And then on your map, you had indications that there's going to be bicycle parking. What is bicycle parking?

Not sure if I had bicycle parking on there. Oh, I'm sorry. I know what you mean. yes, we'll be providing the facilities for people to be able to park their cars like bike racks. That'll be located at identified locations where it makes sense. If you ever go down Garvey, you see

our bicycle racks along the way. Are those those bars that look like bicycles? Yes.

All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. And next, I see customer Chan has his hand raised. Customer Chan. Thank you, Mayor. And, yeah, I think it's a good thing that we have this project coming. And Petro Grande is, because of the marketplace, it's getting busier and busier. And so it's good to improve it, including the bike lanes and everything. And I have a question. In concept, I kind of agree everything. Only one question is on Markland. Now, on Reagan, we have already said the bike lanes is done. It's paved. It's all done. Markland is a residential area, and the street is not that wide. I know it's two lanes, two back and forth. is it enough space to have a and I don't think it's going to be a class one like laying on Markland right no likely that section of Markland would be a class three which would be the bicycle route signs and possibly the painted sharrows so which means the bicycles will share the roadway drive aisle with the vehicles. I see. And it should be safe too. I think you have done the studies and some due diligence on Markland and all the areas that you're proposing. So safety is one of the biggest concerns that everyone has. So the study warrants the safety of having a bike on Moklin, isn't it true?

Well, we've done some preliminary analysis and we feel like the roadway would allow for that.

We definitely will, once we actually get the funding and once the funding agreement is completed and we can move forward, part of the process will be the preliminary engineering, which will be the more definitive studies to make sure that that's all safe and to let us know of any mitigations that we might have to make. I see. And then all this funding, as you said, is from metro and other funding sources. So there's no general fund is needed in the city, right?

Well, part of the application, you know, and something that a lot of grant programs like to

see is participation from the agency that's applying, you know. And so we still intend to use some of the monies that were dedicated to the original Petro Grande project. But we now have of the $6.4 million that will help us with the bicycle lanes. So the original project wasn't going to pay for as much of the facilities, and now we actually get to improve the corridor with active transportation features. And so that will pay for that. But it will also be improving, again, all the way from our Westerly State Alignments along 1st Street. It will improve that roadway. We'll add the bicycle facilities, et cetera, through the whole corridor. But there will be a lot less money required from our general funds. Yes. Good. And then I would also suggest.

Thank you, Council Member Chen. Any of my colleagues have any questions?

Okay, I have a question, Mr. Lopez. So I wanted to ask, so again, my understanding, and again, thank you for the presentation, these are class two and class three type bicycle lanes.

Is that correct?

Yes. Okay. Now, given that because we are going to extend it to a pass, a busy shopping center in the marketplace, as well as rigging, which my understanding is that it's also used by residents as well as commuters.

is there any possibility of where it may be possible and again I know you said you you're

done or in possibility in safety studies to maybe add some I don't know barriers even if you're like plastic pole type barriers adjust so anyone that does ride the bicycle you know there is some degree of safety, especially, I imagine, you know, again, Councilman Chan just mentioned that Markland, it's a more narrow street, but because we are talking about Petro Grande and Brigham, which are also used by commuters, is there any possibility of that?

Good question, Mayor. I did forget to mention that at least the class two bicycle lanes that are along Petro Grande are going to be buffered bicycle lanes. That means that besides the

riding strip, they include an additional buffer of at least two additional feet. That's usually hatched to help the cars denote, to keep their space. Again, wherever it fits, our intent is to make it as safe as possible. However, there are the different classes of designated bike lanes

that we can use to not, I don't want to say like just fit them in, but you know, where

bicycle corridors are identified, we do our best to fit in the safest. But there are times, again, the reason they have bicycle boulevards and the sharrows is because there's some places where it's not. Of course, the corresponding speeds must be alLod for that to occur safely. And so So that's why a portion of the residential has the sharrows.

But, yeah, we'll be taking a look at that to see if it's possible. In order to have, you know, that buffer, you need space. And so I mentioned, you know, class four or similar to class two, but they have the extra barriers. Well, that takes up an additional usually two to four feet.

so you can't just make up that room without having it there.

But we'll definitely be taking a look at whatever we can do to make these as safe as possible. Okay. Also, given that we are working with Metro for this part of money, have we had conversations about, because they have a bicycle sharing program, whether or not it would be possible for us then to also locate bicycle sharing racks along that route, especially because if this is part of the larger Sangamon Valley Regional Bike Plan, then it would be possible to also then get some bike sharing racks from Metro to be situated along points along that route.

It's not included in this project. Again, this project is to construct the facilities, but that's definitely something that, you know,

the city wishes to discuss with Metro that can be looked into. I mean, I would be my interest in seeing whether or not we can encourage Metro, they are actually paying for this to also include bike sharing as well. As well as I'm actually, I don't know if it's a Metro program or some other organization, But I know like maybe a year ago in South Armani, I attended in that city, at their city hall, actually they inaugurated an e-bike sharing program.

And again, you know, if we're going to be part of the expanded network, then, you know, I think if we can, we should also encourage those type of alternative transportation.

And, you know, I forget the name of the partner, but perhaps if you reach out to Safo Mani,

they can share with whom they partnered with.

Absolutely. Okay. Any other questions or comments? I know this is a presentation. I'm hearing none. Can I hear you? Oh, yes. Yes. Yes, clerk. Yes, ma'am.

I think there's an audience that I want to speak on this presentation item.

Would you like me to come? Okay, yes, please, clerk. Yes, please. I'll call upon the member of the audience. Thank you. Hello.

Glad to hear that the city is continuing to pursue different sources of funding for bike paths.

I wanted to push for considering class four bike lanes since that area tends to have a lot of cars that drive quite fast with cars coming off the 63 way. I think having a median between the bike, bicyclists and the car, ongoing traffic in the area, make it much more safe for those who want to use active transportation around the area. Thank you.

Hello, there are no other speakers. Okay. Thank you. Actually, Mr. Lopez, the speaker who just made the JIPA class four, I know this was part of an application that we did with other cities, but is there any latitude for any adaptations or updates to what we've already submitted?

Well, we've actually been working through the funding agreement, and I want to say there's been some difficulty even in trying to do what we're trying to do, but Metro is working with us. Um, also, uh, our bicycle master plan, uh, calls out for these specific treatments as, as part of the treatments. And so, um, I mentioned to you earlier, you know, there'd be need for additional right away possibly with it because it takes space to be able to fit in, uh, something larger.

And so, um, we're, we are buffering, uh, the bicycle lanes where we can. They include an extra couple feet to provide a buffer, but anything more than that might require.

But again, we will be looking at everything possible through the preliminary engineering process to make sure these are safe.

Okay. So will this then come back to the City Council for approval or an update on the staff of this project?

Yes. So hopefully the next time you hear about this, it will be to approval of the funding agreement.

Okay. And you'll have more fleshed out detail for us then? Essentially, it'll be the same detail that I provided tonight with regards to what the proposed design is. That will be what's included in the scope with Metro. Okay. Okay. We will await the item when it comes back to the city council. Okay. Thank you very much. Any other comments or questions, council members? Okay. Hearing none. Again, thank you, Frank, for that presentation. Both presentations. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Proceeding on to the agenda. Let's see. Oat business. We have none. Okay. Okay, on to consent calendar items number 3A through 3F. And as a reminder to the council as well as to the audience, we do also have carryover from the special session we had earlier this evening, item 1A and 1B that will be carried over into the consent agenda items. But in the meantime, any other items that we wish to pull, please?

Okay, I am not sharing any. Okay. Well, I'd like to then just for discussion, pull one A and one B from the special session of carried over. And with that, I hear no other items I have a motion then please to approve consent agenda item 3a to 3f with the exception of items 1 and 1b from the special meeting. Hello. Yes sir. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes.

Before you take the motion, can I just check with the audience if there's anybody who want to speak on consent?

Oh, again, my apologies. Yes. Please clerk. Please ask our audience. Thank you.

audience if you want to speak on consent calendar items 3a to 3f including 1a and 1b is this the time to do so please use the raise hand feature or if you're on the phone press star nine at this time hello i do not see any speakers for consent calendar items thank you okay thank

Thank you, thank you, Madam Clerk. Okay, all right. Yeah, move to approve items 3A through 3F on the consent calendar.

Okay, moved by Councilman Hans Liang, seconded by Councilmember Yvonne Yu. Clerk, please call roll.

Thank you. Councilmember Yvonne Yu? Yes. Councilmember Peter Chen?

Yes. Councilmember Hans Liang? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Fred Cernoso. Aye. And Mayor Henry Lo. Aye. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Clerk. And thank you, Council Members. Okay. Item 1A, again, which was carried over from the special session. Recommendation by the State Treasurer to transfer our idle fund from the local agency investment fund to the Los Angeles County investment pool. Our esteemed treasurer, Happy New Year. Please present us to us, please. Happy New Year, Mayor and Council Members, and of course, residents of Monterey Park. Joseph Leon, City Treasurer. Thank you so much. Yeah, if you refer to the investment report in your agenda, I know you already approved that consent, but it's part of the investment report also. If you can notice, all our idle funds in Monterey Park are invested in CDs, the Lafe, and the County Pool. Actually, recently we actually purchased new CDs because rates are going up a little bit, which is a good thing for us. In fact, we're always looking to diversify funds. In fact, recently I just asked our Director of Management Services to look into treasury bills because rates seem to be going up a little bit. So that's another potential win. We have purchased a treasury in the past. okay but if you look at your um investment report the county rate right now is 0.52 life rate is 0.21 okay um for the last few months i did my you know somewhat calculation the last few months the county return to monitor park has been 13 000 monthly life return to the to the minor park monthly has been $7,500. So you can see the county return is much better for minor park than life at this point. It does vary, but at this point, the kind of return is much, much better. Okay. I also want to assure the county, as we discussed this in the past, that the county is very safe and liquid. It takes approximately five to two, three to five, six days to move funds in the county. It's not as quick as life, which takes one or two days, but still three or five days. It's anything major and at this time i would like council to authorize me to move 10 to 15 million dollars temporary from lave to county as long as the county rate remains higher it could always be moved back at any time back into lave like i said it just takes two signatures myself and uh director of s of um to move the funds and county that's my request for tonight but in addition to that I'd like to just go a little further since thank you I have your attention I understand also the Chandler Corporation has concluded a cash analysis of the city of Monterey Park and they determined the Monterey Park has funds that we can invest long term three to five years and they they have a findings and a report I understand that the Chandler has provided a report to our director of asset management services I would ask council to direct our director of asset management services to provide myself and council a copy of that report and possibly also to post it for the residents of Monterey Park if possible. It would be great for all of us to have the report to see how they came to the conclusion. In addition, I've been trying to set up an investment committee meeting with staff for the last several months to discuss diversifying of our investments in Monterey Park. I understand staff is very busy, especially with COVID, everything going on. It's very busy. They're very busy. And I understand that. So therefore, tonight, I want to ask council if they can release staff of their burden to be on the investment committee and ask council instead and suggest that each council member appoint one resident to join me in the investment committee. What a better way to serve the residents of Montero Park than to allow them to have a voice as to how their money is invested in our city.

would like to ask our treasurer any questions um okay councilor bang you have your hand up please

yeah i just have some initial comments um i'm not uh prepared to make a decision on that tonight i do want to see uh the report that the treasurer is talking about uh i think it's the chandler report

and get some kind of background in regards to what analysis had taken place regarding the city, its funds, its investments, et cetera. I think that, yeah, I need to know more. And then also there's a big ask, and it sounds like changing some of the way that that committee is set up. I would also want to get some more input and study before I just make a decision tonight on that. I do want more information. I do want to see that report and some of the elements that the treasurer brought forth, I am not an expert on, and I would want to have our legal counsel provide some kind of analysis as well in terms of some of the changes that the treasurer is suggesting. And if those changes are deemed useful or acceptable by the council, what the process is to make those changes, but at this point in time, I don't have enough information to know whether or not those decisions would be beneficial, what the pros and cons are of going one way or the other, and I would like to see that report as well in terms of the analysis of our investments. So those are my comments right now.

Mayor, if I may, real quick.

