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Monterey Park/

city-council-meeting-mar-2-2022 — March 2, 2022

TL;DR

The council approved a $1.204 million budget augmentation for catastrophic events at [1 (28:00)] and unanimously authorized a Spirit Bus Fixed‑Route Transit System study contract with IBI Group at [1 (6:45)], while also approving youth sports license agreements for city parks at (95:58) and purchasing eight new police patrol vehicles at (88:30).

  • Mayor Lo moves to receive mid‑year financial report and authorize $1.204 million appropriation – [1 (27:14)]
  • Council approves budget augmentation – motion carried unanimously at [1 (28:00)]
  • Council approves purchase of eight new police patrol vehicles (Item 3C) – motion carried 5‑0 at (88:30)
  • Council approves youth sports license agreements (Item 3D) – motion carried unanimously at (95:58)
  • Council approves Spirit Bus Fixed‑Route Transit System study contract with IBI Group – motion carried unanimously at [1 (6:45)]
  • Council discusses Cascade Fountain color change in solidarity with Ukraine – [1 (31:00)]–[1 (33:46)]
  • City Staff to investigate fountain color feasibility – [1 (31:00)]–[1 (33:46)]
  • Finance Dept. files mid‑year report and implements appropriation – [1 (27:14)]–[1 (28:00)]

Summary

The meeting began with a review of the 2021‑22 mid‑year financial report, during which Mayor Henry Lo moved to receive the report and authorize a $1.204 million appropriation for catastrophic events; the motion carried unanimously at [1 (28:00)]. The council then moved to approve a series of consent calendar items, including the purchase and conversion of eight new police patrol vehicles (Item 3C) at (88:30) and the authorization of license agreements with youth sports organizations for city park use (Item 3D) at (95:58). Following these, the council approved a $69,000 contract with IBI Group for a Spirit Bus Fixed‑Route Transit System study at [1 (6:45)], and discussed potential fare‑free options and public outreach for the project.

During the consent calendar portion, council members also approved a municipal academy training program for commissioners (planned March 30) and discussed commission vacancies, with the City Clerk tasked to distribute vacancy lists at (73:09). The council noted a proposed cascade fountain color change in solidarity with Ukraine, though no formal vote was taken; this discussion occurred around [1 (31:00)]–[1 (33:46)]. The meeting concluded with staff updates on community events such as the Langley Center Fitness Center grand opening and a free paper‑shredding event on April 9.

Transcript
Council Member Henry Lo -

Pilot. You can begin. You can begin now. Thank you, clerk. Okay. Good evening. City Council of Monterey Park. The City Council acting on behalf of the successor agency of the former redevelopment agency, the Housing Authority, the Monterey Park Financing Authority, and the Monterey Park Geologic Hazard Abatement District Agenda. Welcome to today's regular City Council meeting Wednesday, March 2nd, 2022, 630 pm. Per Assembly Bill 361, these meetings will be conducted pursuant to government code 54953 as implemented by city council resolution accordingly council members will be provided with electronic meeting log information they will not be physically present at council chambers pursuant to city council resolution the public may provide public comment utilizing the message set forth below notes the city hall is currently closed to public you will not be admitted to city hall general information Documents related to an agenda item are available to the public in the city clerk's office located at 320 West Newmark Avenue, Monterey Park, California, 91754. During normal business hours and at the city's website at www.montereypark.ca.gov forward slash agenda center forward slash city council hyphen 17. The public may watch the meeting live on the city's cable channel, MPK-TV, or AT&T U-verse, channel 99, or Charter Communications, channel 182, or by visiting the city's website at www.montonapark.ca.gov forward slash 133 forward slash city dash council dash meetings dash videos. Public participation. In accordance with Government Code 54953 and the City Council Resolution, remote public participation is alLod in the following ways. Via email written communications, public comment will be accepted up to 24 hours before the meeting via email to mpclerk at montypark.ca.gov. Written communications, if any, will be briefly summarized and include the name of the individual that submitted a comment. The summary will be read via pre-recorded video and played during the public comments section of the City Council meeting.

Unknown Speaker -

To view the full text of written communications, please visit www.montonapark.ca.gov forward slash Agenda Center.

Council Member Henry Lo -

All written communications are provided to the City Council and filed as part of the City's administrative record.

Unknown Speaker -

Via telephone, public comment may be submitted via telephone during the meeting.

Unknown Speaker -

before the close of public comment by calling 888-788-0099 or 1-877-853-5247

Council Member Henry Lo -

and entering Zoom ID 289-222-5995. Then press pound. When prompted to enter participation ID number, press pound again. If participants would like to make a public comment, they will enter 9, Then the clerk's office will be notified and you will be in the rotation to make a public comment. Press 6 to unmute yourself when called upon to speak. Participants are encouraged to join the meeting 15 minutes before the start of the meeting.

Unknown Speaker -

You may speak up to 5 minutes on agenda item.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Speakers will not be alLod to combine dime. The mayor and city council may change the amount of time alLod for speakers.

Unknown Speaker -

As part of the virtual meeting protocols, anonymous persons will not be alLod to provide public comment.

Council Member Henry Lo -

important disclaimer when a meeting when a participant calls in to join the meeting their name and or phone number will be visible to all participants note that all public meetings will be recorded so i'm going to now call the order and now we'll proceed to the flag salute

Unknown Speaker -

please rise off

put your right hand over your heart ready to begin I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which

Unknown Speaker -

is the one nation under God, indivisible, for liberty and justice for all.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Thank you. You may all be seated. Roll call. Clerk, please call the roll.

Unknown Speaker -

Thank you. Council Member Yvonne Yu.

Unknown Speaker -

Here.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Council member Peter Chan. Here.

Unknown Speaker -

Council member Hans Liang. Here. Council member Fred Cernoso, or I should say Mayor Pro Tempest, Fred Cernoso.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Fred?

Unknown Speaker -

City clerk, he will be absent today.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Thank you very much, city manager. And Mayor Henry Lo. Present. Great. Thank you. Thank you. clerk agenda dish addition deletions changes and adoptions we have any yes mayor council members

Unknown Speaker -

we would like to add underneath staff communications the police department they would go after management services department also i would like to make an announcement we posted a special meeting at 5 30 today we made a mistake on the id zoom it had the wrong number we did not conduct that meeting at all it was canceled we have postponed that meeting until the next city council

Council Member Henry Lo -

meeting on the 16th of march that is all thank you mr city manager okay um then we will add report from police department under staff communications and to proceed after management services department okay um public communications when all comments are while all comments are welcome excuse me the brown act does not allow city council to take action on any items not on the agenda council may briefly respond to comments after public communications is closed persons may in addition to any other matter within the city council's subject matter jurisdiction comment on the agenda item 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 clerk's office do we have any um requests to speak tonight

Unknown Speaker -

audience if you want to speak during um public communications this is the time to do so please

Cindy Trang -

use the raise hand feature or if you're on the phone press star nine at this time.

Unknown Speaker -

We'll proceed with the first caller Jaime Rodriguez.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Good uh good evening. Can uh can everybody hear me? Please proceed. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. My name is Jaime Rodriguez. I'm a lifelong Monterey Park City resident. the last meeting I was the resident that was removed from the session and I just wanted to convey the intent of I guess interrupting the meeting. It was not done to be disruptive. In my union, we use the Roberts rules of order. And during the time that a motion was being introduced, I was seeking clarification on the verbiage of the motion that was being proposed before a final vote could be made on it. because I myself, I didn't understand.

Unknown Speaker -

And I presume there were other people on the call who did not understand what the motion was being proposed. I had a follow-up with someone the following days to get clarification on what the motion was. That was the intent, was to get clarification, not to be disruptive.

Council Member Henry Lo -

When we're looking at public engagement, public participation, we cannot assume that everyone who is participating understands the rules of conduct for a public meeting. I believe that would have been a perfect opportunity for a learning lesson. In a regular meeting, and I've worked for elected officials in a regular meeting, if someone becomes disruptive, they're not immediately removed in that manner. I could have been given a warning. I would have muted my call.

Unknown Speaker -

We're looking to have more residents be involved. And when they hear of incidences of which someone speaking up trying to get information before a vote is concluded and the person is removed from this type of format electronically, it might dissuade other residents from participating.

Council Member Henry Lo -

And with that, I don't know if you guys are able to respond to me, but I asked what procedure does the city of Monterey Park City Council follow so that I, as a resident, hoping to become more involved, can go ahead and review so that in the future, if there is something that I am unclear on. What is the appropriate way of following up on that before a vote is finalized? You know, I have some time left. Is there is there a way that anybody can respond during my time?

Unknown Speaker -

That's a question I'm posing. I don't know if that would go to the city manager or the city attorney.

Council Member Henry Lo -

and this is a perfect example of seeking information from our city government during

Unknown Speaker -

a time of public comment where i have time allotted i'm seeking information i don't want

Unknown Speaker -

to be deemed as disruptive and removed if later on in the meeting there's information or a future

Council Member Henry Lo -

meeting where i don't understand something and i say hey what's going on here and i hear silence

Unknown Speaker -

so so i i guess that that's not protocol where someone can respond to someone else's comments someone can't even tell me that so can anybody direct me i can call during the week to speak

Unknown Speaker -

to someone in the office the city clerk i would suggest sir you can follow the city manager

Council Member Henry Lo -

thank you thank you mr mayor that's exactly what i was asking for so i will be able to follow up with the city manager and seek further clarification on how myself and other residents can be better active members of our city thank you for your time and have a good evening

Unknown Speaker -

all right thank you very much and and i may i may contact other city council members or you

Council Member Henry Lo -

Mr. Mayor, just to continue a better dialogue of how we can get others involved.

Unknown Speaker -

Have a good night. Of course. Thank you.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Thank you.

Unknown Speaker -

Next speaker, Vincent Chang.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Thank you, Cindy. Good evening, Mayor, member of the City Council. In the 1960s, Two Brothers, Stephen Rulish Salas began playing music around the East L.A. and the San Gabriel Valley. The music became part of what's known as the East Side Sound. And in 1972, during the time of Vietnam and struggle for equality and justice, the Salas Brothers founded a group called Diera. Over the year, Tierra songs have, you know, became very popular. And, you know, they even charted on national and hit like the top 100.

Unknown Speaker -

You know, all those, you know, music rankings, sources. So they became very well known, even outside of the East L.A., San Gabriel Valley area.

Anyways, if you're not familiar with the group, you're more than welcome to look up YouTube and read about them.

Council Member Henry Lo -

But anyways, in 1920, I'm sorry, 2020, Rudy Salas unfortunately passed away.

Unknown Speaker -

And in February of actually this year, just last month, Steve Salas, the other brother, also passed away.

Unknown Speaker -

So, you know, some of the original founders, you know, passed.

As you may know, Long South Garfield, specifically 2025 South Garfield, is now being developed into a Starbucks.

Council Member Henry Lo -

So you know the location that I'm talking about. Anyways, before that was demoed, there actually was a music studio there. And that actually was part of the Salas Studios. So they actually occupied the studio, I think, from 2000 to as late as 2020. And I think they started out with one room. And then eventually they took over the whole building.