Yes, sure, yes. Yes, I totally agree with Councilman Rohan on the report, but I also would like council at least tonight if nothing else to approve moving the funds temporarily from late to county so that the city can get a better return again keeping in mind that counties is is paying right now 0.52 percent and late is only paying 0.21 if we can move some funds from county from late to county at least the city will get a better

return if only temporary because we can always move it back like I said it only takes three to five days to move the funds back to LAFE or anywhere else we'd like to move it to. It's not tied in for a long-term

time. And if I remember correctly from the prior meetings we've had, a county has a higher rating than LAFE. That came up at the prior meeting that I believe our prior

mayor had requested. And we looked into it and the county has a higher return, at that time anyway, had a higher return than LAFE. So it's more secure than LAFE. So at least nothing else tonight. I'd like to move the funds because, again, we're all here for the best interest of the residents.

For me, yeah, I understand that. And I thank the treasurer for trying to maximize our city's money and investments. Again, for me, 10, 15 million, that sounds like a lot of money to me. And if I'm going to make a decision to move that much money into a fund, I want to know what the risks are. I want to know, you know, there's a, I want someone to give me more detail other than if we move it over there, the rate is better. I want more details on, on that. It's not to say that I wouldn't make a decision to move it, but 10 to 15 million sounds like a lot to, I mean, you know, we, if Martha's on, I don't know if that's considered a lot. Is that considered a little? Does that violate the investment policy regarding our safety, liquidity, and yield? And again, I think an outside party like that report that was referred to, I don't know if that addresses any of those issues. I don't know if Martha wants to comment on whether or not that $10 million to $15 million move is within policy and whether it's safe.

Thank you, Colin. I see our city manager just popped up. Yes, Mr. Rebeau? I just want to make a comment. You know, for us as staff and being your city manager, we are walking a fine line between you all elected officials, whether it's the city treasurer or the city council. So I would rather not put our management services director in that position in trying to wedge her between who's right and who's wrong. I would rather just take direction by council on, you know, what you would like us to do in fairness to her.

And at the end of the day, to direct staff, actually, you're directing me to carve out time with my staff. It's not it's not directing staff. You would be directing me to do it.

So just some clarification there, but just just a little bit clarity. Yeah, I think then in that case, the third party, whoever did that analysis, that's not our staff member who can give us some objective information on their analysis of our current investments. Like, that would be useful for me to make that decision to move $10 to $15 million. I don't know what my colleagues thinking if there's a, if 10 to 15 is, is there something they're comfortable with or do they need more information or is there an amount that they would be comfortable with it? You know, those are, those are just some of my concerns. I definitely want to do what's best for the residents, but at the same time, I'm being cautious to make sure that we're not making any missteps or violating any policy in engaging these specific matters. It's, you know, apparently there's a report. I would love to see it. And I would love to see what the third party who we hire to provide an analysis of our investment says. And even it would be great if we could have them present so we could ask them some of these questions as well to get that third party perspective. or something, you know, more of an objective perspective of, you know, what we should, what we shouldn't, what we can, what we can't, what is risky, what is not. You know, if we move into the LA County, is 15 million suitable? Should it be more, should it be less? You know, are we violating any rules? I need to know those things more clearly before I make a decision on that. But that's just my take on it. I'm the first to speak, so I'll allow my colleagues to speak as well, but I don't see any harm in bringing that report or giving that to us and having a discussion about that and then making a decision at that time. Those are my thoughts. I'm sorry, if I may. I know, Councilor, you have patiently been waiting, so if I can, let me ask her to ask for questions or comments. and I see Councilman Chan has his hand up as well.

So why don't we hear comments and questions from Council and then if it's already Mr. Treasurer, we can also have you comment as well. Is that all right? Yes, thank you. Okay, Councilman, are you, please? Thank you for your patience.

Oh, thank you so much, Mayor. And so, yeah, this is kind of last minute to know you have so many requests that we don't really expect it. So otherwise, you know, we should look more into it. But then I understand your intention. I think it's good because you wanted to, you know, hopefully get more return for the city, which we appreciate it. I actually look into all the credit rating before. Remember that I requested it from you and I did study them. And so I do agree with you that L.A. County actually has me doing really well. and so um i do agree that the rate actually has been also very good so um i know that you wanted to move a portion of it which is actually reasonable i mean in my opinion so but then i also understand um council member liang concern about you know the amount that we move how much would that be shit what are the risks that we're facing so um and then i also remember that you mentioned you want to look into different investment like treasury bills and i'm actually interested to look into that as well with you and so i wanted to see what you suggested us along with you know this type of allocation so that would you be able how fast will you be able to actually get us the information maybe we can all sit down and look at it and make some decisions about the allocation. Instead of we just allocate a portion of it now and then allocate back to this and that. So maybe we can actually sit down and have some time and look into all the credit rating and which portion is which. So we get actually idea and suggestions from your investment committee as well. So that it just make everyone feel more comfortable that way. So what do you think?

That's a great suggestion, Stephanie. I may have a great suggestion. Thank you. So one of the problems that I had, like I mentioned before, I've been trying to get investment committee meeting together for months and staff is very busy. So to be honest, I'm not sure when that's going to even happen. And I only have a few, I only have a two of the years treasure. I'd like to have an investment committee before my turn comes up and I've been several months now trying to get this investment committee together, but the staff is very busy and that's understood. So as far as getting investment committee together, as you suggested, I don't know if it's going to happen because staff is extremely busy. That's why I suggested the council appoint one resident per council to be on the investment committee with me. So at least I can have an investment committee as soon as possible. Because I've been trying to get Now who is on your investment committee? City manager, city manager, and a director of

of an administration.

Okay. So this is the investment committee that you had currently, but then you're asking for an investment commission, right? Because if we assign a resident, so that is actually different things. Correct. Because that's an investment commission. An investment commission, which is, then, you know, then we have a staff that assign to each commission to watch their meeting. And then so all the people from the residents will be able to speak at the commission meetings. This is actually very different than your investment committee, which is internal.

Right.

So I think that is a different discussion. That's right.

That's a, that's very good. I didn't think about that, but that's very good. I'm just trying to get an investment committee together so we can discuss diversifying our funds, but I can't, I can't seem to get a committee together. And I understand they're very busy.

So can we maybe actually move into that and ask the request city manager to allocate maybe a time in February to actually have the investment committee meeting with you?

Is that okay that we have allocated?

That would work with me. I don't know how the city manager's schedule. It's been very busy. Okay.

Thank you. Mr. City manager, I see you appear again on the screen. Yes. I don't know when you would like me to respond. If you would like me to respond after everything's done. But in all fairness to the comment and all due respect to the city treasurer, his comments is not 100% true. He has a very busy schedule too.

And we've been trying to coordinate meeting times with you, city treasurer. And you know that you're limited to the amount of time that you can spend because there are only certain days you can meet with us because you have a day job. So in all fairness, to say that we are not available, we are available. And I am not going to argue the point in this meeting. But if we want to do this work, we have no problem. But we have to meet halfway, too. That's my comment.

Well, just for the record, I'm sorry, but I need to put this on the record because residents are watching. I have informed the city manager and staff that I'm usually available in the afternoon. because I do have a day job. A lot of us have. But I'm available in the afternoon. They just have to give me time in the afternoon. Now, we haven't met in the past. We have no issue in the past meeting. But for some one reason, and I thought perhaps staff is very busy and they just haven't had time to meet with me in the afternoons. But if Ron or Martha or anyone would like to set up a meeting in the afternoon, please let me know. We can set up one as soon as possible. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know, Councilman Chan, you've also been patiently waiting with Ray Chan. Would you like to ask a question, a comment, please? Thank you, Mayor. And I want to say, well, first of all, I pretty much concur with Councilman Hans Leung's comment on the studies, and we need to know more about that. And I want to comment on is that traditionally, the council does not get into the investment because that's the elected official, I mean, the elected position of the treasurer and the investment committees. They make recommendations to the council, and the council usually take it because they are the experts in the field, and especially the treasurer is elected position, trusted by residents of the Monterey Park, and he's the custodian of the funds of the city, and that carries a lot of weight. And I really appreciate Mr. Treasurer's responsibility and his work. And so for that, with that in mind, then I would like to ask the city, you know, go ahead, regardless of...

had any issues with the recommendations. And I think that is a good way for the division of labor. And we are elected in different capacity, in different responsibilities and so forth. So I would like to see that tradition go on. And so I would like to get these studies. And as for the one, Mr. Treasurer's proposing, the commission from the new commission for the residents to participate. I think it's still too early to talk about that. Please get the meetings going and get the investment moving forward and then we can consider some of the proposals. I would like to get the reports on all those things that you have mentioned and Council member Hans De Anz has been asking. I would like to see all those reports too. But I really ask the city and Mr. Treasurer to work together for the betterment of the city. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Councilor Chan. Any other comments from the council? Okay. Hearing none.

Actually, I have just comments and possibly some questions.

First, let me just say I want to express my appreciation for this conversation we've been having regarding our policies on our investments.

I think these type of robust conversations are important, especially when it has to do with our local governance and how ways we may or may not be able to improve upon our governance. Having said that, on item 1A, and please chime in, anyone, City Council, then would it be expedient of us if we were to then, say, defer the item to next month's meeting unless there's some time constraint? And between that time, we ask that the treasurer and our city staff, who, out of respect, we know that everyone has busy schedules, but given that this issue is so important because it has to be our investments, then perhaps we can find a way to have the treasurer and our staff meet. you know, again, one way we've been meeting so far because the pandemic has been to resume and certainly perhaps that should be a tool as well, unless it is vital to have a meeting in person. But I would suggest then perhaps this item be the table to next month. You know, we do meet twice a month. And again, in that time, hopefully it will give the Office of Treasurer as well as staff time to be able to confer. Is that a possibility?

Yes. Okay. Well, hold on. Is the Treasurer signed up? Yes? Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Mary. Yes, I think that's a great suggestion. But at the same time, can I please ask the council to direct staff to provide us that report from Chandler prior to the next meeting I would like the report from Chandler for all of us to review before the next meeting I have I have requested and have not received it I would like to see the report sure like I'm sure

hold on I mean again is this relevant to the item that's before us though

according to Hans yeah well according to according to Councilman Hans it is I see okay I don't think so I don't think so because all I'm asking and and and before you now is just to move funds temporarily from from Lake to County the channel report is for long-term diversification of city funds and I'm sorry if I I maybe I perhaps kind of brought up because it kind of threw things off, but I've been wanting to see the report for some time and I wanted to bring it up to the council so I can, the council can request that we get a copy so I can see it.

Well, let me, and staff, please feel free to again chime in.

But if we were to say defer item 1A and because there's also a request to look at this investment report can it perhaps then be repurposed into an agenda item that that would be I guess an

expanded conversation about our investment policy that would include tonight's item and any additional uh possible reports relevant to our investments can that be done um so thank you Mr. Burger yes yes thank you for um thank you Mr. Mayor members thank you Mr. Mayor members of the

council, just for clarification, there is no report to provide. There was an item that was proposed in September to retain the Chandler company to create a report. But since that did not occur, there is no report to provide to the city council or to the city treasurer. So if that's something that the city council wants to do, it is related to this item. And so the city council could, if it wished, authorize the city manager to execute an agreement with Chandler to provide to create a report to provide back to the city council at a future meeting date and that's certainly within your authority and under the recommendation that's provided in the staff report happy to answer any other questions okay thank you mr burger um actually i'm mr boy i see did you want to say something yes okay i just want to say that well we'll take direction of council we will definitely set up meetings with the city treasurer to work through this issue and we will push as much as possible to get something on the it won't be the next city council agenda we are working on that agenda as we speak and if we're trying to get chandler on board then we're going to push it to probably hopefully chandler can get with the program with us for February 16th city council meeting. But, you know, it would be pretty hard pressed for us to try to get Chandler on board to meet the February 2nd meeting. Okay. Well, actually, if I, no, thank you. If I may, okay. I mean, February 16th, that is next month, nonetheless. I mean, can then we impress upon then the treasurer and our city staff then to solve possible energy and time than to be able to have a investment report or rather a recommendation for an agreement as well as the conversation that seems to be needed. Can we at least agree to that?

we can commit to the direction that council would like us to take there's no ifs ands or

buts about that okay okay okay um okay uh let's see when i'm sure you have just i'm sorry sorry mayor if i may just real quick i was not uh i knew that there was some progress towards this report i didn't know that there was actually no report um produced uh so i guess uh with what you know the city treasurer didn't see the report i guess is same as the reason we didn't see the report is because there was no report but i think that that's something that we need to see we need something we can't just uh you know just do something because we feel like it give me some information give me some data um that's what i would request okay i think maybe for me real quick

yes no yeah it was my understanding that there was a report done by candler on the on the city's assets uh cash management and that they had to report that we can that the city could invest potentially $40 million long-term investments. Perhaps I misunderstood, but that was my understanding of it. I'd like to clarify with our director of management, if there is a report, there is a report. That's what there was.