Unknown Speaker -

You know, they gave out guitar lessons.

Council Member Henry Lo -

they you know helped up and coming musicians with their bookings you know they did a lot of charity work etc. They did a lot of charity work, etc., out of that studio. ! The thing is that,

Unknown Speaker -

! the building itself is no longer there. !

Council Member Henry Lo -

However, a lot of fans ! are familiar with that studio.

Unknown Speaker -

You know, having been in that area. And so tonight,

Council Member Henry Lo -

I'm actually asking the City Council Council to consider authorizing the city manager to work with having the possibility of maybe installing a plaque, you know, in an appropriate location. I don't know whether it's on the sidewalk or somewhere else. I noticed there's a tree right in front of the studio itself.

Unknown Speaker -

But anyways, maybe something that, you know, the city can work with in terms of acknowledging that location as the location where the Salas Studio once existed and, you know, honoring the band itself and the music that they have come to represent.

Council Member Henry Lo -

So anyways, I think it would be, you know, the cost of the installation will probably be nominal. However, I feel that, you know, the value that it will provide in terms of the city, you know, getting its money back, so to say, is that, you know, fans will be able to visit that location and maybe have a coffee at the Starbucks. So, you know, in terms of economic benefits, I think it would be well worth it to do that.

Unknown Speaker -

and

Council Member Henry Lo -

you know that's something that hope we thank you

Unknown Speaker -

Amy Rodriguez each individual is allotted five minutes to make their comments

Unknown Speaker -

since you already made your comments you won't be able to speak again

Council Member Henry Lo -

if you want to speak on any other agenda items you can wait for that

Unknown Speaker -

item to come up and then use the Ray Sand feature again.

Unknown Speaker -

Okay, yes.

Council Member Henry Lo -

I'm not the same person. This is the father.

Unknown Speaker -

I apologize.

So can I speak?

Council Member Henry Lo -

Go ahead, sir. Okay. Yes, I want to echo

Unknown Speaker -

some of the

Council Member Henry Lo -

comments that our city clerk Vincent Chang made regarding Tierra and the passing of two men, very well-known musicians, Steve Salas, just recently this month on the 18th, and then his past month, I'm sorry, and then his brother, Rudy. You know, both players also participated with their group and performed here in Monterey Park, both at the amphitheater and there on the grounds during the event sponsored by the Community Relations Commission and the Harmony Festival that was held in three years.

Unknown Speaker -

together

they were here in Monterey Park at Barnes Park at the amphitheater

Unknown Speaker -

and they also

Council Member Henry Lo -

were presented in the city council meetings

Unknown Speaker -

certificates of appreciation for their participation in those events by the city council. So they're also on video of those meetings where they were presented those certificates. And they've always felt a warmth, a very closeness to our city with those events and also patronizing businesses here in the city, including Tommy's Restaurant, including Paul's Kitchen when it was open. And they used to also do jam sessions there at Paul's Kitchen together with other known groups, members of war, El Chicano, and other musicians. so I really encourage the city the city council to take really really heartfelt consideration in supporting these efforts to hopefully erect a plaque in their memory honoring their contributions to the world of music and honoring their place here in Monterey Park both in the studio they held on Garfield and also for their participation in concerts here at Barnes Park and also for patronizing businesses here in Monterey Park. Thank you very much. I appreciate the time. Thank you.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Thank you. There are no other oral communications. However, I do have a written communication.

Unknown Speaker -

Okay. Proceed, please.

Council Member Henry Lo -

My name is Richard Nakano. I live at 1122 Kenton Drive, Monterey Park, 91755. I wish to comment on the new law, Senate Bill 1383, requiring single-family homes to recycle food scraps. While I'm in favor of recycling in general, this new collection program seems less than ideal for the following reason. Many people already compose their organic waste into mulch. Others use in-sync garbage disposal, which process food scraps. The remaining small amount of organic waste generated by a single-family home might amount to a few inches in the bottom of a 90-gallon green waste bin. Yet, dedicated trucks must pick up the small...

Unknown Speaker -

I'm sorry, did we lose sound, or is that just me, or...? I'm sorry, I can hear. um were you not able to hear i have no sound on the uh public comments

i can hear you though okay i well that's true okay i i can hear um clerk's office can you check

Council Member Henry Lo -

that um seems like some of the counselors cannot hear

let me check it's up to the highest volume

Unknown Speaker -

I can hear Henry, I can hear Deputy City Clerk, but I do not hear any public comment being read.

Unknown Speaker -

How about you, Peter? Do you hear anything?

Council Member Henry Lo -

Yeah, I can hear it, but it's not too loud, so just barely hear.

Unknown Speaker -

I know that he's talking about the food compost and stuff. Oh, I have no sound.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Yeah, I'm not hearing anything either. Me too. Try to play it again.

Unknown Speaker -

My name is Richard Nakano. I live at 1122 Kenton Drive, Monterey Park, 91755. I wish to comment on the new law, Senate Bill 1383, requiring single-family homes to recycle food scraps. While I'm in favor of recycling in general, this new collection program seems less than ideal for the following reason. Many people already compose their organic waste into mulch. Others use in-sync garbage disposal, which process food scraps. The remaining small amount of organic waste generated by a single-family home might amount to a few inches in the bottom of a 90-gallon green waste bin. Yet dedicated trucks must pick up the small amount weekly, causing extra air and noise pollution. Traffic implements and wasting fuels and human resources. I believe the implementation of the city's program should be further studied and an improved system be utilized. Certainly, encouraging composting would help. For non-compostable organic waste, one suggestion might be a special organic waste bag be provided to our citizens, which could be sealed and thrown into the regular trash. At the materials recycling facilities, these bags could be separated out and processed. This would cut down on the wasteful use of large green waste bins with a small amount of organic waste. I also have questions about the acceptable organic waste. One, what about cardboard boxes? I don't see them mentioned in the bulletin put out by Athens Services in the February issue of Cascades. My family discards a lot of cardboard boxes from mail-order packages, such as Amazon. Are these type of boxes acceptable as organic waste? Two, what about disposable diapers and personal feminine hygiene products? Thank you for your time and consideration, Richard Nakano.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Okay. Thank you. Are there any further written communications that have been submitted to

Unknown Speaker -

the city for tonight? I'm sorry? No. Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. Well, let me just

Council Member Henry Lo -

thank everyone who have spoken tonight or has written

Unknown Speaker -

communications to the city. Certainly we value

Council Member Henry Lo -

your input and I think we all believe here that government works best when elected representatives engage with their constituents

Unknown Speaker -

and so for those who called tonight, please feel free to follow up with

Council Member Henry Lo -

our city manager and staff as well as the council members here on the dais. We're here to serve you.

Unknown Speaker -

Okay, moving on. Let's see, we now have- If I may make a comment, Mayor?

Unknown Speaker -

I'm sorry, yes, Councilman Lane. Yes, yes.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Yeah, I just wanted to, again, thank the speakers

Unknown Speaker -

and then for the city manager on the issue of the plaque, is that something you can bring back on another agenda?

Council Member Henry Lo -

I think we have a discussion about that. So noted. Okay, thank you.

Unknown Speaker -

Thank you, Councilman Leanne. Follow up.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Okay, let us now proceed to staff communications.

Unknown Speaker -

We have our first communications from our recreation department.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Hello.

Unknown Speaker -

So, Kirk, do you have the slides ready?

Council Member Henry Lo -

Thank you.

Unknown Speaker -

So, good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem,

Unknown Speaker -

and City Council. Next slide, please. So as you know, indoor activity at the Langley Senior

Council Member Henry Lo -

Center had been closed due to the Omicron variant. So we're happy to announce that we have reopened the Langley Senior Center for Indoor Activities. It is by reservation currently Monday through

Unknown Speaker -

Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. So seniors can come back and enjoy activities like karaoke, billiards, ping pong. And if you want to reserve a slot, a time slot for one of those activities, you can call

Robert Aguirre -

626-307-1395. Now there's another activity that seniors may be interested in, and that's our newly

Unknown Speaker -

expanded fitness area in Langley Center. Next slide, please. So as seniors return to Langley

Unknown Speaker -

Center, they'll notice a recent upgrade. It's the newly expanded fitness area at Langley,

Unknown Speaker -

and it's over 1,100 square feet. That's three times the previous size,

Council Member Henry Lo -

and it features 15 new pieces of commercial-grade fitness equipment.

Robert Aguirre -

So we're definitely excited for the seniors to come back

Unknown Speaker -

and utilize the equipment and help them reach their fitness goals.

Unknown Speaker -

Recently, our city elected officials actually had a tour of the fitness area,

Robert Aguirre -

and from what I hear, I think some of them have also returned

Unknown Speaker -

to catch a little workout this past week. Next slide, please. So the Recreation Department is definitely excited to offer a movie in the park. So on Friday, March 11th at 7 p.m. in Barnes Park Field, we are going to be featuring the Marvel Disney box office, Shang-Chi, The Legend of the Ten Rings. This is completely free for attendees, and so we encourage everyone to bring out your blankets, your chairs, and enjoy an action-filled movie in beautiful Barnes Park. Next slide, please. Another event that we're definitely excited about is our annual MPK Spring Egg Hunt. This will take place on Thursday, April the 14th at 5 p.m. in the Barnes Park Field. Now, youth will be divided into separate age groups, and they're going to be searching for over 6,000 eggs with prizes. Now, in those eggs, there's also going to be some grand prizes, and those eggs may contain things like Robux, V-Bucks, and also gift cards. So in following the attendees are also going to be able to enjoy some free carnival games and take a picture with the MPK bunny. I also want to send a special thank you to Transtech and Shirley Wong. They're two of our sponsors that help support this event and are going to make it possible. Next slide, please. Finally, I would like to encourage residents to visit the city's website, follow us on social media and stay up to date with all our upcoming programs and activities. Thank you City Council for giving me a few minutes to share some more.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Aminen-ineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninenineninen Langley Senior Center yesterday and see the new state-of-the-art gym facilities for users, and we think that it's an exciting development for us, especially as we move towards reopening, and I know that many of our residents are probably very anxious and very pleased when they see these refurbished facilities at Lining Center. And I will say my colleague, Councilor Chan,

Unknown Speaker -

has his camera on. Would you like to make a comment or question?

Council Member Henry Lo -

Yes, just a comment. Thank you, Mayor. And thank you, Director Aguirre, and the great job on the Lining Center upgrade on the Phoenix Center.

Unknown Speaker -

I went back yesterday, which is the grand opening, and I want to report to all the residents, it was busy. A lot of people were there playing ping pong, pool tables, karate class, and so forth. So it's welcoming back. And so please use the new facilities. And because of the two years of pandemic, health is very important. So utilize of the facilities. Health is not just talking about it. you have to do exercise to earn health. So don't stay home, come out, enjoy the new facility and enter those classes, whatever you want to, what your interests are. So I just want to welcome back all the seniors back to Lani Center and hopefully we will be back in full scale PDC. Thank you. And again, thank you, staff. A great job.

Unknown Speaker -

Thank you, Councilman Chan. for those comments. Any other comments? Thank you, Mr. Gary.

Unknown Speaker -

Thank you.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Okay. Next presentation, Public Works Department. Mr. Lopez.

Unknown Speaker -

Hi. Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. Tonight, we'll have our new principal management

Unknown Speaker -

analyst Sochi Tipan to inform you of a couple activities we're having. Sochi?

Xochitl Tipan -

Hi, good evening, Mayor and City Council. We will be having a free compost event on March 12th, which is a Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. We will be providing free compost to all Monterey park residents we ask that they bring shovels and sturdy containers and Athens will be providing

Unknown Speaker -

compost until supplies last next slide we will also be having our annual spring cleaning event

Xochitl Tipan -

on Saturday April 9th from 8 a.m to 1 p.m we will be accepting bulky items and electronic waste hazardous waste like batteries and paint will not be accepted but we do have information on

Unknown Speaker -

on the city website of how to dispose of this items. And we will be having information on the day of the event as well.

Xochitl Tipan -

We will be providing free paper shredding service

Unknown Speaker -

and chipper service as well.

Xochitl Tipan -

So we encourage residents if they have unwanted items or anything that they've been trying to get rid of to stop by our event on April 9th.

Unknown Speaker -

Thank you.

We're happy to answer any questions if you have any.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Thank you so much for the presentation. Council members, any questions, comments?

Okay, hearing none. Well, first let me just say thank you so much. You know, we always appreciate when the city creates opportunities for our residents to show some civic pride by cleaning up their communities and also being mindful of the environment. And so thank you so much for ANNOUNCING THIS UPCOMING EVENT. AND THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Unknown Speaker -

THANK YOU, MAYOR.

Council Member Henry Lo -

OKAY. NEXT PRESENTATION, MANAGEMENT SERVICE DEPARTMENT.

Unknown Speaker -

GOOD EVENING, MR. MAYOR, MEMBERS OF COUNCIL.

Council Member Henry Lo -

I DO HAVE A SLIDE HERE. THIS IS DIANA GARCIA, CITY LIBRARIAN. This evening, we'd like to give a brief update about the city's ongoing financial forecast presentations that we've been doing in the community. Last week, we held two informational sessions on the city's annual budgeting process. We discussed how the city receives revenues and how those funds are expended to provide various city services, facilities, and programs. So the city's team, which includes myself, Inez Alvarez, our assistant city manager, and Martha Garcia, our management services director, has been working with a professional consultant, Grassroots Lab, to conduct additional outreach and education and to gather public input regarding a possible revenue measure.

Unknown Speaker -

We want to note that during the month of March, we will be holding this presentation again via Zoom on March 10th and March 22nd from 630 to 8 p.m. using the Zoom meeting ID that you see on the screen here. We'll also be sharing this presentation with various groups and organizations in our city, and we hope to hold in-person sessions starting in April, as health conditions permit, of course.

Diana Garcia -

I want to also note that our management services page of the city's website, which is down here at the bottom of the slide, contains the most up-to-date information about these upcoming meetings, as well as recordings of the two sessions that we held last week, which are subtitled in Spanish and in Chinese.

Unknown Speaker -

Thank you very much for your time, and we appreciate the opportunity to give you a brief update about these outreach efforts. Thank you.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Thank you, Diana. And also I want to thank the state staff. I know that we've had two town halls already last week. And so thank you for continuing to create these opportunities for the public to be engaged. I see Councilmember Han Suyeng has his camera on. Councilmember Lam,

Unknown Speaker -

would you like to share some comments? Yeah, I just have a quick question. Thank

Council Member Henry Lo -

you, Mayor. I noticed on the flyer you had Tuesday, March 10th, but I think that's Thursday.

Unknown Speaker -

Is that right? Do you have the flyer up again? I just want to make sure that I'm getting the dates right.

Was it Tuesday, March 10th listed?

Unknown Speaker -

March 10th is a Thursday. The dates are March 10th, Thursday, March 10th, and Tuesday, March 22nd.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Yes, so I've got those flipped. Thank you very much for allowing me to clarify and pointing that out.

Unknown Speaker -

Great. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Any other comments or questions?

Council Member Henry Lo -

Hearing none, thank you so much for that presentation. And to the public, please

participate in these upcoming meetings if you can. Okay. And finally, presentation by our

Unknown Speaker -

police department ah chief of police chief gordon good evening mayor low and council members i just want to take a moment to uh proudly announce that we are moving back towards in person and unless something changes in april we will be starting our what used to be called citizens Academy. We have renamed it now to be more applicable to Community Academy. And we would like residents, especially those that have never attended one of our academies that really want to become engaged and learn all about the police department to apply. It'll be on Thursday nights starting April 7th through June 2nd from 6 to 9. It'll be held at City Hall. And we encourage anyone that wants to come and really learn about how the police department works and get some hands-on experience with us to apply. You'll see on the screen it's a matter of calling our CEB or emailing them to get an application. Thank you. Thank you, Chief Gordon, and that is very

Council Member Henry Lo -

exciting news, especially when it means people can participate in person again. So a sign of good times coming up. Okay, I see, I see, Councillor Chan, you had your camera on. Would

Unknown Speaker -

you like to make a comment or question? Yeah, I just want to make a comment. I want to thank police chief for putting back this program together again, because I think we stopped

Council Member Henry Lo -

for the last two years. And residents, if you have time, please join this program. This is very good. And you know, you know, in details how the police work. And that helps in everyday life.

Unknown Speaker -

And it's good to protect yourself and protect your neighbors and your friends. So I just encourage all the residents to join this program when you have time. So thank you, Chia, for putting this together again.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Chen. Councilor Liang, I saw that your camera was also on.

Unknown Speaker -

Did you wish to share a comment or question? It's okay. I disregard that. I can follow up with someone else. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Well, thank you, Chief Gordon. Again,

Council Member Henry Lo -

exciting news. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Let's see. On our agenda, presentations. We have one

Unknown Speaker -

presentation tonight 1A commissions committee then board overview ah

Council Member Henry Lo -

our assistant see manager i know okay floor is yours

mr mayor and members of the city council um this item is tonight is to provide an

Unknown Speaker -

overview of all of our commissions committees and boards that we have in the city of Monterey Park and our city attorney Carl Berger will be providing some background and

Council Member Henry Lo -

legal information about how our boards and commissions are set up and defined and then I will provide a brief overview of each commission and their their defined rules so I I will let you

Unknown Speaker -

know that we do have quite a few slides because we do have quite a few boards and commissions so

Unknown Speaker -

So we will try to give a comprehensive overview, but also we'll try to be mindful of time.

Council Member Henry Lo -

So I would first like to introduce our city attorney, Carl River.

Inez Alvarez -

He's going to, like I said, give some background first and some legal information about our boards and commissions.

Unknown Speaker -

Carl.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and members of the council. As Inez mentioned, we thought this was a good opportunity to provide a general overview.

Unknown Speaker -

The council has, in the past several months, discussed this in terms of what the boards and commissions do, a general overview and what have you. And I think what the city manager, Inez, and I discovered or rediscovered perhaps as we come to what has been popularly called the endemic and we start moving away from emergency operations and start reassuming the normal procedures for municipal government that in the two years since the city has essentially been shuttered and we have been in emergency operations, a lot of corporate knowledge and a lot of internal procedures have been neglected. And so we thought this might be a good opportunity to launch off what we are loosely calling the Municipal Academy. And we hope to provide this as a general overview and then have a more intense workshop, not only for boards and commissioners, but also internally with regard to, for example, contracts and other types of things for employees. Next slide, please. So this is, as I mentioned, the first stop or starting point for the Municipal Academy. And as I mentioned, the City Council undertook a lot of things during the emergency operations. And as you know, we adopted approximately 30 different ordinances during the past two years to tighten up the Municipal Code, to change and streamline the way things worked within the city, do a lot of housekeeping and cleanup with regard to the municipal code and policies. One of the things that the city council did during this time period is follow up with a process that actually started in 2013, which was a cleanup of how boards and commissions are formed, how they operate, how they form quorums, and also how they are expected to behave in terms of following city council direction and being provided with tasks from the city council. Most of these are encapsulated within chapter 2.82 of the Municipal Code. This chapter was actually established in 2013 and has been tinkered with over time. So I'm going to go through with a thumbnail sketch. As Inez mentioned, she is going to get into greater depth about what each board and commission does. And you'll see here as I go through the slides that there are a couple of discussions about what the subject matter jurisdiction is for boards and commissions.

Karl Berger -

When Inez gets into her part of the presentation, she will give a greater overview of what those are for each board and commission.

Council Member Henry Lo -

So let's start at the top.

Unknown Speaker -

As all of us know, these are voluntary positions in terms of serving on a board, commission, or committee. I'm going to collectively call these a commission just for purposes of ease.

Council Member Henry Lo -

These are volunteer positions that are not paid, and certainly I know that the city council and... These are volunteer positions that are not paid and certainly I know that the City Council and all of the staff appreciate the time and effort that those volunteers provide to serve on those boards and committees.

Unknown Speaker -

! I think universally the feeling from staff certainly is that the individuals that help provide and shape policy within the city is very much appreciated and those individuals are very much treasured.

Unknown Speaker -

The provisions in the municipal code provide that a person can only serve on one commission. The default membership for commission is five members. And as we'll talk about other commissions that are larger, but the default is five.

Karl Berger -

Inez will talk about other commissions that are larger, but the default is five.

Unknown Speaker -

Members on a commission must generally be city residents.

Karl Berger -

There are a couple of exceptions for specialized areas within some of the commissions, but generally speaking, everyone needs to be a city resident.

Unknown Speaker -

Convicted felons may not serve on a commission. In a fairly unique process, Monterey Park is fairly unique in terms of how people are appointed to commissions. Each council member has their own choice in terms of choosing somebody to be put onto a commission. Frequently, cities have a process whereby persons submitted an application. Those applications are vetted. The individuals are interviewed by the entire council, and then the council votes on whether or not somebody should be appointed to a commission. Monterey Park doesn't have that. Each city council member has their own choice with regard to one, or if the commission is larger, more than one person to be placed onto a commission. By default, members may serve, sorry, I'm reading from my PowerPoint, may serve a total of two four-year terms, but the term will continue until successor is appointed. This latter part is very important. Sometimes, particularly in the past two years, the city has struggled with regard to finding somebody that to succeed, a commissioner that has termed out. And so it's important to understand that that position remains filled until a successor is selected by the council member. Next slide, please.

Karl Berger -

One of the things that the City Council did in 2020 is adopt a code of conduct. It applies to both elected and appointed public officials and applies to all commissioners that serve the city of Monterey Park.

Unknown Speaker -

There are four core principles which are listed on this particular slide, and these are items

Council Member Henry Lo -

or principles that the City Council identified as being important for all public officials to follow. I'm not going to read them all, but you can read them at your leisure, certainly on the PowerPoint, and they are available through the City Clerk's Office.

Unknown Speaker -

This is Resolution No. 12184.

Unknown Speaker -

It was originally proposed by Mayor Hans Leong in 2019, and the City Council adopted it in 2020. Next slide, please.

Karl Berger -

The implementation of those core principles is also accomplished with resolution 12184.