Okay. Well, again, that's fine. You know, again, that's why we have these transparent conversations.

Okay.

Well, you know what? I think we've had a lot of robust conversations. Then can we do this then? Can we then defer item 1A to a later meeting, so like possibly February 15th, or I mean our third or second meeting of the month.

And in the meantime, with all expediency, have our treasurer and staff meet. Can we do that please?

Council, can we do that? Sounds good, I'm good with that. Okay, okay. Sounds good. Okay, Mr. Councilmember Chan, you okay with that?

Hello?

Okay. Let's see. Well, maybe while we wait for a chance to respond. Mayor Potem, Sonoso? No, it's just that it froze a little bit. Oh, I'm sorry. Now it's back online. Yeah, sometimes the reception. Yeah, I'm okay with that. Thank you.

Mayor Potem, Sonoso, are you okay with that?

Yeah, that's fine. Thank you.

Okay.

Okay. Mr. Berger, do we need a motion or you've heard enough direction from council?

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, the consensus is fine. Just one point of clarification.

If the council wishes to have a report, then we would need authority delegated to the city

managed to execute a contract with Chandler to produce a report. But if you just want to defer

THE ENTIRE THING UNTIL A FUTURE DATE, THAT'S FINE TOO. I JUST WANTED CLARIFICATION FOR THE RECORD.

OKAY, FOR RECORD, WHY DON'T WE JUST DEFER EVERYTHING? AND BY DEFERING EVERYTHING, THEN THE ONUS IS FOR EVERYONE TO MEET AND TO CAMER OUT DETAILS, YES? AND THAT MESSAGE IS RECEIVED AND THE CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE WILL COORDINATE THAT AND PLAN FOR A FUTURE AGENDA ITEM. Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. Okay. Wonderful. Thank you everyone for this conversation we just had. Thank you. Okay. On to item 1B, legal service agreement with LHavi Stargarter, LLP, and forgive me for mispronouncing it if I did. Well, at least it's not Berger. So there you go. Mr. Mayor, members of the council, this is a standard legal retention agreement with the a new firm called La Jave Star Gardner. As stated in the staff report, Ms. Leymour La Jave has been the city's special counsel for insurance coverage related to, if you recall, there was the incident between the cities of Alhambra and Monterey Park with regard to a firetruck collision.

That has been an ongoing piece of litigation.

And so Ms. Lahavi is a specialist in insurance coverage and is assisting the city with regard to our claims with ICRMA and in federal court.

So our recommendation is to continue to have her on the team.

And that is the proposal in front of you. Happy to answer any other questions.

Thank you, Mr. Berger. Councilmembers, any questions, comments? I see Councilman Leung has appeared. Happy for us. Hello. No, I just wanted to make the motion to approve that item if there's no further questions. Oh, okay. And I will start in the motion. Okay. Okay. Well, most of the meeting by Councilor Liang, seconded by Senator Chan. Any further questions? Hearing none, then clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you. Council Member Yvonne Yu?

Yes.

Council member Peter Chan. Yes. Council member Hansen. Yes.

Mayor Proton Fred Sonoso. Aye. And Mayor Henry Lo. Aye. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you very much and thank you, council members. Okay, let's now move to section four, public hearing on our agenda. So first item for a continuation of the minor park geological hazard abatement district.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. I'll handle this one. This has to do with the

good views abatement project. I do recommend that we continue the public hearing, which was

previously continued. I do suggest though that we continue it to May 4th, 2022 to allow a new ENGINEERING REPORT POSSIBLY TO BE DRAFTED FOR THIS PARTICULAR PROJECT. AND THAT WOULD BE MY RECOMMENDATION.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH. MR. BURGER. YES, COUNCILMAN CHAN. YES. I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE THE MOTION TO CONTINUE THE ITEM 4A TO MAY 4TH. I'LL SECOND THAT. okay um uh motion made by california chan second by council member liang um any further questions

comments hearing none clerk please call the roll thank you council member yvonne yu yes council member peter chan yes uh council member hans down yes mayor pro tempestrian also Aye. And Mary Lo? Yes.

All right. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you very much, Burke. Okay. Continue on. Next public hearing. 4B, consideration of resolutions of the City Council of City of Monterey Park adopting an addendum to the final environmental impact report. Focus journal plan update. Final EIR. State Clearinghouse number 2001101074 dated June 19th and approving the general plan amendments for the update of the housing GPA 21-01, safety and community service.

Mayor Lo, Mayor Pro Temp Cernoso, and members of the council. Before we begin tonight, I'd just like to note a correction on the housing element itself, the draft housing element on page 59, which is 3.6 of the housing element. There's been a change, it's been noted, and the correction has been posted on the city clerk's website.

Tonight, you'll be considering a series of resolutions approving the general plan amendments

before housing element update, an update to the safety and community services element,

and adding a new element to the Monterey Park general plan, which will be the environmental justice element. Next slide, please.

State law requires cities in California have an adopted general plan, and there's seven mandatory elements that are required for that. They are the land use, circulation, housing, noise, open space conservation. And consistent with that state law, Monterey Park has eight elements.

And on the screen before you can see the elements are the land use element that is part of the Monterey Park general plan that was updated in 2019.

We have a sustainability community element, a resource element, economic development, and a circulation element. In the blue outline, the three elements that are going to be reviewed tonight as part of this project, the housing element, safety and community service element, and environmental justice element.

The first one, the housing element, is probably the most comprehensive of all the elements that will be reviewed. The housing element is a special legislation requires that the State Department of Housing and Community Development look at and certify housing elements. it's the only element of the general plan that has that requirement um california law requires that housing elements shall be updated every eight years and the project would date the city of monterey parks housing element as part of the sixth cycle of the housing element updates and that period runs from october 15 2021 to october 15 2021 the 2021 housing element update identifies residential dwelling unit sites adequate to accommodate a variety of housing types for household incomes in the city. The other two elements that will be are being proposed as part of this project are the safety and community services element, and that's being updated to be consistent with California law regulating evacuation routes and climate change vulnerability. And further, whenever two elements are adopted for a general plan update, state law now requires that a new environmental justice element be developed consistent with government code section and 65302 which identifies goals policies objectives that aim that aims to reduce health risks to identify disadvantaged communities next slide please

so tonight this council will be conducting a public hearing and to take testimony and after public testimony considering the four resolutions for the projects and one resolution will be for

the CEQA environmental documents and the other three will be for the housing element and the

safety and community services element and the environmental justice element next slide please

with regards to the CEQA analysis for this project and general plan updates usually follow their they always fall under CEQA and they're typically at either environmental impact report and or a negative declaration previously prepared EIRs may be used if they're found to still be relevant so in Monterey Park's case there was an environmental impact report that was repaired

or was prepared as part of the 2019 update to the land use element and which was certified by the

city council and so after considering the the project staff has determined that the the final environmental impact report that was certified as part of the 2019 general plan update is a condition is of continuing information valuable and that potential environmental impacts are within the scope of that certified environmental impact report and that there are no new significant environment impacts or a substantial increase in the severity of the effects identified in the final environmental impact reports so as such the staff has prepared

an addendum to the environmental impact report

and that is um it's been drafted for city council's consideration in accordance with

the secret guidelines it's included in the draft resolution um if it if approved to the

addendum then um for the purposes of analyzing this project will serve as a secret documentation

and allow the project to be approved by the city council. Next slide, please.

So in preparing this general plan update, it was truly a team effort involving almost every department in the city. It involved the Department of Community Development, Housing, Public Works, Police, Fire, the City Manager's Office, the City Attorney's Office, the Library and Recreation Community Services Department. so all of those departments have contributed to the preparation of these three documents they've been very helpful in helping the consultant compile the data and help us conduct the meetings in addition to the city staff teams the consulting team of rimcon consultants help prepare the documents and have also helped the city coordinate the housing and community development review by the for the city. So we have with us tonight, the consultant team, Brianna Weathersby and Rima Chakra. They will be presenting to the council information on the three elements themselves. And we'll be able to get into more detail onto those, the slides. So I'll turn it over to Rima now and you can conduct your part of it, Rima.

Great, thanks Steve. Next slide, please. So we began this project last spring with community engagement events kicked off in the summer. The elements that were drafted were provided for public comment in the fall of last year, and the overall timeline for this project has been about 10 months. Next slide. As part of this effort, we engaged the community in multiple ways to solicit input.

We began with a postcard that was mailed to all the residents in Monterey Park and provided

the link to a project website and contact information so people are aware that the city was undergoing this update to the general plan. We also hosted two virtual workshops, one in the summer and the fall to solicit input. We conducted interviews with some stakeholders in the city and community residents. We also provided an online mapping tool that alLod the community to access the sites that were identified to have capacity for additional residential development and solicited input and revised the housing movement based on that information. We've also presented to the City Council in July and October of last year. The project website has been online throughout this project. It includes information, background information, frequently asked questions, and had notice about the workshop, as well as posted the draft elements for the public's review. We posted the housing element draft for public comment over a 60-day period from October to December of last year. And throughout the project, we've been regularly sending out email updates to interested parties, lists, using the city's social media platforms, and posting the Cascades newspaper. And throughout, we've been making sure the flyers are in multiple languages, in Spanish and Chinese. And during the workshops, we had Spanish speakers and Chinese speakers on hand for translation services. Next slide.

The purpose of the housing element is to provide a plan to help accommodate housing for community members in Monterey Park from all segments of the socioeconomic spectrum.

I'm sorry, can everyone see the slide? Can everyone see the slide?

Yes.

Yes, I can see it. Okay. Yes, Mayor. I'm sorry. All right. Thank you. Continue, please. Okay. Okay, no problem. It's intended to facilitate the development of housing that's considered accessible to people with various needs, to remove governmental barriers that could prevent housing construction, preserve existing housing that's considered affordable, and to ensure equal housing opportunities. Next slide.

So the housing element is a fairly robust chapter of the general plan. It has a lot of context and data and information, which is outlined here on this slide. It includes background information, mostly pulled from the census on demographics in the city of Monterey Park, as well as housing stock characteristics.

there's an evaluation of constraints in governmental and non-governmental constraints. This refers to limitations that might be in place in the zoning code that could limit construction of housing, as well as non-governmental constraints like the market condition.

The housing element also includes objectives and programs to address housing needs, so different policies and programs that the city can implement to help facilitate housing construction, affordable housing and protect existing housing. And the last component, major component of housing element is identifying how the city will meet the allocation that's been handed down from the state and how the city will

intend to meet the housing allocation. So I'll speak to that in the next slide.

So the Regional Housing Needs Assessment, or RENA for short, is allocated during every housing element eight-year cycle.

It begins with the state identifying statewide needs and distributing the number of units that are needed throughout different regions of the state.

Monterey Park is part of the Southern California Association of Governments, or SCAG. Once SCAG received the regional housing allocation, it distributed it to all the different cities and counties in the SCAG region. And so the City of Monterey Park received an allocation of about 5,200 housing units. And the housing element is intended to explain how the city will help facilitate the construction of these units. The units are distributed in different income brackets, including Lor income, moderate income and above moderate income. The income classifications are based on an area median income calculation, as you can see in the slide. Next slide.

In order to determine how the city could accommodate the allocation of housing units, we evaluated existing vacant properties, underutilized sites, which refers to properties that have development on them but are not developed to the upper limit alLod by the residential zoning standards.

We also looked at the number of accessory dwelling units the city has issued permits for

to understand how many ADUs could be implemented over the next eight years.

And we evaluated any constraints in the city's zoning code in terms of residential densities and other limitations.

Based on that evaluation, we found that the city could accommodate the arena allocation, and the majority of that would occur on underutilized sites. There are not that many vacant properties in Monterey Park.

We also determined that there is no need to change the zoning districts on the zoning map and that the recently updated land use elements helped to establish the minimum residential density standards that would help facilitate the housing that is needed and allocated to the city. Next slide.

So this slide shows the properties that have the ability and capacity to develop at higher

residential densities. The properties that are in orange indicate underutilized sites,

those properties that have zoning standards that allow for a higher density than what's currently on the properties. And then the purple sites identify vacant sites that have the potential to develop. You can see most of the sites that could facilitate development are generally in north part of the city along Garvey Avenue and Atlantic and Garfield as well. Next slide.

So as I mentioned the housing element provides programs that the city can implement over the

next eight years to help facilitate housing production throughout the city. We've identified just a snapshot of those programs. If you look to Chapter 6, you'll see there's a wide array of policies that the city could implement. But as an example, one of the changes that the city will be considering is to adjust the zoning requirement, the density limit in the R3 zone from 25 to 30 dwelling units per acre. There are specific plans in place that would need to be

allowing a mix of multifamily dwellings that are compatible with single family and allowing those in the low density residential zone.

There's also some state requirements that limit the number of times a site can be proposed as a potential RHNA site, number of cycles that is put forward. And if it's in too many cycles, it becomes a by right allowance to develop on that site. There's also the city will be looking at establishing a minimum percentage of residential development in mixed-use zones and then making sure that the code

evaluating the code against density bonus provisions established by the state.

Next slide. So Steve mentioned unlike other chapters in the general plan the House the Housing and Community Development State Agency certifies the housing element for the city of Monterey Park. So they've been engaged since the beginning of this project. Getting HCD certification helps ensure the city is eligible for various state grants.

It also helps the city defend against any challenges to its land use decisions related

to housing. So we've engaged with HCD since the start. We submitted the draft housing element to

them for their review in October of last year. They provided us with a comment letter and we addressed their comments and their comments have been addressed and that's reflected in the housing element being considered for adoption tonight. So the City Council choose to adopt the housing

element this evening. We would then submit it to HCD for their certification process which

HCD takes about 90 days to begin that review process. Next slide.

So as Steve mentioned, we are also updating the safety and community services elements. This element is an existing chapter in your general plan. It's a required chapter. There's now new state rules about updating the safety element alongside your housing element, as well as addressing new considerations such as climate change.

And so we developed new policies and programs to address the risk of climate change in Monterey Park,

also evaluated identified neighborhoods that have constrained emergency access, and created a new suite of programs that the city can implement to help minimize impacts associated with hazards in the city. Next slide. An environmental justice element has been created. This is a new chapter for the general plan and it is required when a city has a disadvantaged census tract within the city limits. In the bottom left, in the graphic you can see on the slide, there's an orange census tracts towards the southwest portion of the city. Based on a state tool called CalEnviroScreen, this census tract ranked high in terms of pollution burden and a mix of low-income status. And for this reason, it's been flagged by the state as a disadvantaged community. And so that is the trigger to create environmental justice goals and policies. And so we evaluated conditions in the city and develop policies that address the sort of themes that you see here on this slide. And happy to answer any more questions on the EJ or the safety element as well as the housing element. But we're going to kick it back to Steve to close this presentation out.

And we can go to the next slide as well.

So the general plan updates that we've talked about tonight reflect the community's values and have been prepared to be consistent with state law. And staff is recommending approval of all three general plan amendments and the associates' addendum to the final EIR.

And the recommendations are in your staff report at the beginning of that.

And we're both consultant and myself are available for questions

should that council have them as well as opening the public hearing. That concludes that report.

Okay.

Thank you very much, Steve, for the report of your staff. Let's see.

Well, why don't we go into the public hearing and hear any comments from the public and then we can then have council make its own comments remarks. So, Clerk, can you please help us open the hearing? And if anyone wants to make a comment, please use it for tonight.

Speaker, phone number ending in 803.

R6 to mute yourself and please state your name.

I'm sorry to interrupt. Let's make sure that the public hearing is open. Just confirming.

Yes, the public hearing is open. Yes, thank you. Thank you.

Good evening, council members. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to provide comments. My name is Linda, and Mario Park's flood runs deep in my veins. I was born and raised here, and I'm now a homeowner in this great community that I absolutely love. I actually participated in the 2014 to 2021 housing element update, and I'm really excited to be engaged in this process again. This update is such an important process because it will shape our housing production in the next decade. I wanted to start off by highlighting some compelling data from the draft. 75% of renters are Lor-income households

and 75% are experiencing overcrowding.

91% of extremely low-income large family renters overpay for housing. With this data, our main goal and priority in the city should be to address affordability for low, very low, and extremely low-income households because this is the city's greatest unmet housing need, and we need to ensure that our adopted housing element is effective in addressing these needs. The revised draft was released to the public for review last week, and with such a short turnaround, I didn't have time to adequately analyze the revised draft. But for today's comments, I will focus on a few recommendations and will submit a more thorough comment letter to the city in the near future. I would like to thank staff for the efforts in revising the draft and incorporating some of my comments that I previously provided. In particular, I'm very excited to see that Program 15, Inclusionary Housing Regulations, was added.

This is definitely one of several effective tools in facilitating affordable housing development, and it is a step in the right direction.

For the objectives and timeline, the draft states that the city will consider adopting inclusionary by October 2022.

The word consider should be removed because it's very passive and it indicates that it might or might not happen. It should be replaced with language that provides a solid commitment from the city to see this through. The program should be strengthened to say the city will create, adopt, and implement inclusionary of October 2022.

On page 3-6, housing overlays 1, 2, and 3, and on page 3-9, the planned development district zone were discussed.

Because it's not exactly clear where these overlays are located, can staff provide maps of where these overlays are specifically in the city? This visual will provide a better understanding of where it's at and how it will impact future residential development in the city. The draft also identified 199 opportunity sites for Lor-income households with an existing use of residential. With 1,392 units, it accounts for 65% of the Lor-income arena, and this is problematic because we are heavily over-reliant on existing households where individuals and families are currently living to accommodate a Lor-income arena. The city should provide additional analysis on how realistic this is and whether or not homeowners have expressed interest in building affordable housing. For example, the city identified a site off Sefton Avenue in Graves. It's about an acre, and it's identified to accommodate 29 Lor-income units. The issue is that it's an existing residential development with 20 individual-owned townhomes. On Redfin, one of the units actually sold two months ago for close to $800,000. In addition, an analysis should be conducted on the impacts of displaced existing renters.

The city also identified a one-acre city-owned site in the plaza with the ABC Cafe off on Garfield and Garvey. Currently, it's a parking lot and has the capacity of 33 Lor-income units.

Because the city owns the site, they can leverage it, and it should be prioritized and developed exclusively for affordable housing for low-income households.

There's also a parcel that used to be a gas station, but it's now a structure that's currently under construction right off Atlantic and Garvey in the 99 Ranch Plaza.

This parcel has been identified to accommodate 11 Lor-income units, but it's not realistic or readily available for affordable housing development considering it's a newly built structure. So this parcel should be taken out of the inventory. In addition to inclusionaries, the city should include a standalone program that allows by-right development for new residential developments where 100% of the units are affordable to low-income households. And finally, I'm hoping the city can answer this question today.

The city has the 2014-2021 adopted housing element posted on the website. Can the city also post the 2006-2014 or the fourth cycle housing element on the website? Or do I need to submit a public records request for it?

The draft made some references to some sites in the current inventory that were identified in the prior two planning periods, and it would be helpful for the public to review what was adopted in the fourth cycle. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you. Next speaker, we have Jay Shou. Hi, once again, my name is Jay Shou Young. I want to provide public comment on the housing element.

I want to applaud the city for incorporating a lot of the feedback that has been given from Vindatang. Housing is one of the greatest issues we see in our generation. Housing, however, continues to grow more and more expensive as wages have been stagnant for years. And thus, we are seeing a lot more folks becoming homeless due to low wages, unaffordable housing. Residents of the city have issues with homelessness.

And the way to prevent that is to ensure more equitable housing access. I suggest that the city also change the language from considering to will adopt and implement the inclusionary housing element by October 2022.

Cities like Alhambra already have developed and implemented ordinance. We need to do the same in cities such as Mallory Park as well. Thank you for considering my comment.

There are no other speakers on this item. There are no written communications for this item as well. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, clerk. Okay. And thank you to the members of the public who shared their comments during this hearing. Okay. Let's see. Mr. Sizemore, I see you're back on. Did you want to make a comment? I'm just here to answer any questions that council may have. Okay. Sounds good. Okay. Well, you know what? Then why don't I pass it on then? I'm sorry. I need to close the hearing, right, Mr. Berger?

Yes, that's correct. Thank you.

Okay. Well, let me just... The clerk has said there are no more written or requests to speak,

so if there are none, then I will officially close the hearing for this item. And now that it's closed, I will then proceed to comments and conversation by our city council.

Okay, let's see. I see that Councillor Chan has his hand up. So Councillor Chan, you can start and then folLod by Councillor Sonoso. I'm sorry, Mayor Pochan Sonoso, forgive me. Okay. Thank you, Mayor. And I want to thank the speakers participating in this public hearing. And your points are well taken. And I think the staff will take into consideration for further updates and so forth. And I want to first question is that the state has already passed SB 9 and SB 10. So how does it impact the housing elements and what we are talking about tonight? There really is no impact because the city is not doing anything with those two bills. we're in compliance with we follow the state's regulations until the state changes or does something with their ordinance to modify or change what the state regulations are. So we're in the process of just studying that and looking at it and talking about the city attorney's office on it. But it won't impact this element. I see. Because most of them are in single family you know, single family zoning. So that's what is affected. So the study is only up to more into the vacant lands and to the underutilized lands. So that's why it's not impact. So any additional units that's created by the SB 10 and SB 9 will be kind of like additional to... It will be added and when they review the next housing element, there'll be additional units added on. Okay, that's good. That's good. Now, my next question is that

with the anticipated increase in population with the 5,200-something units addition to the city in the next eight years, according to RINA from the state of California. So we have to also increase the public safety. So that means we need to increase police officers

firefighters, and also the other, like the parks, schools, facilities that accommodate more residents. And also talking about...

are the element requires us to provide sites it doesn't require us to provide the housing the city of Monterey park doesn't provide housing the private market has to to do that we just

provide the regulations and as each project goes forward it'll have to go through an environmental

review and under that it'll determine is there an impact on public services and that type of thing

so each project that goes forward has its own individual analysis but the 5000 is just we have

to have space in the city to be able to accommodate that. We don't have to build the 5,000 in this cycle, but we have to have the space available for that.

Yeah, I understand that. But the thing is that we really want to help the community

by providing more affordable housing in the city.

So when those are built, they'll have individual analysis. So let's say a 500 unit that affordable housing project comes along. It'll look at what's the impact of 500 units to the circulation system, what does it does to police and fire, the open space system, everything along those lines. So that's each project will have its own CEQA analysis and that will determine its impact on the city. Then there will be mitigation measures if it adversely impacts the city.

Okay, go ahead, please. Sorry to interrupt. So as part of the land use element chapter, the land use element did assume a certain population growth, which is in alignment with this housing allocation. And the land use element had an EIR that evaluated the impact to services and utilities. And so as part of that, the city has studied that implication of population growth. and that's all identified in the final EIR for the land use element. As part of this project, like Steve is saying, we are really evaluating the building of new housing units and the potential impact there. But it is all in alignment with the exercise that you underwent last year to look at population growth as part of the land use element.

So now since we have the policy in here to accommodate the additional 5,200 plus housing units in the city.

And so please consider also the unintended consequences that go along with it,

which I just mentioned, like the public safety, the schools, parks, and everything. So this has to be included in consideration of any projects. So good that you say each project will be under scrutiny to comply with all those elements. And then my next question is on the environmental. And do we have regulations or building codes that reflect, you know, like the draft conditions that we're experiencing?

Although we have some rains yesterday and recently.

So do we have any ordinance to reflect the real situation that we are facing?

Not so much building stuff, but I know the city has some water plans. I'm kind of maybe wrong or Frank can speak in, but we have other plans and documents that address drought.

so that it's not part of this.

But please consider, you know, putting all those in the near future. It can reflect, you know, the exact situation. And of course, you know, like the foot waste is coming down our throat now, actually is ineffective as of January. So, but although we have like a few months to needing time to address the issue. So all those things we need to address to protect the environment and to upgrade, you know, or refine the ordinance and to comply with the actual situations. NEW SPEAKERS, WE'RE WORKING ON SUSTAINABILITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE AND WE'LL HAVE SOMETHING BEFORE THE COUNCIL IN THE NEXT MONTH OR SO. SO WE'RE WORKING WITH THE CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE AND WE'LL HAVE SOMETHING TO BE ABLE TO PRESENT TO THE COUNCIL IN THE NEAR FUTURE. NEW SPEAKERS, THANK YOU. THAT'S GOOD. THOSE ARE MY QUESTIONS AT THIS TIME. I MAY HAVE SOME OTHER THINGS AFTER I HEAR MY COLLEAGUES' COMMENTS. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Chad. Mayor Potem-Sanoso, have your hand raised?