Unknown Speaker -

In principle, the idea is that public officials conduct themselves professionally and that

Council Member Henry Lo -

that conduct and their appearance and their activities are above reproach.

Unknown Speaker -

The important parts of this are members will refrain from abusive conduct, personal charges

Unknown Speaker -

or verbal attacks upon the character or motives of other members city employees or the public

Unknown Speaker -

and also adhere to all the processes established by the city council on the municipal code with regard to their activities next slide please

Council Member Henry Lo -

this continues the implementation of the code of conduct in the core of principles

Unknown Speaker -

and principle it's to fully prepare yourself for discussion on for meetings which means not only

Council Member Henry Lo -

read the staff reports but if you have questions about those staff reports to ask staff liaisons

Unknown Speaker -

to act professionally some of these are are sometimes common sense but it's worthwhile to write them down and that's what the city council did next slide please

Council Member Henry Lo -

some changes were made as i mentioned before the city was having difficulty not only finding

Unknown Speaker -

volunteers to serve on commissions, but also having problems actually forming quorums in order to hold meetings. Those of you familiar with the Brown Act understand that when there is a quorum, the only way that you can have a meeting is with a quorum of the legislative body. The legislative body in this case are the commissions. And some of the commissions, as I mentioned, are larger than five. And in order to make sure that the larger commissions could actually meet, the city Council last year changed the quorum requirements for all boards and commissions to be a quorum of three members. As noted, Chapter 2.82 states that staff members may be assigned to a commission. That may not happen, but ordinarily it is. Inez will go through the staff members that are assigned to each commission. There are certain requirements with regard to electing a chair and vice chair. In some instances, those positions rotate, much like the city council rotates the mayor and the mayor pro tem.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Regular meetings may be established by resolution. Ordinarily, most commissions only need one meeting per year, but more can be called based upon 72 hours notice.

Unknown Speaker -

That's in accordance with the Brown Act. And usually what happens is that the chairperson and the staff liaison consult with one another to make a determination whether or not an additional meeting is necessary. All meetings must comply with California law, including, as I mentioned, the Brown Act. Next slide, please.

Council Member Henry Lo -

We discussed the formal action of the commissions must occur at meetings. Special meetings are those called by the chairperson or majority of the legislative body. There have been, I know, in the past six or seven months, some questions from board and commissioners about who can call meetings.

Unknown Speaker -

Ordinarily, that is cooperation between the chairperson and the staff liaison in terms of when meetings are called.

Council Member Henry Lo -

There's also been questions about when meetings are canceled or adjourned, as it's called under state law. And that happens if there is less than a quorum present. Usually what happens is if there's nothing on an agenda or nothing to be discussed,

Unknown Speaker -

the staff liaison will reach out to the chairperson or should be reaching out to the chairperson TO COORDINATE WHETHER OR NOT A MEETING IS REALLY NECESSARY.

Council Member Henry Lo -

AND THE THING TO REMEMBER HERE IS THAT THE CITY IS COGNIZANT OF THE TIME AND EFFORT THAT THAT THE VOLUNTARY COMMISSIONERS PROVIDE TO THE CITY. AND SO WE REALLY DON'T WANT TO WASTE THE TIME OF THOSE INDIVIDUALS IF THERE'S REALLY NOTHING TO DISCUSS.

Unknown Speaker -

NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE.

THIS IS ALSO UNDER THE CODE OF CONDUCT. AND AS I MENTIONED, I MEZ WILL GO INTO FURTHER DETAIL ABOUT THE SUBJECT MATTER JURISDICTION of each particular commission, but those all commissions may only address matters determined by the municipal code or the city council by resolution to be within their subject matter jurisdiction. So for example, the environmental commission should not be talking about approving a particular development because those are the latter is the jurisdiction of the planning commission and not within the subject matter jurisdiction of the environmental commission. Along those lines, staff need not place an agenda, place on an agenda, provide any resources for or implement request directions or actions outside that subject matter jurisdiction. I know that many commissioners are excited to learn about all sorts of things that are occurring within the city and that may be under consideration by the city council and sometimes ask staff to bring that back onto a future agenda. but this goes back to what's within the subject matter jurisdiction of that particular commission and also recognizes that it takes time and effort and public resources which translates into staff time to provide those things and if those particular commissions cannot really affect the policy on them the city council determined that that's not something that staff should be doing

Council Member Henry Lo -

the third bullet here is is commissions must refrain from considering policy issues that are under active consideration by the city council. As many of you know, who have paid attention to the city council's actions certainly in the past, well, since last summer, the city council,

Unknown Speaker -

for example, recently adopted a housing element. That housing element is now under review by the state. There are a number of things in that housing element that the city has committed to do over the next period of time, next five years approximately. There are laundry lists of things

Council Member Henry Lo -

that the city council is actually expected to consider. All of those items are really considered under active consideration by the city council. And so until the city council gives direction on how those should be processed, other commissions should defer to the city council's direction

Unknown Speaker -

in terms of those things in the housing element. And I only use that as an example because it's the biggest item

Council Member Henry Lo -

that has come up recently in front of the city council.

Unknown Speaker -

The city council as a whole

Council Member Henry Lo -

PROVIDES DIRECTION AND GUIDANCE TO ITS COMMISSIONS.

Karl Berger -

SO EVEN THOUGH INDIVIDUAL COUNCIL MEMBERS APPOINT COMMISSIONERS, IT'S THE CITY COUNCIL AS A BODY THAT PROVIDES DIRECTIONS TO ITS COMMISSIONS.

Unknown Speaker -

NEXT SLIDE, POSE.

Council Member Henry Lo -

SO THIS IS THE ORGANIZATIONAL CHART AND WHERE I HANDED OFF TO INEZ. AS YOU CAN SEE, WE HAVE A NUMBER. I SHOULD SAY THAT SINCE I WAS HERE AT THE TIME THAT THIS WAS REVISED IN 2013,

Unknown Speaker -

THERE ARE DOUBLE THE NUMBER OF BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS BEFORE 2013.

Unknown Speaker -

AND SO THIS IS WINnowing DOWN FROM BEFORE THAT DATE UNTIL NOW.

Unknown Speaker -

SO INEZ, IT'S ALL YOURS. THANKS CARL. NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE.

Unknown Speaker -

SO FIRST WE'RE GOING TO START WITH THE LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES.

Unknown Speaker -

THE LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES IS SEMI AUTONOMOUS FROM CITY COUNCIL AND CITY ADMINISTRATION.

Council Member Henry Lo -

There are five members appointed with city council approval.

Inez Alvarez -

The term of office is three years for two consecutive terms. The regular meetings are usually held once a month. The board appoints a president and the president serves for a one year term.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Subject matter jurisdiction for this board is to make policies governing library

Unknown Speaker -

and make recommendations on various paths that benefit the library services.

Inez Alvarez -

Our city librarian is our staff liaison for this board. And currently there are no vacancies on this board.

Unknown Speaker -

Next slide.

Unknown Speaker -

The planning commission is a five-member commission like the library board.

Council Member Henry Lo -

This is another city commission that California statute authorizes to render legally binding

Inez Alvarez -

decisions. Regular meetings usually occur monthly. Subject matter jurisdiction is acting as the

Council Member Henry Lo -

planning agency, acting upon assignments provided by city council, making recommendations to city

Inez Alvarez -

council regarding line use regulations, and they can administer zoning regulations. It also acts as the construction of those board.

Unknown Speaker -

And currently our community development director is the staff liaison.

Inez Alvarez -

There is currently one vacancy on this commission.

Unknown Speaker -

Next slide.

Unknown Speaker -

Next is our personnel board.

Unknown Speaker -

And like the library board and planning commission,

Council Member Henry Lo -

they've rendered the planning, sorry, the personnel board renders decisions

Inez Alvarez -

that legally bind the city pursuant

Unknown Speaker -

to the Monterey Park Municipal Code.

Inez Alvarez -

This is a three-member board, and the appointments are made by a majority of the city council comprised of an at-large member, a member nominated by non-sworn city employees, and a member nominated by the city manager.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Two members constitute a quorum for this board since it's a three-member board.

Unknown Speaker -

Regular meetings must be held at least once per year.

Unknown Speaker -

And subject matter jurisdiction is providing advice regarding personnel matters and conduct hearings in accordance with any applicable memoranda of understanding.

Unknown Speaker -

The director of human resources and risk management is the staff liaison.

Council Member Henry Lo -

And there are no current vacancies on this board. Next slide.

Unknown Speaker -

All other boards and commissions that follow in the next slides are advisory only.

Unknown Speaker -

These boards and commissions do not have independent legal authority to make decisions on city council's behalf.

Unknown Speaker -

The advisory boards and commissions are established to either provide city council with advice or to provide recommendations to identified public officials.

Inez Alvarez -

um these boards and commissions may not act outside of their subject matter jurisdiction

Unknown Speaker -

next slide

Unknown Speaker -

so the first one is the design review board this is a five member board and members of the board

Council Member Henry Lo -

may either be city residents or persons maintaining a business license within the city

Unknown Speaker -

members should have a background as an architect planner landscape architect civil engineer

Unknown Speaker -

building contractor or practicing licensed electrician meetings are will be held on an

Inez Alvarez -

as-needed basis subject matter jurisdiction is making recommendations regarding design

Unknown Speaker -

of new and existing structures annual recommended methods for implementing and

Council Member Henry Lo -

interdependence of land values and aesthetics to increase the value of surrounding properties

Unknown Speaker -

and recommended recommends reasonable controls over character and design of buildings the

Inez Alvarez -

community development director is the staff liaison and currently there are two vacancies on

Unknown Speaker -

for this board next slide next we have the traffic commission and the traffic commission is a five

Inez Alvarez -

member commission. This commission may adopt rules and regulations for electing officers and holding regular meetings. Regular meetings are typically held once per month. The commission has two responsibilities. The first is to review requests for changes in traffic control conditions submitted by the city engineer. The action is taken.

Unknown Speaker -

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Council Member Henry Lo -

The commission's responsibility must be guided by objective standards set forth in the traffic planning manual published by the state division of highways.

Inez Alvarez -

However, where extraordinary circumstances exist,

Unknown Speaker -

the commission may vary the standards to produce the best possible solution to serve local conditions.

Inez Alvarez -

The public works director, city engineer

Unknown Speaker -

is the staff liaison

Inez Alvarez -

and currently there are no vacancies on this commission.

Unknown Speaker -

Next slide.

Unknown Speaker -

next we have the business improvement district advisory committee and this is a five-member

Council Member Henry Lo -

committee and the person's appointed must own or operate a business within the business

Inez Alvarez -

improvement district this committee has two responsibilities the first is to make

Unknown Speaker -

recommendations regarding operations and marketing for the downtown business area

Council Member Henry Lo -

and to make recommendations regarding the methods in which revenue is collected and budgeted

Inez Alvarez -

The economic development manager is our staff liaison, and currently there is one vacancy on this committee.

Unknown Speaker -

Next slide.

Next we have the Commission on Aging.

Inez Alvarez -

This is a 10-member commission, and each council member for this commission appoints two commissioners.