Thank you. Thank you for your presentation. I have some questions on the staff report. So on page 8 of 10, talking about the environmental justice element, towards the bottom of the page, the paragraph that says based on this screening there is one census tract that includes a disadvantaged community and it identifies the track they said this a disadvantaged community is located along the southeastern edge of the city's jurisdictional boundaries adjacent to the community of east east los angeles east los angeles college so what are the plans to um help this particular part or this disadvantaged community based on this environmental justice element.

Rina, would you like to answer that?

Yes. So we, in the environmental justice element, there are policies and programs to address that as census tracts as well as citywide considerations.

So looking at increasing healthy food access, increasing physical activity, increasing civic engagement and opportunities to engage in government processes such as this one.

So there's a large selection of policies and programs that have been added as part of this

new element that are intended to address communities throughout the city as well as that disadvantaged census tract. So there'll be like literature passed out or visits to the neighborhood letting them

know what services are available?

Yeah, and looking at capital improvement programs to see if there are programs that are available or prioritizing that area for investment. So identifying need and making sure that there is attention paid to that census tract, but as well as other areas of the city.

Okay, thank you. and then on page of five of ten on your table two um

above that table there's a paragraph saying um with this required buffer the number of housing units identified the housing amount is approximately 5262. is that 562 number reflected on this table because I don't see that total anyplace.

Right. So that number was a number that we identified in the addendum that identified the number of sites to meet the RENA allocation. Since the addendum was issued, we received input from the public and HCV on the sites that we've identified. and actually in reference to Ms. Tang's comment previously, she identified some properties that did not seem suitable for RENA allocation. So we removed some of the sites from the housing element, but the addendum still reflects a higher number of RENA. So that's why some of the numbers are a little bit different. The addendum is more conservative in evaluating impacts to more sites than the housing element.

So that's the discrepancy in the agenda. Okay. So those two numbers don't necessarily have to agree then, right? The 5,262 doesn't have to tie into any of these numbers on the table?

Yeah. So the numbers on the table are what's reflected in the housing element for consideration tonight. The number in the paragraph is a higher number that does not account for the sites that we have since removed because of their not suitability for development. So it's because the addendum is assuming more sites, it's more conservative in terms of assessing impact.

We think it's okay to maintain this discrepancy because the housing element is the sort of more up-to-date information in terms of the housing sites. Okay. All right, thank you. Thank you, Mayor. No questions. Thank you, bye. Okay. Let's see. Any other questions or comments from my colleagues? Yes, Councilman, are you? Hi. Actually, just a little comment. It makes me remember that when I was a general plant commissioner, so it was like back in two, three years ago that we discussed about, you know, how we plan for the city for the next 10 years. And I also wanted to thank Councilmember Chen for nominating me back then, you know, to the general plan commissions. And so I work with a team of people that comes up with the lay use elements and also the big plan for the next 10 years. And now actually seeing everything put into place. And I just, yeah, I have, you know, a lot of thinking, a lot of, you know, look back. So, yes, I'm greatly appreciated, you know, great reports that the staff put together. There's a lot of considerations that would come to, you know, this, you know, this project here. And I know that we have a number that we need to meet, the $5,200 units of affordable housing. So yeah, thank you so much for the plan. And I wanted to greatly appreciate and just flashback a lot of my previous memory about all the meetings that we discussed about the next 10 years. So looking forward to it. Thank you so much.

thank you councilman you uh councilman liang yeah thank you guys uh for the report i just have a quick question on the i know it's going to be submitted to hcd and they have 90 days to complete the review if in the 90 days uh it comes back where there are certain elements that they say uh aren't copacetic or have to be changed how much time do we have to make those revisions or what's the process for that if hcd sees elements that are not um in compliance or that they could not endorse so the hcd has looked at it and i think they're pretty satisfied with it and there's a few things on it as part of your recommendation we're asking that you authorize the city manager to make changes non-substance of edits and technical changes that way it can go between staff and hcd and it doesn't have to come back to the city council so we think we can accommodate that in the time frames needed if it's going to be a major issue then of course it'll come back to the council and and then do you know the timelines on that we will have ample time to review and resubmit Rima, do you have the timelines on that? I'm not sure. I can jump in on that, actually. So there are no timelines. Once HCD takes their 90 days to review, if they have comments, they'll come back with those. And then it really just depends. They'll give the city the time they need to address those comments, if there are any, again. And then they usually respond pretty quickly with additional reviews. but in some cases the housing element will need to go back for another comprehensive review, which will take another 90 days, but that's a worst case scenario. Typically, if they're minor comments, they'll just work them out with the city on a shorter timeframe. Okay, thank you. One final, just kind of a summary to ensure that I'm understanding all of the principles, maybe also to help some of the viewers understand. For the regional housing need units, Monterey Park was allocated 5,257, meaning that the city must make available space to develop 5,200 units in the city. The city is not responsible for building those units. Those are usually done by private investors and developers. And the city must only provide the space for those developments to occur. I'm seeing here on table two you have the Monterey Park adequacy of residential sites inventory and based on the state allocations Lor moderate above moderate income and the totals based on the analysis and the end numbers it appears that we would have actually a 321 unit surplus given our current allocation in terms of the way we set up what areas could be developed, what areas cannot be developed, et cetera. So am I accurate on that? Yes, you are. Okay. Good. Thank you. So, and thank you for the, you know, all the time that you guys put into this and I don't have any further questions. Thank you. Thank you. Okay.

Okay, let's see. I have a few questions and comments. So I pulled up the draft housing

elements that was, you know, the link that was included in the agenda and indulged me because I didn't make notes, but it is a 287 page document. So I do need to scroll back and forth. I did make notes but it is a children's a seven page document so I do need to scroll back and forth. ! Okay, well, okay, I guess my first question, on page 96 of the draft housing element and figure 43, those are the remaining 2021 to 2029 share of regional housing needs for

! Are we able to adjust? Are we able to adjust? I know the total number is what our allocation is, but are we able to adjust that spread?

Because right now, you know, we have a category for Lor, moderate, above moderate. Are we able to make adjustments to that

as long as it still adds up to 5,257?

No, those are numbers that come straight from the state through SCAC. Those numbers are fixed. Okay. So for example, like instead of, you know, having 2,263 above moderate, you know, we flip it around and make it moderate. So you're saying we have to plan for 2,263 above moderate housing?

Correct.

Okay. I just find it interesting, given that right in the market, everything is above moderate. I mean, the issue is there's nothing at Lor or moderate housing.

I just find it interesting that we have to plan for that.

And then, let's see, jumping over to one, page 102. to

so this is so I'm looking at

figure 42 which is the vacant and non-vacant residential

sites and

the area is that is considered non-vacant residential sites

they do include existing buildings condos and apartments Now, I'm just curious, it was a thought exercise, but let's just say the next eight years, you know, until 2029, nothing happens to those sites. And then when we are facing the next RENA allocation, what happens then if we don't meet? I know this is a planning document, and that's the focus is a planning document, but let me understand, like, what happens if we are still facing an issue where HCD determines that we have not provided, even for the current read of numbers? What happens then?

Well, they really focus on certification and what are your trends, what are you doing? And if you're making a good faith effort, you just then go through the process of saying, okay, we weren't able to do that. So in the future cycle, this is what we're going to do. But I think if, you know, in that eight-year period, if the transcontinue in Monterey Park does what we put down in the land use element, which is the mixed use land use designation and talking about more densified housing along the transportation quarters, we're going to satisfy a lot of housing numbers in those developments. And I think when then the state goes back and looks and sees what we've done compared to what other cities have done, some cities won't even certify their housing element. Those are the cities they'll be focusing on, not the city that's trying to do making a good faith effort in providing good affordable housing. I'll just jump in just to add that the city has to prepare an annual report every year. So the annual report provides details on each of the programs that are set forth in the housing element and the city's progress towards each of those programs and towards the goals and policies that they've set forth. So HCD is monitoring the progress on an annual basis, not just setting this aside and looking at it eight years later to see where things ended up.

They are looking at things annually. And so if there are any concerns, you know, mid cycle is typically about four years in where they would step in. But for the most part, they do just let the city work towards meeting their progress.

And as long as they are working full steam ahead towards meeting those programs, HCD will continue just to work and support the city as they can in producing future residential units. Okay. And would you be able to prognosticate, let's say, even though we made an effort, but we're not near that 5200 number. Does that mean that HCD or SCAD could easily even roll over whatever is remaining to the next Rita numbers for the following decade? It's probably not. It probably won't roll over. But the city would likely see a larger number with the next cycle. But it's not going to be like for like where the same number has rolled over just because the numbers change. the numbers for the state are passed down to each COG. And so it doesn't really consider what's still outstanding. It just takes a look at that period of time when they're coming up with the number for the state, what the conditions are at that time, and what they're seeing the number of units that have to be forecasted and planned for across the state over the next eight years. So it wouldn't be a complete rollover, but you would likely see a larger number in the city. But it is hard to tell eight years from now exactly what that will look like. And is that what SCAG did with this current number that they looked at, not just us, but every city and region in the SCAG area, and saw how their performance with the previous decade of the housing element. And was that a basis for the current numbers that all cities were allocated by SCAG? Not in this cycle, no. So this cycle, the process that SCAG went through, they develop a methodology for how they're going to distribute the units. And so the unit counts, the arena numbers for each cog were so much higher than they were in previous cycles. It really doesn't take into consideration how cities are doing. It takes into consideration things like jobs, housing balance, cities production, or how close they are to transit, how close people have to travel to work. so it's there are a number of things in the methodology i don't have it right in front of me i could go into more depth and we can provide you more details um offline if you if you want to see that methodology but really this cycle it wasn't based on what happened previously it was really just um what the state was seeing in terms of housing demand um and housing need and those THOSE NUMBERS WERE SET THEN FOR EACH COG, BUT THEY ARE MUCH HIGHER THAN THEY WERE PREVIOUSLY.

AND PART OF IT IS BECAUSE CITIES WERE NOT MEETING THEIR PREVIOUS GOALS OF OBJECTS FOR HOUSING, RIGHT?

I MEAN, YOU COULD SAY THAT ACROSS THE STATE, WE'RE JUST NOT BUILDING ENOUGH HOUSING. THE DEMAND IS MUCH GREATER THAN THE SUPPLY, BUT THEY'RE NOT CALLING OUT INDIVIDUAL CITIES FOR THEIR INABILITY um to provide housing um they're looking at the other things that they developed in their methodology

and that's how they distributed the units okay uh but but you just did say that that um going forward that hcc is requiring cities to do i guess annual or i'm sorry mid-decade assessments to see how they're doing in meeting these arena numbers right now the city uh cities

HAVE TO PRODUCE ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORTS SO HE LOOKS AT THE ANNUAL PROGRESS FOR JURISDICTIONS THAT REALLY ARE NOT MAKING PROGRESS OR AREN'T WORKING TOWARDS MEETING THE ARENA NUMBERS THAT'S WHEN THEY WOULD STEP IN TYPICALLY AS MID CYCLE BUT IF THE CITY IS WORKING TOWARDS MAKING PROGRESS AND THEY'RE SHOWING PROGRESS IN THOSE ANNUAL REPORTS IT'S UNLIKELY THAT HCD WOULD STEP IN THAT'S REALLY JUST THE POINT AT WHEN THEY STEP IN FOR CITIES THAT ARE NOT MAKING THE PROGRESS

and what would be a rubric i'm just curious like like mid let's say we are we're mid cycle

and what would be the rubric like you've met 10 or 20 i'm just kidding what is the rubric that would be considered acceptable you know that's that's kind of a vague question um i i'm vague in terms of i don't know that i can really answer that i i can give for example let's say um in a city's site inventory, they estimated that they're going to build 100 ADU units or accessory dwelling units across the eight-year period. So let's say that they, on their annual progress reports, are reporting that, you know, one or two are being developed each year. Well, then at the mid-cycle, they've developed, say, six or eight ADU units and have said that they're going to build 100 over eight years at that point hcd is probably going to step in and say hey you guys have have not estimated your adu production correctly so we're going to work with you to try to come up with some additional strategies for how you can promote additional adu development and that's a big i'm not saying that based on any jurisdiction that's just you know something that could happen

what i would suggest to the council's um let's not get stuck on the number because we don't know what will happen in the future we could have a recession and not meet any of these numbers what we really want to have is good housing policy right and we have good housing programs in this element we have good policy in this program and if these programs are implemented production will happen um but cities um shouldn't get stuck on the numbers because it's just a number that's created out at the state from housing demand and then it's just set throughout the state to each city on a per capita basis essentially and if you if you're producing housing you're producing housing the city doesn't do it the marketplace has to it we just have to have a good housing policy that encourages development in the city and i think with our land use element that was adopted in 2019 this housing element the city has gone a long way in getting good housing policy And there's a lot of good programs in here that will be implemented that will encourage affordable housing, good quality housing, housing on our transportation corridors. It will preserve and protect our existing low density neighborhoods. So it's a good plan, both the land use element and the housing element. So I would say let's not get stuck on the numbers. The numbers are going to happen. And we shouldn't worry about it because we can't control the numbers. They'll either happen or they won't. We just have to have the policy and programs in place.