Council Member Henry Lo -

This commission's responsibilities are to work with the senior citizens and the city regarding matters pertaining to aging, encourages improvements in conditions for seniors, seeks resources for senior projects and programs, recommends improvements for physical and social environments for seniors,

Inez Alvarez -

INFORMS SENIORS REGARDING VARIOUS RESOURCES AVAILABLE, WORKS WITH ORGANIZATIONS PROVIDING

Unknown Speaker -

SENIOR PROGRAMS, PROVIDES ADVICE REGARDING MATTERS PERTAINING TO SENIORS, AND CURRENTLY THE RECREATION

Inez Alvarez -

AND COMMUNITY SERVICES STAFF SERVES AS A STAFF LIAISON TO THIS COMMISSION. CURRENTLY THERE ARE TWO

Unknown Speaker -

vacancies. Next slide. Next we have the Community Participation Commission and this is a seven

Unknown Speaker -

a total of 17 commission members and 10 are appointed by City Council just as the Commission

Inez Alvarez -

of Aging each council member appoints two commissioners for this commission and seven commissioners are non-voting youth members three of these can be appointed by the alhambra unified school district two by the montebello unified school district and two at large for um at large

Council Member Henry Lo -

for community to accommodate any of our private schools um the commission promotes community

Unknown Speaker -

events history and heritage youth programs and reports activities to the city council

Inez Alvarez -

The recreation and community services director is the commission's liaison.

Unknown Speaker -

And currently there are two vacancies on the commission in addition to the youth members.

Unknown Speaker -

Next slide.

Inez Alvarez -

Next we have the Economic Development Advisory Commission. And this is a five-member commission.

Unknown Speaker -

members must be either a city resident or have a or have business experience with a background in

Inez Alvarez -

finance economics or development the commission is responsible for monitoring economic development strategy uh strategic plan and uh recommending any updates providing annual updates and advises

Unknown Speaker -

the city council regarding the needs of the local economy our economic development manager is the

Inez Alvarez -

staff liaison and there are no current vacancies on this commission next slide next we have the environmental commission this is a five member commission and

Council Member Henry Lo -

and the commission actually can appoint two non-voting youth members to the commission

Unknown Speaker -

members may be a city resident an individual operating or working in the city or professional

Council Member Henry Lo -

uh in the environmental field this commission is responsible for developing policies and procedures

Inez Alvarez -

um relevant to environmental and sustainability um promoting programs for environmental awareness identifying potential funding resources um sorry funding sources to implement environmental programs monitoring any legislative activities that may affect the city and advising city council

Unknown Speaker -

regarding environmental issues um public works uh staff from our public works department is the

Inez Alvarez -

current staff liaison and currently there are two vacancies for this commission next slide

Unknown Speaker -

um next we have our recreation and parks commission this is also a five-member commission

Unknown Speaker -

and the city manager may approve non-voting members to the commission this commission is

Inez Alvarez -

responsible for providing advice regarding parks and recreation and recommending policies for council consideration assisting with coordination of recreation services and coordinating with

Council Member Henry Lo -

neighboring school districts for recreational programs um the recreation a recreation and

Unknown Speaker -

community services staff is this current staff liaison and there are no vacancies on this

Unknown Speaker -

commission at this time. Next slide. And I apologize. I know there's a lot of text on this

Inez Alvarez -

slide. So the sister cities commission was established by resolution that was adopted in 1998. And it's a bit ambiguous regarding the membership of the commission. In 1998,

Unknown Speaker -

when the resolution was adopted, there were four sister cities, and now there are currently five.

Inez Alvarez -

The resolution provides that each new sister city association as a member to the commission automatically. However, it is unclear whether the commission is authorized for eight or more members. The commission's bylaws currently state that there's 15 members, but doesn't perfectly align with the resolution. currently a president and two members of each association participates as members of this commission the commission has established its own regulations and elects its own officers and submits an annual report to the city council the commission's responsibility of responsibilities are to foster friendship and goodwill and to communicate among other sister cities of monterey

Unknown Speaker -

park to participate in the exchange of culture to participate in the city's cultural events

Unknown Speaker -

and programs promoting the exposure to their culture and to serve as cultural cultural ambassadors

Inez Alvarez -

the recreation and community services staff serves as the minutes secretary for this commission

Unknown Speaker -

next slide so in summary and this is a recap um a lot of this information you know it's going to

Unknown Speaker -

sound familiar because uh carl uh covered a lot of this but just so in summary we're going to go

Council Member Henry Lo -

through just some some bullet points here so the kid the city council is the final decision maker

Inez Alvarez -

for any matter involving the city the city council may create or dissolve any border committee or commission boards and commissions must comply with city council policies and the city manager

Council Member Henry Lo -

and staff implement city council city council's directions the city's boards and commissions have specific duties and responsibilities these may be to render decisions for specific subject

Unknown Speaker -

matter and as previously discussed the planning commission's decisions regarding line use or the

Unknown Speaker -

traffic commission's recommendations of the city engineer are are such examples next slide

Council Member Henry Lo -

As mentioned, all members are volunteers, and we definitely thank all of our commissioners

Unknown Speaker -

for their time in serving their community.

Inez Alvarez -

There are costs associated with holding meetings, including staff time needed to prepare for

Unknown Speaker -

and attend the meetings.

Council Member Henry Lo -

If the staff liaison cannot identify items that are within the subject matter jurisdiction, then he or she will coordinate with the chairperson to determine whether a meeting is needed.

Inez Alvarez -

A special meeting may always be called by any board

Unknown Speaker -

or commission by the chairperson

Inez Alvarez -

or a majority of the membership upon 24 hours notice.

Unknown Speaker -

Next slide. So just in conclusion, we have,

Unknown Speaker -

staff has put an article in the February 2022 Cascades

Unknown Speaker -

And the article announced when our commission meetings are held and which commissions had current vacancies, encouraging our residents to apply if they were interested in serving on any of our boards and commissions.

Inez Alvarez -

And as Carl mentioned earlier, we are planning to have a municipal academy to give our commissioners an opportunity to meet one another, but also provide some training opportunities for our commissioners to go over some of these, some of this information.

Unknown Speaker -

So this concludes our presentation.

Inez Alvarez -

The staff liaisons, myself and our city attorney are available for any questions.

Unknown Speaker -

Thank you. Thank you, Inez and Carl, for that very comprehensive presentation.

Unknown Speaker -

Council members, any comments or questions?

Unknown Speaker -

I see Councilman Lange's cameras on.

Council Member Henry Lo -

No, I'm sorry.

Unknown Speaker -

Oh, sorry. Hold on.

Okay, my camera. Yeah, just really quickly. I want to thank you, Inez, for giving us and also Carl for giving us that overview. I think that in the past couple months in the midst of COVID and, you know, the isolation from everyone not really having a chance to talk to people, meet people, I think that's also kind of caused a slowdown. but as Carl was saying and Inez were saying as we appear to be rounding the corner on COVID it's a perfect time to kind of review these guidelines and to ensure that as we move forward and the pandemic eases and the restrictions ease that when our commissions and committees are able to gather in person and work together on items that the council is working on as well It also gives them, I think, a clear understanding about what the expectations are. And it's my understanding that, what was that called? You said, Carl, you had a name for it, something like Commissioner Academy. What was that called? Municipal Academy. And then when is that, when are you planning to start those?

Karl Berger -

So the first workshop with all the boards and commissions is tentatively scheduled for March 30th, and that will be a presentation similar to what was just provided, but more in depth with a Q&A session at the end for all the boards and commissions.

Unknown Speaker -

It will actually be noticed as a joint meeting from all the boards and commissions. Certainly by March 30th, we are hoping to have an in-person meeting of all those commissioners that are involved. but we that remains to be seen it may be a hybrid meeting whereby council chambers are are filled with the commissioners and the public can attend via zoom but we haven't figured out the logistics with regard to that yet and I know it's going to jump in like I said it's tentatively scheduled before the end of this month that's what we're hoping for yeah it's I don't need the logistics

Council Member Henry Lo -

I just wanted to know kind of a timeline I think it's it will be important for them to attend and And I think that oftentimes it's hard to know what the expectations are or whether or not our own expectations in our head are matching the requirements and mandates put forth by the city. So I think it's a great opportunity to clarify that for everybody. And one of the things like if I could ask a city clerk or deputy city clerk, I know that assistant city manager had listed the vacancies. If the city clerk could send us the council members, specifically the commissions that have vacancies. And I know I've been receiving a multitude, well, not a multitude, but several emails of interested commissioners. But as you know, I think as everyone knows, the queues of the emails get longer and longer. So I think that the city clerk staff has all those applications. So if you could give us the vacancies that we have, if we have any, and then provide us with the current list of interested applicants and the commission so that we can prepare to assign people in those seats that are currently vacant for those of us who have vacant seats in time for the reopening of the city and having our commission meetings in person again. So that's it. Thank you.

Unknown Speaker -

I'm sorry, Council Member Liang.

Council Member Henry Lo -

I include that in your weekly package, so watch out for that. Some weeks when there are new applications that are coming in, it's included in your Council weekly package.

Unknown Speaker -

Be a lookout for that.

Unknown Speaker -

Okay, thank you.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Thank you. Thank you, Cindy, for that reminder to all of us. Any other Council Members comments or questions? Okay. I don't hear any, but I do have a question. So besides the Academy that will be for all Commissioners, at the individual Commission level, will there be something similar

Unknown Speaker -

of the presentation?

Council Member Henry Lo -

Only because what you presented was very broad, but I would imagine that probably each commissioner, especially when they're meeting with their own colleagues,

Unknown Speaker -

may have specific questions as well.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Will something, well, I guess a kind of Q&A or something at the commission level

Unknown Speaker -

also be taking place?

Council Member Henry Lo -

Yes, Mayor Lo.

Unknown Speaker -

So, and in fact, we plan to record the session just in case there's commissioners that may be appointed at a later date.

Council Member Henry Lo -

And we're hoping to have this training opportunity yearly to refresh whether the commissioner is continuing to serve or new to serving. We can host those annually as refreshers for all of our commissioners. the staff liaisons when you know in their individual meetings do provide some basic overview but we think that this is a good time since we have been you know in a pandemic and we haven't had a lot of in-person interactions it'd be a great opportunity for us to just come back together in person and have you know a deeper dive into some of these policies that we have to make sure everybody has an understanding of what their role is. And also, you know, we're planning

Inez Alvarez -

on also going over the Brown Act to make sure that, you know, our commissioners understand

Unknown Speaker -

the ins and outs of that as well. So yes, that's what we anticipate.

Okay. Okay. Any other comments or questions?

Council Member Henry Lo -

Okay. Hearing none, Arianne, thank you so much for that presentation.

Unknown Speaker -

Thank you.

Council Member Henry Lo -

okay hearing none all right uh thank you so much for that presentation okay moving on all business items none !

Unknown Speaker -

!

Council Member Henry Lo -

Do we have any interest in pulling any of the items

Unknown Speaker -

for the discussion? Customer Chan, I see you have your camera on.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Is there an item you wish to pull?