Okay. And on page 137 of the draft housing element, this section where it's mentioned the inclusionary housing ordinance, and maybe it's just semantics, but can we just drop

the word consider just so it would adopt so that so that you know, and if even if October seems too soon, I can even accept saying adopt in 2022, including housing element.

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, that's actually a legal issue that I changed in the housing element. And the reason for that is that one city council cannot legislatively restrict the ability of a subsequent city council from doing legislative acts. All of the regulations being proposed within the housing element are legislative acts as they must be adopted by ordinance and are also subject to referendum by people within the city of Monterey Park. So committing to something within the housing element in concept is fine, but actually having a hard line language with regard to it is legally not fine. So that is the reason for the language in terms of if required or being considered by a particular date. Those are legal requirements for purposes of legislation. Happy to answer any other questions. Okay, I see. And I know I've brought this up many times, but just for the public information, we are working on inclusionary housing ordinance, right?

Something that will be presented to city council this year.

And Mr. Mayor, members of the council, our office did produce a draft that is currently in circulation administratively for input from the departments. and I know that the city manager's office is planning to bring that sort of as an overall housing element implementation.

I don't have the exact time period on that,

but I do know that it's going to be, well, this month is over. I think it was originally anticipated for this month, but it's going to be certainly in the next couple of months for city council consideration.

Okay. Okay. That's probably me.

Okay, I mean, those are my comments I have on the housing element and then let me switch over to the environmental, I'm sorry, the, let me popcorn over to the environmental justice element document.

Let's see, it's 17 pages.

Let's see, I need some highlights.

Oh, okay. Page 16 of the environmental justice element, I'm referring to 4.2

which it says, implement streetscape improvements to enhance access and safety

for pedestrians and bicyclists, include improved lighting and expanded sidewalks. Would it be possible

it's page 16 of the draft environmental justice element. And I guess it's page 15 on the actual

page. Well, on the PDF, it says page 16, but I think the actual page itself says 15.

Yeah, I see it in the implementation measures table. Yeah, yes. One of the programs.

That could be added. That's not a problem. You see that as a problem, Raymond? Okay.

Okay. Does that work? Okay, yes. Okay, that would be my ask. Again, it sounds fine, but as a goal to reduce pedestrian fatalities and injuries. Okay. Let's see.

Again, forgive me. I should have wrote it down instead of just highlighting the document. Let's see.

Okay. On page 16, I'm looking at where it's in the middle. It says, I'm sorry. Hold on.

the related policy number um 5.2 it's a second one it's a second um implementation measure support local organizations uh no next one review ross connections offered by spirit bus line to

facility disease public transportation system access to local healthy food sources such as

farmers markets and grocery stores can we add and maybe it's not the right place but But can we also, because we were mentioning Spirit Bus, but can we also add something to the effect of and provide connectivity to other transit services?

I would think the value rate probably does, but...

Well, I mean, someone jump in and tell me if that's correct or not. And what I'm referring to is that, you know, so south of us is the gold line to the north of us is a Metrolink stop at Cal State LA. LA. And of course, our major boulevards have metro bus lines, which is about 70, I believe

that runs along Garvey into Los Angeles. But I'm just, but I'm just wondering, though, can we add something to that, so that that's also a goal.

So goal five is, is related to food equity. So I don't think it's probably appropriate at that particular section. Okay. You know, so the environmental justice really talks about land use and creating passive and active green spaces. And so the use of the spirit bus was just to be able to get people to there. It's not to discuss how the spirit bus operates to get people to along with transparation. That's really not the focus of the environmental justice element.

Okay. Would that then be, because we haven't adopted the circulation element, right, for the general plan. Have we done that yet?

I don't know when it was last updated.

Okay. Okay.

Okay.

But again, that is something, though, I do would like to see us look at. Especially right now, our Spirit bus line, I know it's not operating because of COVID, it, but, you know, eventually it will be brought back. And so I just think that should be part of our revamping of our public transit system. Mayor? Yes. Yes.

Our spirit bus routes before the pandemic actually connected us to Cal State LA and also provided us transportation to East Los Angeles College at the hub, which connects up with all the other local transportation, whether it's Montebello or I forgot East LA, Del Sol, I think is the local transportation. And then also it allows for that bus station to connect the last mile to the go line, which a lot of it is part of that whole transportation system. So I understand what you're trying to say, but we already do that. If we were going to go back into the bus routes, it would still provide that connection.

Okay. Okay. Okay. All right. Thanks for clarifying that part. Let's see. Bear with me. Let's see. Okay. Well, let me then switch over to the safety element update.

And I'm looking at page 47 under climate change hazards.

And I'm looking at 6.6 where it says utilize the development review process to require that new large-scale projects incorporate best practices to mitigate the impact of climate change through conditions of approval. And I mean, can we change with all new projects as opposed to just large-scale projects or are they addressed elsewhere?

So climate change is a very difficult definition of what is defined there. But we do an awful lot of things already that impacts and reduces climate change. And we have a green building code for all residential development that has to be folLod, and that reduces climate change. Those are reduces the impacts of climate change. So there's a lot of things that are already done in the design review process and in the building code process that reduces that. And I think as we move forward with the discussion about climate change and how that plays into sustainability and how we're able to address and mitigate climate change, those are discussions that we're having in the future on it. So the purpose of that particular section is just to say that projects shall be reviewed and she'll comply with, you know, environmentally friendly conditions, essentially. But again, is it a stretch to just say, can we just drop large scale and just put projects so it wouldn't come with everything? I mean, can that be a possibility? Well, what would you do? Do you want to, you know, have single family homes that are doing an addition? Like, let's review it for that. Where do we, what do we do? large scales you really have an impact and that's what goes to design review for the most part

but at the same time the state easily could have legislation that would require just

anyway right there's a possibility that even if we well the state doesn't review the

the environmental justice element or the safe the safety element the only document they review is housing element i see i think you know i think in the future and in the near future we'll be able to um have a good quality discussion with the council on how do we address and mitigate climate change i think those you know i think you're going to be i'm happy with where we're going to be going with it on it i think those are valid points that you're making and i think it's something that should be addressed on it. I'm just not sure. Sometimes we do things and you get unintended consequences from it. You know, it might sound good, but then when it's implemented, we go, oh, why did we do that? And I would hate to make the change without studying it and looking at it and thinking about it. I know large scale what it means. I know what the impacts are going to be. If we put any on it, what does that really mean? I'm not quite sure. I wouldn't want to have any unintended consequences that deter somebody from doing what they want to do. But I think we can address your concerns in a comprehensive program that addresses everybody's concerns on how do we make Monterey Park a better place to live and a healthier place to live.

Okay. Okay. All right. All right. Well, let me... votes on it. Yeah. Okay. Okay. All right. Um, the other, um, I suggested, um, um, and I,

and I know one of them had to do with, um, adding language regarding, uh, pedestrian

injury fatalities. Um, will that then be, um, changed? Um, uh, yes, that will be, um,

that'll be revised and then it'll be, um, there'll be the, that'll become the city's final document after this council adopts it. So we'll put that change in there. Okay. Okay. And then, so you'll see, you'll see the draft document that you're seeing tonight, and then there'll be a final document and that final document will be the changes you recommended. Okay. Okay. Now what about some of the comments that are made tonight by the speakers? Will that also then be taken into consideration because you're saying again, this is a draft, but an updated document will come back to us. so will those comments also be taken into consideration they'll be taken into consideration and along with discussions with the city attorney to find out what's legal and what we can what hcd can ask from us lots of times hcd tries to ask things that aren't mandated and so our responsibility is to do what's mandated by the state So I think we've done a pretty good job of doing that. We push backward. We think HCD is crossing over their boundaries a little bit.

And I know that we have, we addressed the comments of the speakers tonight and the previous speakers with changes in policy and changes in things.

so I think we've addressed that and if they submit something else in this non-substance if

it's it's a big change has to come back to you guys if it's a technical change or non-substance then we can do it and if their comments fall into that under those categories we can put those in there but the goal here really the goal here is really to get a housing element that's certified and that then we can then be eligible for grant monies and other funding sources that we're in compliance with that so that that's really our goal here all right all right um i mean i have to say you know it'll be interesting to see a few years from now you know when hd comes back or when we are obligated to give reports

to see how this plays out um because you know i know in previous council meetings or even last year

you know there was some criticism of legislation coming from the state about somehow it being

heavy-handed having to do land use um land uses and i do agree with leninical control but

at the same time i think it's because everyone is very frustrated that this issue has not been addressed adequately for decades now and i just think that you know unfortunately this this issue is going to continue to play itself out um and that's just my prediction um regardless of what what we do tonight. So.

And I guess that's my two cents. Council members, any other comments or questions? I know we've had a long discussion about this important document.

Any other questions, comments, council members? Okay. Hearing none. Okay.

Well, then let's proceed then.

Let's see.

So we have several resolutions A through D for resolution for approval. Do we want to do it one by one or just do it in one motion?

Mayor? Yes, Councilman Chan? Yes, I would like to make the motion to approve 4B, A, B, C, D.

Okay, item 4B and resolutions A, B, C, and D, you said?

Yes. I'll second that.

Okay, a motion has been made by Council Member Chan, second by Council Member Liang. Okay, Mr. Clerk, roll.

Thank you. Council Member Yvonne Yu? Yes. Council Member Peter Chan? Yes. Council member Hans Liang. Yes. And mayor pro tem Fred Ternoso. Aye. And mayor Henry Lo. Yes. Motion carries. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. On to new business. We have two, five A and six A. So let's start with a, of the City Council of the City of Monterey Park, California, appointing council representatives to specific organizations. And this is the part where we get to discuss our assignments to different regional and local organizations. And so let's see.

I request this item because Hans and I will be in our last year as council members. And I'm representing the city of Monterey Park to call council of government. And this is a very important position. And I'm the representative and Mayor Lo is the alternate. alternate. And in order to continue to represent Monterey Park in Cog, which has a big impact to the city in housing, homeless people's transportation and everything. So I would suggest that I reverse the position with Mayor Lo so that Mayor Lo will be the representative and I be the alternate so that you can continue. We have to continue your Asian so that I can kind of like in supporting of your doing and so that you know the people and know what's going on in the park, although that you've been in many meetings as well before. But I think it's prudent and it's good to have to get into it

through false so that you know what's going on and then we can ease out when I come out at the end of the year. So that's my proposal and I would like to retain the

Sister Cities Commission

as the council's liaison. That's my proposal. Okay.

Okay. I mean, I'm taking one second. Sorry. Okay.

I mean, again, I know you and I have been working together with the COG, and certainly I think, right, I mean, they took up legislation and policy issues and funding issues, so I certainly want to say I appreciate

and really thank you for putting the time in.

And so, yeah, sure. I mean, I'm open to that switching of roles because certainly you have that longevity and continuity. And also I will probably lean on you for advice, not to mention because of, I think for me at least, flexibility of time is important because of my employment. So sometimes I may not be able to attend the meetings that are in the middle of the day. But let's be very honest here. Although, and again, I'm open to the switching. But however, I want to also, out of respect for the colleagues, defer to other council members. I mean, anyone else interested in serving on COG at the moment? Again, I think, you know, because I think wherever or not I sit on it or Peter on it, we all can attend the meetings.

And they are very useful.

I mean, they cover so many important policy issues. They run a gamut. But I just want to open it up to you. Does anyone else want to also serve on call as well?

I think... Oh, sorry, Hans. Let me finish this. And also, Monterey Park is also in the subcommittee, under call, in the transportation committee. so you will be in the food club as a board member and also in the transportation committee so it's quite a full loan

and let me remind you also tomorrow at 4 there's a club meeting as well so

so adjust your schedule well I will I will try I just started a new job this week actually so sorry Hans

No, not at all. I think that in terms of COG and even I was going to recommend for the Southern California, SCAG, the Southern California Association of Governments, that perhaps one of the three new council members may look into that. I don't know if, Henry, that would be too much for your plate. But in terms of COG, in the past, when mayors were serving, it was kind of before we had the new council on mayors would serve on the COG just to be at the cusp of like what's going on.

That was sort of a tradition. Not that we have to follow that. But given that you are serving as the mayor, I think that those agencies are important for you, just in terms of experience and then also getting to know all the other, well, you probably know all the other city officials already because of your work.

But, yeah, I think that whatever the primary ones, I think that the remaining council members, the three of them, should take some kind of stake and get to know it because, as Peter says, you know, in November we're going to be gone.

So, okay. I mean, again, if no one else objects from the council, then yeah, we can certainly switch where I'm the call representative and Peter is the alternate. However, I will have to say that I'm not sure if I could take on a commitment to also sort of on SCAG only because I know their meetings sometimes are in the mornings and can last through midday.

And like I said, I mean, it does become a challenge given my work schedule. And I'm just being very honest about it.

That's fine. Then I'm willing to keep it unless the other Fred or Yvonne want to take the SCAG. I'm okay to remain on the remaining ones that I'm listed also as the alternate for Sister Cities. Okay. Does anyone else have an interest, though? to Sorong Skag.

Please don't bang on those doors. Oh, yes, I've heard you.

Thank you for offering. Yeah, my schedule is also unpredictable. So sometimes it's hard to take on yourself from morning to afternoon. Wow, it's such a long meeting. Yeah, so I'm actually ready to take on anything that you guys are not interested. So I'm ready to take on anything like maybe Henry cannot handle or you guys not interested. So I'm ready to do that. And so I just, for your information, Henry, there's quite a lot for the mayor to attend because the sanitation district is for sure new, right? So they're actually quite busy as well. They have like closed sessions and stuff. lot of stuff and there's also a mayor um yeah i think every friday they have the mayor also the association and something so i also attend that as well um so there's quite a lot for mayor and then i feel like oh now i don't have to attend all those meetings

it's good and bad i don't want to say it you know it's good so just for information that if you

have a daytime job is a little bit tough.

So I understand your schedule. So whatever that you cannot

take on, feel free to let us know.

I think the LAX roundtable, at first I wanted to give it back to you. But then I see your schedule, I would just continue to sit on because that is also four or five hours in the afternoon. And it's actually quite long. But, yeah, I feel like we have achieved so much of the LA's roundtable. With your schedule, I will continue to sit on, and you will still be the alternate. Okay.

Yeah, so I wanted to see, you know, how I can help your schedule out.

Sure. No, I appreciate my comment on you.

Although, regarding the LA's roundtable, I had a conversation with our city manager, and I keep forgetting that eventually we will be out of a pandemic. And right, Ron, that they actually meet in person in the evenings, right? But that's what they did before?

You mean... At 6.30, you said a night? Yes. 6.30 in the evening at LAX. Okay. Yeah, the LAX actually starting from like... Today is at 1.30 to 4.

So it's like they shift to the afternoon. On soon. Okay.

But I think what Marcy was explaining was that, you know, again, And hopefully soon we'll be out of this darn pandemic. But that once we do, we will probably resume in-person meetings again. And I think what Ron was just saying was that they could end up moving back to their pre-pandemic meetings, which were... Well, let's move on. How about this? Why don't we... I think we may need to revisit this. Because if some of these meetings that are now on Zoom are moved into the evenings, then that gives you more latitude. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. maybe you know at the time that we can actually discuss again to see what's your life yeah yeah that makes sense cannot do like the daytime but sometimes you can do nighttime right but because if what Ron thinks true that the LX runtime will be moved back to when it was in person at the airport at 6 30 evening okay I mean that's I mean it's still a commute but nonetheless it's something that's that is actually more meanable at least for me so yeah oh

good good good then then i cannot meet i want to drive to the airport and rush hour on a weekday i

mean you know okay then we can talk thank you mayor can i clarify one one thing i just want to respond to uh councilmember you want you mentioned but i just want to verify that it's not that we are not interested in serving the committees i think it's just the choice of work from uh council member you and i uh but i want to clarify it's not that we are not yeah but uh we still want to serve the city and uh just that because i think it's the need to uh my proposal to uh exchange position with mayor low is for the good of the city not that right right of course

No one is saying that, but it's because, as you said, we are transitioning to new council members in the fall.

And of course, the remaining three of them, we will have to take over full time these responsibilities. That's the idea. Right. Mayor President Nelson.

So I'm just going to offer maybe to get more involved in these different organizations. So I just need to know what the time commitment is and which ones are needed and stuff. So maybe we could all get to lunch or something and talk or whatever. I don't know what's involved, but yeah. Yeah. Sorry to jump. Now we know that mayor can handle all the nighttime meeting. so we can just give it all to him.

Yeah, that's fine. In busy evenings, I can do it. You know, actually, forgive me,

but my iPad is running 2% energy, so I'm switching over to my laptop. So keep talking, keep talking, you know, but just bear with me.

If I suddenly, you lose me,

I'm going to log in to my laptop.

But pay for attention also.

Let me ask you, is there any particular organizations that you have an interest, just based on listening to us and what you see before us and we could perhaps answer any questions about time commitment

and hours?

If there's a Dodger community involvement group, I'll do that.

I don't know. Whatever. I'm open to listening to what needs and I'll be happy to plug in. probably the daytime is better because I'm old and I start falling asleep early so Hans just woke me up right now a little while ago I was snoozing but I'm back, I got my second one now so just let me know

Fred, actually I wanted to ask you you belong to the St. Gabriel Valley Economics Partnership but I haven't heard any meeting from them have you attended any of their meetings?

truthfully no no i haven't i need to uh start getting in the ball and uh okay okay i don't even know when they meet so okay i don't even know if they've they're meeting well yeah

we should find that out okay okay okay thank you so

so then what are we doing mayor we're gonna just uh how are we gonna handle this

Well, let's see. This meeting is being recorded.

One second.

Oh, you're doing the switch over? Yeah, I'm going to switch over. Sorry about that. Oops, okay. 22 seconds.

Oh.

So it's the last question, Council Member, now you wanted to ask if the government, you want to serve on that? Yeah. I love to serve, but what is the hours?

Yeah, it's a little difficult for me because they do have meetings during the day,

But with my work and the meetings that I have to attend for work, it makes it very difficult for me. I see. So what is the hours usually? Sometimes it's like noon, 11. And then they may have special meetings that they call, you know, outside of the regular schedule.

I can handle like the daytime and the afternoon ones. But I cannot handle like very early in the morning or very late at night. Yeah.

Let's verify that with the staff on the timing on that because I myself have not been able to attend regularly because of the schedule.

Right, right, right. So different people has their own schedule. So, okay. and then um so i'm i'm okay with keeping the i know ica for me is all nighttime meetings yep so it's tough for me it's really tough for me but i i don't know who i can handle it too

because i don't even have okay well um um well uh customer you uh for ica um i'm sorry let me see if i hear you correctly do you want to remain a representative um or or or or would you prefer Do you have time?

Yeah, because it's always night. It's in the evenings, right? Right.

I can be your alternate for ICA.

Oh, good, good, good. Because they start from 7 o'clock to like 9.

7 p.m.? Okay, sure, sure, okay. That's fine, all right.

Okay, that's good. Okay, okay. Let's see. Let's see, so anything else we need to cover? How about, Fred, League of California City? I'm the alternate vibe that never knows where the schedule.

Do you know when they meet?

No, we'll have to find out. Actually, if I can, I'm sorry, if I can also just add to that. So, although I am not listed as the, I guess, representative of the league, I actually sit on the policy committee. Because I guess the League of California Cities, even if you're not appointed by your city council, you can still serve by doing a member of the league. So, for example, I sit on the Community Services Policy Committee for the League of California Cities because I was appointed through the LGBTQ caucus. I'm also a member of the API caucus for the League of California Cities. And although they have not assigned me to any policy committee, but nonetheless, I have suggested to you the API caucus of the League of California Cities that I can be. So I guess, although I know this is the slide tonight is to appoint somebody, but at the same time, just be aware that you can still participate in the league policy committees. Although, someone interject, but I'm assuming to be a board member, you have to be appointed by your city, right? To be a board member of the league?

If it's not, then we'll need to find out. Yeah, yeah. Okay, we can find out more about their schedule so that it will be easier to assign, right?

Okay. Okay. Wow. Okay.

Oh, wow. Thank you, Henry. I mean, I don't know you're good in the evening.

maybe what we could do also is have the staff give us the schedules for each one of those right right right right so i feel bad not to attend the meeting yeah yeah yeah no it's fine and perhaps if we can only revisit this issue um but i but again i i look i think it was actually productive to have this conversation as Catherine Chan has said already that we do need to make that transition to pull our weight for these very important regional organizations that as a region like the COG they adopt policies and advocate for funding like for example you know we've been talking about housing tonight and again the Sengueblo Valley COG have a regional know housing trust which i know i've advocated that we either join or or we create our own but but that's an example of how why it is important to have a presence at the cog so yeah good good so maybe we can get that schedule and so i think uh i would like to ask you that uh that you got

all the changes. We are clear on that. If we are clear, then I would like to make a motion to adopt this resolution and make the appropriate changes on the representation of the council members to different organizations.

If I may, Mayor, looks like you're frozen. Yeah, you're frozen. Yes. I'm frozen? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, you're back on now. Okay. If we could just walk through this also for the city clerk to take copious notes for, we'll just go down the list for the board of education. Are we going to keep everything accordingly? I could stay on there. Okay. Can California contract cities association that remains the same. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. Independent Cities Association, that remains the same? Put Henry as the alternate. Well, I'm sorry. I didn't catch that. You're frozen again.

Yeah. And again, they wanted to put Henry as the alternate for ICA. I think that was what was discussed.

Okay. So we'll add Henry to that.

Yeah. You're frozen again, Henry. Oh, there you go. Oh, oh.

okay um moving down to leave california cities we have fred and yvonne as the alternate is that staying the same or changing that's fine that remains the same county sanitation there's not much we can do with that san gero councils of government are we just flipping that from henry being the representative and Peter being the alternate? Yes. Okay. San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership. We have Fred and Yvonne. That will remain the same? Yeah. Can we find out about the schedule as well? All right. And it sounds like council wants to have our city charger remain the San Gabriel Mosquito Abatement representative. He wants to. I haven't heard any different from him. And we thank you for that because actually it is important. It actually is an important organization. And so we do thank him for participating in the Mesquite Bateman board. So we thank you for that. City Treasurer Leon, you came on?

Yes, let's stay on. Yes, thank you.

Okay. Thank you. And Sister City Commission, I heard Peter wants to stay on and Hans will still be the alternate. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. And then Stag, it's Hans right now. Did I hear some conversations that it was going to change or were still?

What are the times for the meeting on that, Ron? It was like 12 or something, right?

Yeah, they changed it between like 12 and 3. It varies.

Is that something that can you fit that in your schedule, Yvonne? Yeah, can you put me at

or you want to switch with me? I mean, I can be alternate or I can be representative. You can be alternate.

Why don't you be the representative for that one? And I'll be the alternate. Yeah, I'll be the alternate. Did you get that, Ron?

I do. And then LAX Roundtable will stay the same until they go in person and then Henry will flip with Yvonne and Henry will do the commuting. Is that correct? Yes. Yes, I will drive to LAX. You're both smiling. I figured it's okay. So that kind of cleans it up. I know the city clerk has a record of it. And I guess we will need a vote from you all. Yes, I make the motion already. Okay.

I'll second it.

Okay. Motion performed by Council Member Chan, seconded by Council Member Hans Liang. any further comes or questions. Okay. Hearing none, then clerk, please call the roll. Okay. Council Member Yvonne Yu? Yes. Council Member Peter Chan? Yes. Council Member Hans Liang? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Fretzernoso? Aye. And Mayor Henry Lo?