Unknown Speaker -

Yes, thank you, Mayor. I would like to put items 3C, D, and E.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Repeat again, items 3C, 3D, and E. And 3E, you said?

Unknown Speaker -

Yes. Okay, thank you very much. Okay, items 3D and 3E.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Okay, members, any other items that wishes to be pulled?

I'm sorry. Before you make the motion, can I ask the audience if there is any speaker on the consent calendar?

Unknown Speaker -

Of course, yes, please proceed, clerk.

Unknown Speaker -

Audience, if you want to speak on any of the consent calendar items, 3A to 3I, now is the time to do so.

Unknown Speaker -

Please use the raise hand feature or be on the phone, press star 9 at this time.

Council Member Henry Lo -

first will consent calendar and mr mayor members of the council i believe there are two council members that have a conflict on part of 3d just for when we get to that particular item

Unknown Speaker -

okay for three d you said d is in dark okay okay which i know uh council chan has also asked

Council Member Henry Lo -

to be pulled okay and i'm sorry did you say were there any uh comments or written or oral for these items oh mayor no okay thank you so much for clarifying okay um then uh with the exception of the three items that have been requested by councilman chandry pulled may i have a motion for a consent for the remaining consent calendar items please motion to approve remaining motion to remain remaining consent calendar items okay second by second okay thank you council member seconded by councilor chan uh clerk please call the roll thank you council member yvonne you yes council member uh peter chen yes council member hans leung yes yes mayor pro tem uh freshenoso is absent so mayor Henry Lo yes motion carries thank you thank you clerks okay Okay, first item that has been pulled from the consent calendar, item 3C, purchase and conversion of police department vehicles. Chief Kelly. Good evening, Mayor, City Council members. I'll just give a brief summary. So I know that earlier or actually later, but a few months ago in 2021, council approved the purchase of police department vehicles. Then we're coming back to council and asking for the approval to purchase eight new patrol vehicles.

Unknown Speaker -

We've encountered numerous obstacles in terms of ordering vehicles and being able to get the necessary equipment that we need because of the pandemic.

Council Member Henry Lo -

So we are asking in order to, with the lead time in ordering the cars that we order, if you approve this tonight, will actually take us probably over a year to get the vehicle. So right now, because of the way our fleet is and the delay in the first order, by the time we receive the vehicles from the first order, which were a combination of patrol vehicles, parking control, and detective vehicles, and an SRT vehicle, our current patrol fleet will be legitimately running almost 24 hours a day, seven days a week. so with that we are trying to be also good stewards of city finances we've seen a dramatic increase in the cost of upfitting the cars so we're trying to lock in our pricing and lock in vehicle pricing right now even though we won't be able to actually get these vehicles for quite some time so the process of ordering and everything of getting the steel for the for the actual conversion and what goes in the vehicles has all become very difficult for us. So with that in mind, this purchase is also contingent on the approval of the mid-year. The funding for this is part of the mid-year. I understand that's a little unconventional.

Unknown Speaker -

Typically, we would approve the mid-year and then we would come back.

Council Member Henry Lo -

But because time is of the essence and we have over and over again had difficulties with the ordering process, we want to get ahead of this. especially we recently just had one of our other orders canceled by the manufacturer themselves. So we want to get this order in and not be, end up behind line when everyone else starts making their orders a little later. So I'd be happy to answer any questions, but this is for the purchase of eight police vehicles and the conversion of those vehicles. Thank you, Chief Gordon, for that explanation. Councilor Chan, do you have a question or comment? Yes, thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Chief, for the presentation. And the reason I want to put this item is because this is related to the mid-year budget later. So that's why I would like to hear exactly what we want. I have a few questions. The one is that since you proposed to have in the, you know, approve it also in the mid-year budget, that means it's in the general funds. Can you use the recovery funds to buy those vehicles instead?

Unknown Speaker -

This is actually, although it's in the mid-year, it is actually part of the recovery funds for this purchase.

Council Member Henry Lo -

I see. Okay. Thank you so much. I want to clarify that too, which is good. And then we have some sedans, like the Fort Victoria sedans. And I know that they've been with us for a long, long time, and I still see them running around. So is those being replaced by these new SGVs?

Unknown Speaker -

Yes. You actually can't purchase those oldies but goodies that we have anymore. They actually don't manufacture those. And part of our issue is actually getting parts when those vehicles break down at this point as well.

Council Member Henry Lo -

I see. So it's going to be history now for those sedans then. So residents, if you want some pictures with the sedans, better do it now because it's low. Well, I think you say it's 180 days to 360 days for the new vehicles to come in in service. So I think we still have time to take pictures and so forth. So, yeah, so that will be nice. And I assume that the police officers like the SGVs and the sedans, right?

Unknown Speaker -

They do. They like them because there's more room. And we carry a lot more equipment than we used to. So it's there are some officers that will always like their sedans, but overall, the SGVs are the best option for us.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Okay. All right. Thank you, Chief. No more questions.

Unknown Speaker -

Thank you, Councilman Chan. Councilman Lan, you have a question or comment to share?

Council Member Henry Lo -

Yeah, yeah, just really quick. Thank you, Chief, for the presentation. I just want to, you know, the pandemic has affected us in so many ways, you know, ways that we haven't seen. I'm just curious in terms of if this were a normal situation, how long would it normally take for us to get these type of vehicles outfitted and purchased pre-pandemic? Pre-pandemic, we would typically, from the time we ordered to the time we received them and actually had the conversion done, would be less than six months. it's typically when you you know would place the order uh you'd get your vehicles depending on where you were in line uh within three months and then working through the conversion process they would actually be out on the streets in less than six months but at this point we're looking at a year just to get them and then the conversion time after that but we're like i said we're trying to be good stewards we're actually trying to get all the parts ordered and everything done because there is a steel shortage. So everything compounds upon each other, including electronics for everything. So. Well, thank you for that. I know that there was even some discussions. You'd see in the news about car manufacturers that couldn't continue their, their assembly lines because they couldn't get certain electronic components

Unknown Speaker -

because of the supply chain issues. So thank you for, you know, being cognizant of these factors that affect us and thank you for thinking ahead and trying to ensure that you know we get everything in a timely manner. That's all I just was curious about you know the effects of the pandemic but thank you for your future site. Thank you. Thank you Chief Gordon. again, this is exciting news for our city. Okay. Any further questions or comments? All right. Hearing none. Clerk, do we have

Council Member Henry Lo -

any requests by chance on this item?

Unknown Speaker -

No. Okay.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Hearing none. Thank you so much. Okay. Then may I have a motion then please to pass item 3C?

Unknown Speaker -

motion to pass yes I would like to make a motion okay I think I heard Councillor Yu make the motion is that correct

Council Member Henry Lo -

right

Unknown Speaker -

then why don't we have Councillor Chen make a second is that alright I'll second that thank you second by Councillor Chen thank you

Council Member Henry Lo -

Council Member Yvonne Yu yes Council Member Peter Chen yes council member hans yang yes mayor pro tem sornoso is absent so uh mayor Henry Lo

Unknown Speaker -

all right motion carries thank you thank you clerk item 3d authorized city managers to execute

Council Member Henry Lo -

license agreements with non-profit youth athletic organizations for their usage of designated storage units and stack bars in city parks um before we begin mr gary carl uh i think

Unknown Speaker -

you said you're going to chime in about some customers may have a potential conflict to that. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yeah, Mr. Mayor, members of the council, I believe that there are property conflicts

Council Member Henry Lo -

between two of you and Mr. Trang is going to have to remind me of which ones are where I don't have the conflict map right in front of me. But it was only with regard to one of the locations. So you

Unknown Speaker -

You can have a general discussion with regard to the overall policy decision. And then with regard to that one item, since Mayor Pro Tem is absent,

Council Member Henry Lo -

we wouldn't have a quorum for that particular location. And Cindy, remind me which one it is. 3D. This is Yvonne. 3D, right? Wait, wait, hold on. I'm sorry. Carl, you asked the clerk. I'm sorry. Please clarify. Yeah, Cindy, which location is there a conflict?

Unknown Speaker -

! Mayor Loll and Council member Chan has a conflict within 100 feet of Garvey Ranch Park. !

Council Member Henry Lo -

! I see. Okay. So Garvey Ranch Park would be taken out of consideration for purposes of this discussion ! Since we wouldn't have a quorum with regard to that particular location because Mr. Sorenoso is not present. So we'll take that out of consideration. you can discuss the rest of it and vote as appropriate. Okay, okay. So we can proceed, have a discussion and vote as long as we remove out of consideration from that list the item pertaining to Garver Ranch Park. Is that correct? That's correct. That's correct. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Thank you for clarifying. And Mr. Gary, I want to say, Mr. Gary, did you want to say something before we proceed?

Unknown Speaker -

No, I think it's better to do the presentation. Okay. All right. All right. Since it will be out of the question now. So I think we can.

Council Member Henry Lo -

City Attorney, is that the right procedure? I mean, since we take out Garvey Ranch Park, so we can just go ahead and participate just like the regular way, right?

Unknown Speaker -

Correct. We're taking that location out of consideration and so you can discuss the rest of it and decide what to do with it. We will figure out on a staff level what to do with that other location.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Okay. Okay. Thank you.

Unknown Speaker -

Thank you for clarifying.

Council Member Henry Lo -

And Robert, thank you for your patience.

Unknown Speaker -

The floor is yours. No problem. Good evening, Mayor and members of City Council. Robert Aguirre, Director of Recreation and Community Services.

Unknown Speaker -

So just to kind of clarify, the city provides a number of youth athletic organizations

Council Member Henry Lo -

access to city parks and facilities to provide year-round leagues, clinics, and competitions. So some of these leagues, these organizations actually store some of their maintenance and

Unknown Speaker -

athletic equipment at the park sites for their daily usage. Some of the organizations also

Robert Aguirre -

utilize our designated snack bars, one located at La Loma Park and the other located at Garry Ranch

Unknown Speaker -

Park, to raise funds for the respective non-profit. Even though these organizations have been active

Unknown Speaker -

for many years and have stored equipment at city parks we've never established a license agreement

Unknown Speaker -

so what we're looking to do is establish a license agreement and document the usage of those spaces

Council Member Henry Lo -

at city parks and so tonight just coming before you to recommend that city council authorized city

Unknown Speaker -

manager to execute license agreements with the youth organizations for those designated spaces

Robert Aguirre -

that completes my staff report and i'm available for any questions

Unknown Speaker -

Thank you, Robert.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Councillor Chen, do you have a question? Yeah, thank you, Mayor. Well, it's not much of a question since we take Garfield Ranch Park out of it, so I think I can talk about it. And most important is that I want to thank the staff putting this together. And I would like to thank the volunteer parents who managed those stands because I have the experience, great experience. And with that, because I, well, I cannot say I am, I was a referee for AYSO, and I do the games in Almanza Park in Alhambra, but that's Region 60, which is Alhambra and Monterey Park. And I've been doing it for like 20 years or so, and it's good. And And every time when we were doing the games, we were in uniform. We were alLod to go to those stands managed by the parents. And when we passed by, they always asked us, do you want a burrito, a hamburger, a hot dog, or drinks or something like that? And they were very nice.

Unknown Speaker -

and just because when you're running around doing a lot of things, it's not good to have a burrito inside you

Council Member Henry Lo -

because after a few runs, you may throw up or do those crazy things. So I don't want to do that, but I really appreciate the efforts to thank the volunteers like us. And in turn, I want to thank them for the volunteers and also to put out the energy and money to help the kids for their health and their sports. So I just want to thank them. And I think this is a good thing to do. And again, I want to thank all the parents, the staff, organizers to put this together. And I think a service agreement with them is good so that they know what to do and spell out all the conditions, health things, and what to do, what not what to do, that kind of things. I think it's good and just want to appreciate, you know, their efforts. Thank you.

Unknown Speaker -

Thank you, Councillor Chan. Any other questions or comments from the City Council? Hearing

Council Member Henry Lo -

none. Okay. Thank you, Robert, again for that presentation. Oh, I'm sorry, yes, Councillor

Unknown Speaker -

Yes.

Council Member Henry Lo -

I just want to make a motion to approve this item 3D and then let the city attorney how to figure out what to do with the coffee ranch park. Thank you.

Unknown Speaker -

Thank you. Motion made by Councillor Chan. May we have a second, please?

Unknown Speaker -

Second.

Unknown Speaker -

Second by Councillor Yu. Okay. Clerk, call the roll, please. Okay.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Council Member Yvonne Yu?

Unknown Speaker -

Yes.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Council member Peter Chan? Yes. Council member Hans Niang? Yes.

Unknown Speaker -

Mayor Pro Tem Fredernoso is absent. So Henry Baird Penrylo. Aye.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Motion passed. Thank you. Thank you clerk. Okay. Final item from consent calendar for discussion. 3E award a contract to IBI group for a Spirit Bus Fixed Route Transit System Study.

Unknown Speaker -

Mr. Lopez, good to see you again. The floor is yours.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Hi, good evening, Mayor, Council Members. This item before you tonight is an award of contract for IBI Group for an evaluation

Unknown Speaker -

of the Spirit Bus Fixed Route Transit System.

Unknown Speaker -

We're just asking that you authorize the City Manager to execute a professional services agreement And the amount now to exceed $69,000.

Unknown Speaker -

As you know, part of the impacts of the pandemic

Council Member Henry Lo -

were that we did not have our spare bus service running. It's been suspended since about April of 2020.

Unknown Speaker -

Prior to that, we were considering evaluating the system to try and make some improvements.

Council Member Henry Lo -

And since it had been suspended, we didn't move forward right away. However, last October, we did put out an RFP requesting proposals to assist us in the evaluation of the system, to look at routes, stops, service it was providing, ridership. And the RFP, although it was out for several weeks, actually did not produce proposals. So then staff did some research, found cities and other agencies that had conducted transit studies. That actually yielded three proposals from, you can see in the staff report from Ferran Peers, IBI Group, and Nelson Neidbard. After reviewing those proposals, staff felt that IBI met all the criteria and was the

Unknown Speaker -

highly qualified firm and experienced to perform the transit study. And so we're recommending, again, the award of contract to them.

Council Member Henry Lo -

I can answer any other questions you may have. Otherwise, that concludes my presentation.

Thank you, Frank, for the presentation. Councillor Chan, I see you have your camera on. Do you wish to share a question or comment? Yes, thank you, Mayor. And thank you, Director Lopez, for the presentation. And I just want to remind you that I think in 2014, when I think only Hans and I may remember that, We had a study and also have proposal to change the routes of the spirit bus around the city. And at that time, it was a lot of opponents opposing the change. And so after some council meetings, hearings and so forth, the changes were dropped. And so it remains the same until now. But of course, at this time, a lot of things has changed. Marketplaces here now and also different locations or, you know, like Atlantic Times Square and a lot of other things has changed. So I'm happy that the staff put this together and to reconsider the routes, which is good for all the residents. But I want to remind you, because I still remember, you know, at those times, and people don't like changes. And once you change it, and although maybe a small number of residents, they will be at a disadvantage, because it may move the route maybe a few blocks away from them. So it's some inconvenience. So I would like to suggest that after the study, put more public hearings, more PRs, public relationship, and let the residents know the reasons to change it, why we change it, the ridership, you know, decline or combine the arouse, you know, that kind of thing. I think it's important so that we have the support of the people for the changes. And of course, like I said, the change in the situation and changing maybe concentration of the residents in one area, that kind of thing. So that wants the study and make some changes. And also I would like to, on top of those things, I would like to ask the staff to also consider a fareless program for the Spirit Bus. I think we are charging like a quarter or 50 cents per ride. And most of the students and seniors are using the Spirit Bus. And Metro is talking about a fareless program. and right now I think they have the Fairless Program for the community college and students and so we can consider that and I know that and I reported before that Metro is having some grants to subsidize to the cities that consider the Fairless Program so I would like to suggest that staff look into it and I can give you some information for Metro and so that you can see if we can apply and successfully get the grant so we can go on to our fairness program for the spirit bus as well. So, yes, those are my suggestions on this item.

Unknown Speaker -

And so we may, you know, see some response.

Council Member Henry Lo -

And so some public hearings and hear from the residents will be good. So thank you for doing that, but make sure that we do all the necessary hearings and hear from the residents. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Chan. I can confirm that we have conducted a survey already, which led us towards the study, and that we will be conducting public outreach as part of the study.

Unknown Speaker -

Thank you, Frank. I see council has your camera on. Yeah, really quick. Thank you, Frank, for that presentation. I was just thinking in terms of the outreach, I agree with everything that council member Chan said.

Council Member Henry Lo -

I think as part of the presentation with the outreach that the staff should take into consideration the things that are coming, as Peter had said, I know that you mentioned Atlantic Times Square, but we also have the Celadon project coming as well. So those things should be taken into consideration. In addition, in the discussions, there may be a way, I'm just talking right now, but in terms of tying in our spirit bus, there's the concept that Councilman Chan brought up about fearless riding. And there may be a way to tie that in with our parking structures and transit kind of centers with that MTA, the re-scope, just something to think about where we could utilize one of our resources to tie into a point or a transit center such as a parking structure. So just something to think about. I don't know if I can tie that in, but it just popped in my head as Peter was saying that. But again, just to, in the outreach, not just the way things are now, but make it so that the residents and the community understands that you're planning also for the future and the eventual destinations that are going to be a focal point here in the city of Monterey Park. So those are my comments. Thank you again, Frank. Thank you, Councilman.

Unknown Speaker -

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments?

Council Member Henry Lo -

I would like to make my comment. You know, I think that everything that has been raised by my colleagues are good ideas, and I'm glad that we've also been doing service.

Unknown Speaker -

In fact, I do recall...

of money from the 710 mobility projects that funding since we are now asking for guidance from

Council Member Henry Lo -

funding, since we are now asking for guidance from Metro about active transportation or alternative projects, you know, I think this will be an opportunity as well to see how it can also incorporate our current local mass transit system, which is the Spirit Bus.

Unknown Speaker -

Thank you. We can definitely take that into consideration. We can approach Metro about

Council Member Henry Lo -

it and see if that's something we can gain funding for.

Unknown Speaker -

Okay. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Thank you very much, Frank, for that presentation. May I have now a motion to approve item 3E, please? move to uh proof three e okay moved moved by councilor chan second by councilor liang clerk call the roll please council member yvonne yu yes council member peter chan

Council Member Henry Lo -

yes council member hans liang yes uh mayor henry lo yes motion carries thank you thank you very Thank you very much.

Unknown Speaker -

Okay, moving on to the agenda. Public hearing none. New business.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Item 5A, fiscal year 2021 to 2022,

Unknown Speaker -

mid-year financial report.

Council Member Henry Lo -

And we have Martha Garcia. Hello. Hi. Good evening, Mayor, Council members. This is Martha Garcia, Director of Management Services.

Unknown Speaker -

Today, I'm presenting the mid-year financial report

Unknown Speaker -

for fiscal year 21-22. Next slide, please.

Today I'm going to give you an overview of the general fund revenues,

Council Member Henry Lo -

the general fund expenditures, other funds revenue and expenditures, the general fund balance,

Unknown Speaker -

budget augmentation of other funds, and the ARPA funds. Next slide, please.

Unknown Speaker -

Property tax is the city's largest revenue source, representing 42% of the general fund in fiscal year 21-22 estimated revenue.

Council Member Henry Lo -

While property tax revenue is at 3% Lor than at the same time last year, we're still anticipating to receive the estimated budgeted revenue.

Unknown Speaker -

The sales tax is the city's second largest revenue representing 20% of the general fund, while sales tax is also 3% Lor than at the same time last year.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Per HDL, our sales tax consultant, the estimated 1% Bradley Burns will generate $9.5 million this fiscal year, instead of the $8.5 we originally budgeted. The TOT, the transient occupancy tax revenue, are 29% more than the previous fiscal year. This is due to our Marriott, the opening of our Marriott. The estimated budget of revenue was $2 million, but based on our mid-year review, we are anticipating not the $2 million, but $1.5 for the entire fiscal year. Skipping down to business license tax, revenues are 105% more than mid-year from the previous year.

Unknown Speaker -

This is related to businesses paying in December versus January.

Unknown Speaker -

We have our annual is January to December, and many of our businesses paid in December versus January, as in last year.

Unknown Speaker -

They were paying more in January.

Council Member Henry Lo -

In other taxes, the 66% difference between years is related to a large property tax transfer received at mid-year in the prior year that hasn't been received this year.

overall we are doing we're doing okay we have we are faring positive with a three percent

Unknown Speaker -

higher percent than we were at last year and total revenue to date is 33 keeping in mind that some of

Unknown Speaker -

these are accrued revenues so for example sales tax is only we only have four months of sales tax

Unknown Speaker -

at this point in time next slide please

Council Member Henry Lo -

Our expenditures are trending well. We are at mid-year, we were at 39%. This a lot has to do with many of our, we have many vacancies. So that's why we're trending a little low.

Unknown Speaker -

We do have a line item where it's community CIP projects. That is an additional cost that we had

Unknown Speaker -

for the station 62 that's been fully expended. All other items are under 50% upline items. Next slide, please.

Council Member Henry Lo -

The general fund, the city is requesting budget augmentation from the general fund that equaled 222,740.

Unknown Speaker -

We are requesting 50,000 for additional overtime for the police department.

Council Member Henry Lo -

We are requesting $50,000 for a compensation, classification and compensation study.

Unknown Speaker -

We are requesting $47,740 to hire a senior planner effective April 1st of 2022.

Unknown Speaker -

We were requesting $10,000 in additional funds for plumbing services and supplies. We are also requesting $50,000 to implement the city's trip password program.

Council Member Henry Lo -

And we're requesting an additional $15,000 for the, for replacement batteries at our library.

Unknown Speaker -

Next slide, please.

Unknown Speaker -

The general fund reserves.

Council Member Henry Lo -

So the general fund reserves is, last year we presented to council a plan to bring our general fund reserves to $6.3 million.

Unknown Speaker -

We are currently at the end of this year, we will be at $4.3 million.