Aye.

Motion carries. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Okay. Home stretch, folks. Okay. Item 6A, a resolution of City Council of City of Monument Park approving the memorandum of understanding of Friendship City Partnership between the City of Monument Park and Phu Mai Town, Phu Gra Vong Thau Province in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and it's requested by Councilman Peter Chan. And again, forgive me if I mispronounce the name.

No disrespect for anyone. But Councillor Chan, would you like to share a few words?

Thank you, Mayor. And usually the sister city and the friendship city is initiated by the mayor when they were in position and visit the other countries or other cities and established this sister city or friendship city. relationship. But because of the pandemic, everything is, you know, upside down. So this thing is kind of like not the routine. Usually the mayor will sign the MOU, establish the sister city or friendship city relationship and afterwards then the city council will rectify that. And that's the usual case. But as I said, because of the pandemic, it's different. And so starting in 2018 when I was mayor And we have a lot of Vietnamese Chinese residents in the city and also a lot of business also owned by the Vietnamese Americans in the city of Monterey Park. So they approached me at that time to establish a friendship city relationship with Fu Mai. Fu Mi. That's the... Fu Mi. Okay, thank you. Yeah, Fu Mi. Okay. And the other is spelled M-Y. At first, I was pronounced it as Fumai, but actually, I was corrected later. That is Fumai. And how do you pronounce it province? Sorry, I don't know. I don't know if I got the right pronunciation. Okay, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yeah, but so we started in 2018 and know a little bit more about the city, and then pandemic hit, and so everything stopped. And then lately, then the conversation started back up again, and so the MOU was proposed and agreed upon, and then I put it to the Sister City Commission. And last time, the Sister City Commission approved this Friendship City Relationship unanimously. And so that's why it comes to the council to approve it. And let me say a little bit about Fumi. It's a port city. And when you talk to, well, I've never been to that city as well, okay? but I would like to visit it maybe this year, hopefully. And I was told that when we take the cruise to visit Vietnam, that's the port to Dixian Park. And then it's only around 25 miles from Phu Chi Minh City, which is the biggest city in Vietnam. And it's an industrial city and a population of 175,000 people in the last census. And so it's a good city and looking forward to establish a friendship relationship with them. And so I would like to propose this. And I think I have some speakers on this item. so uh uh maybe uh deputy city clerk or uh mayor do you want to uh hear the yes of course no okay no and first let me just say thank you so much for keeping our sister city relationships thriving and growing we appreciate your efforts counselor chan uh clerk uh do we have any requests um for this item

Thank you, Mayor Lo. Earlier we had a few speakers on this item. We also have two written communications on this item. Let me go ahead.

Email from Dan Chang, Monday, January 17th.

Friendship support. Dear City Council, my name is Dan Chang. I am President of U.S. Vietnam General Chamber of Commerce, and I would like to request the Councils to support and pass the resolution to establish Friendship City with Phu Mai Vietnamese. Thank you. Dan Cheng.

Written communication from Brian Kwok, Tuesday, January 18th. Support Friendship City. Dear City Council, my name is Brian Kwok. I am Director of U.S. General Assembly. Director of the General Chamber of Commerce. And I would like to request the Council to support and pass the resolutions to establish friendship city relationship with Phu Mai Vietnam. Sincerely, Brian Kwok. Okay. Okay. Okay. And there are more further. I'm sorry. Yes. Yes. There are no other written communication, but let me just check this out. see if there are any other speakers in the audience that would like to speak on this item. Please use the raise hand feature right now. Yeah, I'm here. I'm Fernando. My name is Fernando. You're on this item? Yes. Okay, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Okay, if you want to speak on this item, please use the raise hand feature so I know who to call, please. Okay.

Are there any other speakers on this item?

Yes.

Can you hear me? Okay, I'll call you after. Hold on. Any other speakers?

Charles, you already spoke, so you cannot speak again, okay? You already spoke earlier. So we're going to start with Fernando. Yes. i'm fernando i'm uh i am the resident of montreal part i would like to request the city council to support in the past restoration and establish the friendship city with the full mind in vietnam

thank you because i think that that's very important for them a lot of the villainies

they're living in the montreal park because i think this is a very important exchange all the culture and they have a lot of the benefit with the Monterey Park residents and the Willamnes residents. Thank you. Thank you, Fernando. Janet? Yes. My name is Janet Lo and I am the secretary of Monterey Park and Fumay Association. I would recommend City Council approve the proposal.

Thank you, Mayor. There are no other speakers on this item.

Thank you very much, Clerk, for allowing the public to speak.

Okay, let's see. Council members, any one of you would like to share a comment or question?

Okay. Hearing none, then may I have a resolution, may I have a motion to pass item 6A, please? Yeah, I would like to make the motion to pass this resolution to establish a friendship

city relationship with me. Okay. Second, please.

I'll second that.

Okay. Motion made by Council Member Chan and seconded by Council Member Liang. Okay.

Any further questions, comments? Hearing none, clerk call for the question.

Vincent. Waiting for the question. Okay. Council Member Yvonne Yu? Yes. Okay, Council Member Peter Chan. Yes. Council Member Hans Leung.

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Fresenoso. Aye. And Mayor Henry Lo.

Aye. Make the votes unanimous. Thank you. Thank you.

Congratulations, Council Member Chan. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. And, okay, future agenda items. Anyone wish to bring up any future agenda items, Council?

Okay, hearing none. All right. Oh, yeah, we already did closed session. Let's see. Well, I guess the final item is adjournment, unless anyone wants to say anything. Normally around this time, if I'm not mistaken, we have council members who would like to share communications. Do we have any? If not, then we can adjourn. Or you can save communications to the next council meeting.

Yeah, we should. Yeah, let me start from me then.

Okay, okay. Thank you, please. Yes, please. Yeah, actually, I wanted to say good job to our Mayor Lo to finish his first special and regular meeting. Today is not easy. A full agenda with special meeting, public hearings, unexpected agenda items.

I think but Mayor Lo handled it really well. So we all have a learning process and this is a good start. So good job on that and now I can relax.

And then my husband put the In-N-Out burger in front of me for three hours and finally you know I'm able to enjoy that. But thank you so much and good night everyone.

Thank you, Councillor Yu. Thank you. I appreciate that. And of course, we have you to thank for also being our mayor, fearless mayor this past year. So thank you. Okay. Let's see. Council Member Liang, I'm going to pop one over to you. Any comments? Do you think you can share? Just really briefly, we attended the funeral of Detective Brian Andrus last Saturday. it's a loss for us, but we had the honor of going there to say our last goodbye. So I'll let my other council members talk about that. The, I think that that's about it for now, but have a wonderful evening everyone and congratulations Henry on your first meeting meetings. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, councilman. Councilman Chan. Thank you, mayor. Good to call you mayor, too. And although we were dark last time because of Christmas, still is pretty busy for me. I attended the Metro Service Council, and I want to report on that. The fare was stopped, right, for free because of the pandemic, but the fare comes back on January 10th. 10th and but only 50 percent until June 30th and also they have a program it's called live it's low income fare it's easy that's what the uh for people to apply and it's a 50 discount and if you apply now for the next few months is even 25 percent of that so you You can sign up and I would just like to say the phone number to apply for that and get more information is 323-870-8567 or 818-244-2550. And of course there's an email address and I will share with the city staff and then and maybe put it onto the complications and the Cascades or TV. And also the Metro Youth Council, they received over 200 applicants. And in January 24th, they will start the first meeting. And then I attended the SGV Public Affairs Network and featuring the Metro CEO Stephanie the weekends and she shared with us the provision talking about the Fairless program and the public safety and even talk about you know what they do to prepare for the Olympic Games that's coming in 2018 and 2028. And also I attended the Cobb Transportation Committee I want to report to you that Chairman Jason Poo from San Gabriel, he resigned from COG and because he was appointed by President Biden to be the administrator for the HUD, the West Coast administrator. So congratulations to Jason for this new post. and then I attended five Eagle Scouts ceremony and that was a great one and then attended and I think all council members attended the fire chief's inauguration you know the pin ceremony which is overdue for two years he's been as chief but never did the ceremony so congratulations Matt Alec and a great job And like Councilmember Hans Leon talked about, that we and other council members attended the funeral of Detective Andrus and celebrated his life. And it's a very good ceremony. And our condonences to the Andrus family and also to the police officers. It's a great loss for City of Monterey Park. and uh but uh yeah i think fred can talk more about that and uh and i would like to appoint uh mr jack chian c-h-i-a-n-g uh to the planning commission so uh so city clerk please take look but that is Mr. Jack Chiang. And I think he had put in an application. So I'm going to appoint him as the plan commission. And the new year is coming around the corner in two weeks. So happy new year to all. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Chan. Thanks so much. Mayor Pro Tem Sonoso.

Yeah, I'd like to share a story. Some of us attended the veterans ceremony at the American Legion on Veterans Day, and one of the speakers there was Norm Stevens,

who's a 97-year-old World War II veteran, found out that he's written a number of books. The library has two of the books. The other two books that the library doesn't have, I ordered them from Amazon. I've been reading them.

So it really, the four books range from the time he's eight years old, growing up in Inglewood,

playing the different games during the depression when they didn't have a lot of toys and stuff so they had to improvise as far as how they spent their time with their friends and then it the

next book talks about him going into the army and starting to train to be a bombardier the third book is is uh time overseas flying uh over europe and um you know over bombing runs over france and

Germany. And then the last book that I have right now is when he comes back from his service. So

I've been reading about him, you know, from the age of eight years old to about 19. I mean,

he was 19 years old when he finished in Europe and came back home. And I thought of reaching out to him and asking if he could sign my books that I have. And he was nice enough to say yes to come, come on over so I was able to go on Sunday to meet him and his wife and they were very very nice and he signed the books I had and we talked a little bit so I really appreciate that and if you have the opportunity you know check out the books well the books in the library I've already checked them out you have to return wait till I return them but I would really encourage you to check out those books and learn about one of the people that were part of the greatest generation, those that lived through the Depression and the war and are still around to talk about and to write about it. So that's a story I wanted to share. Again, also want to piggyback on what Peter and Hans said attending the funeral for Detective Andrus. I just want to give my sincere condolences to the department and to his family and just know that we have them in our thoughts and our prayers. And also want to congratulate Henry for making it through this meeting. Been praying for him that he doesn't get any heart attacks and that he runs and gets in good health because I don't want to have to have to jump in here and take over for him. So, you know, Henry, start training for another marathon, and maybe Ron will take you on some of his runs, and you guys could keep healthy. So thank you, and we'll talk next time. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Potem, for those kind words. Thank you, everyone, the city council tonight, for your kind words of encouragement. It was a long meeting, but certainly there were a lot of important issues, and there will be many such meetings. the coming months because of the issues that will be before us and our community expects us to make decisions on them. And certainly for the community and the public, we thank you for staying active and being participants because government works best and only works best when those whom we represent also are engaged in our discourse. I also would like to report that last year during the holidays, I had the opportunity to attend a birthday celebration for one of our veterans, Focaster, who turned 100 years old. And Mr. Castro has lived in Monterey Park since 1949 with his family. And I also want to thank our Veterans Post for...

staff we were able to send something care of Mr Castro's son who I think lives between California and Hawaii also I too joined my colleagues in services for Detective Andrus and certainly It was with a heavy heart that we attended, but certainly he and his family were on our

minds and also our gratitude for his service to our community.

Other events I attended also, I attended the Chinese American Community Affairs Council last Friday and presented a certificate on behalf of the city to one of our own residents, Mr. Derek Ma, who was recognized by the Community Affairs Council. And I think that's it for me now. I want to thank all of you for being here tonight, as well as to our public. And we will see each other again in a few weeks. and let's see last call anyone else wants to say anything? Henry can I piggyback on your story about that World War II veteran that you went to go see for his birthday I actually passed by there didn't realize that he was having a birthday party I turned

around and asked my uncle if he wanted to go visit another World War II vet and my uncle jumped on the

opportunity so my uncle was able to go and meet this man and they spoke for a little while my uncle's really happy and his family just gathered around my uncle and just wanted to find out about his experiences during the war too so that was a great opportunity to get two war world war two vets together so and i was that was pretty special wonderful you know that's very beautiful and very touching and i think it's a very positive note we can adjourn tonight's meeting on thank you for sharing mayor pro tem and with that um i announced tonight's meeting adjourned at 10 06 6 p.m. Thank you.

Good night.