Unknown Speaker -

So this year we are requesting an additional half a million so that we can bring our committed

Council Member Henry Lo -

catastrophic leak to $4.8 million by the end of this fiscal year.

Unknown Speaker -

Next slide, please.

Unknown Speaker -

For internal service funds budget augmentation, we are requesting $90,000 from the shop funds and $10,307 from technology funds.

Council Member Henry Lo -

The $90,000 for shop funds is to cover increased cost for vehicle repair, and the $50,000 is to cover increased unanticipated cost for vehicle maintenance and repairs.

Unknown Speaker -

For technology, we are requesting $10,370 to hire and bring information technology technician effective June 1, 2022. Next slide, please. Enterprise funds, we are requesting a total of $117,000 from water and $25,000 from refuse. We're requesting $25,000 for consulting services related to new water conservation ordinances. We are requesting $25,000 for public outreach and education costs related to new water conservation ordinances. ordinances. We are requesting $40,000 for unanticipated expenditures in the water service, and we're also requesting $25,000 for refuse funds for consulting services to meet the new state mandate, SB 1383. Next slide, please. The City of Monterey Park was allocated $15.043 million dollars in ARPA funds. As of June 2021, the city has received 7.5 million. The second allocation is expected in June of 2022. Council has authorized the budget appropriation of 6.2 million. If council approves the additional appropriation tonight of 750,000, total appropriation will equal 6.9 million and next slide this concludes my presentation and i'm here for any

Unknown Speaker -

questions to answer any questions thank you martha for the presentation council members let's see i see council member lang has camera on her land thank you mayor

Council Member Henry Lo -

mayor lo can we listen to is there any public comments first

Unknown Speaker -

Sure. Of course. Clerk, any comments, questions? I'm sorry, from the public, I mean.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Thank you, Mayor Lo. Audience, if you want to speak on this item, please use the raised hand feature or be on the phone, press star nine at this time.

Unknown Speaker -

Here, there are no speakers or any communications on this item. Thank you.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Thank you, Mayor Lo. Thank you for the reminder. Okay.

Continuing with Council questions, Councilman Liang.

Unknown Speaker -

Councilman Liang. Thank you, Mayor Lo. Thank you, Martha, for the presentation. I just had a couple quick questions on a number of the slides. you had some budget items and some of them were listed as unanticipated.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Can you give me an example of what an unanticipated expense, whether it be for the water or for whatever those items that were listed, what some of those types of expenses would be, just so I have an understanding of that?

Unknown Speaker -

Well, for example, I have that the funds were for water services from another purveyor from a city. well is it was down and they needed a repair and they weren't expecting that to be down so they we spent all of our operating expenditures and now we need to to replenish and and and account for any additional cost that may come up throughout the year so then it's my understanding when you

Council Member Henry Lo -

talk about unanticipated it would be something like a water main breaking or some kind of infrastructure that we had not anticipated problems or damage to that needed to be responded to immediately. And those would be, okay, okay, that's all I need to know. Minor repairs, larger repairs would go into a CIP, so minor repairs. And these are minor repairs that are sort of unforeseeable, things that were not anticipated, is that's kind of how you're identifying that things that come up that were not either seen or anticipated when the project originally commences, right? Correct. Okay. I just want to make sure that that's clear in terms of what that means, and thank you for that explanation.

Unknown Speaker -

Thank you. Let's see. Come for you. I see you have your camera on.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Would you like to share some comments or questions, please?

Unknown Speaker -

Yeah, just maybe a few quick questions. um a matha um according to general fund revenues um there's quite up big ups and downs about the prediction or percentage difference so you mentioned that there's one of them is called other tax and you said there's a property tax or real estate something like the tax that we anticipate to receive but then we we haven't received it are we going to receive it or are we

Council Member Henry Lo -

not we we will we will and it'll middle and middle um even out throughout the year i see i see so the

Unknown Speaker -

the okay the almost like four hundred thousand dollars that missed that we normally we normally

Council Member Henry Lo -

get money in december and in december in january and in june and in july okay but if we if we don't

Unknown Speaker -

anticipated to receive it in the midst so how come we don't how come we don't budget it to not receive because you know it's not coming so how come we budgeted to receive and then it's a big negative

Council Member Henry Lo -

well because it will be received in this fiscal year it will if even if it's received in july or august we have a 60-day accrual that will get reported for them for this fiscal year okay okay

Unknown Speaker -

Okay. And so, yeah, as long as I, I, we, we will be able to get it. That would be good. So there's also, let me see, other, other revenues that actually has almost $800,000. And what is that other revenue that goes up?

Council Member Henry Lo -

Other revenues includes interest that's earned. It includes the rentals that we have. We have a few rentals, you know, like for the golf course. It includes sale of a property and items like that.

Unknown Speaker -

So what do we not anticipating? Because this go up 63%. So something that you were not budgeted to receive?

Council Member Henry Lo -

No, we're still expecting to receive everything. We're not, we're still expecting at this point in time, it's still in december of 31st it's still too early to tell and we're still anticipating to receive uh all of the rent for the fiscal year we're still anticipating to receive uh the estimated interest that we estimated for the fiscal year we still are anticipating to receive all that

Unknown Speaker -

but then no i mean the that the question is reversed what do we actually receive more that What do we actually receive more than what we anticipated? ! because it's up 63% ! So we actually received $800,000 more than we expected. ! ! So, I mean, that's good, but then is there anything that we don't expect?

Council Member Henry Lo -

That's probably me. ! I'd have to go back and look, ! Most likely, we received a higher, we could have received a higher interest rate than anticipated. We could have received a higher, let me pull. We could have received a higher funding. higher funding. We just received, it could, I could actually play, we can receive a higher

Unknown Speaker -

I can tell you real quick. Okay. Yeah, because I see a big difference.

So we've received, so we have been charges to other funds, which is our internal service funds. We've already allocated all the way through the six months. What could have happened last year? We might have not allocated one, but I'm pretty sure we did. We received our, we have our, it looks like we might have, we need to budget higher because we're coming in higher than expected. the miscellaneous expenditures from a few of the departments in here that were not budgeted but they're they were maybe maybe they were budgeted in services but they're being applied to other revenue because they were miscellaneous so we might have not had a line item specific for services so they were they were applied to an other revenue account so we have we have money in there we also received uh investment mark to market of 600 000 that uh that we that wasn't that we did not have last year that we received this so that that could be your that could be the 800 000

Unknown Speaker -

oh yeah that could be yeah a majority of it because uh it's good you know we we receive more than we expected so it just average out the percentage different will go back to three percent So that is good. I mean, we projected exactly, you know, pretty much in line. But then because I see there's some of the big fluctuations that we expected. So just to make sure that some of them we are going to receive. And some of them actually we should project it a little bit higher in the future. Right? Right. Okay. Okay. Thank you. That's all for me. Thank you.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Thank you, Councilman Yu. And Councilman Chan. Thank you, Mayor. And thank you, Director Gassier, for the presentation. I have just some simple questions. I just want to clarify the $500,000 you recommend. Is it just to the catastrophic fund, the $500,000? Is it just a line item? is from the unrestricted fund and just line item transfer to that catastrophic funds and not from the general funds. I just want to clarify that. Is that true? That is correct. Unfortunately,

Unknown Speaker -

we didn't have the ACPR with the annual comprehensive annual report to present today. We're expecting to present it on March 16th, but that we will, I'll bring back a chart that shows exactly how our reserves work. Our reserves are in buckets. It's all the general fund, but it's in a bucket. And one of the buckets is committed. Either one's assigned and then one's unassigned. And what I'm asking is to move half a million from the unassigned to the committed catastrophic. So that would mean that city staff, we're not able to use it unless council does a three to two vote to be able to use it in a catastrophic event or if they find a use for something else it can be released that way with the two to three votes okay thank you i just want to clarify that it's moving within the line item within this right right it's just

Council Member Henry Lo -

a line item uh that's just put it simply yeah so thank you for that and uh actually you answered my second question because i i was going to ask for the fund balance uh report on that so since you you said you're going to uh report it back to the next council meeting so i'm looking forward to to see the uh fund balance and because uh once you shift the uh one from unrestricted to restricted items then i would like to see you know what's in effect on the overall fund balance so but we're going to talk about it in the next item, and I'm not going to ask that at this time. So looking forward to that. And so, yeah, I think I'm okay with the year budget. And of course, you know, in condition that the fund balance looks okay, I think we should, based on the report that you presented that the revenue is pretty good. I think we pretty much meet the budget amounts, which is good. And then we kind of like on the expenses side, they'll just shove it around. And I think it's still under manageable amounts. So I have no problem with the media budget changes. Thank you for that. Thank you.

I have a question. I know this is the mid-year report, so when we reach the fiscal report,

Unknown Speaker -

which will be in June, we'll have a better and clear idea of our revenue projections

Council Member Henry Lo -

and expenditures. But I'm just curious, given that the state and the news has been reporting TO HAVE RECORD SURPLUSES, DO WE ANTICIPATE THAT THAT MAY TRANSLATE TO ADDITIONAL MONEY THAT

Unknown Speaker -

MAY BE RETURNED BACK TO THE CITIES? FROM THE STATE? NO. I HAVEN'T HEARD THAT WE'RE GOING TO GET ANY MONEY FROM THE STATE. WE'LL TALK ABOUT HOW THEY'RE HAVING SURPLUSES FOR SEVERAL FISCAL YEARS

Council Member Henry Lo -

NOW AND I THINK AT LEAST THERE'S SOME VOICES WHO ARE ARGUING THAT THAT MONEY SHOULD BE RETURNED BACK TO TO LOCALITIES OR EVEN TO INDIVIDUALS.

Unknown Speaker -

IT WOULD BE NICE BUT I HAVEN'T HEARD THAT YET.

Council Member Henry Lo -

IT WOULD BE NICE.

Unknown Speaker -

OKAY. ANY FURTHER QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? OKAY. HEARING NONE. LET'S SEE. THIS IS A REPORT.

Council Member Henry Lo -

DO WE NEED A MOTION OR IS IT FOLLOW AND RECEIVE? WE NEED A MOTION BECAUSE THERE'S A BUDGET AUGMENTATION Okay, of course. I'll move this. I'll move to receive and file the fiscal year 2021-2022 mid-year financial report to authorize the increase of committed catastrophic event by 500,000 from 4.3 million to 4.84 million, authorizing an additional budget appropriation of 1.204 million, $740 from various funds and taking such additional related actions that may be desirable. Second for that.

Unknown Speaker -

Okay, thank you. Moved by Council Member Liang, seconded by Council Member Chan. Clerk, please call the roll.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Council Member Yvonne Yu? Yes. Council Member Peter Chan? Yes. Council Member Hans Liang? Yes. Mayor Henry Lo? Yes. Motion carries.

Unknown Speaker -

Thank you, Clerk. Okay.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Okay, moving on to city communications, city council.

Unknown Speaker -

So why don't I begin with Councilor Yu.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Hi, everyone. Nothing really much. For me, I'm currently in Sacramento representing Monterey Park and a contract city legislative tour that's going to visit the Capitol tomorrow

Unknown Speaker -

and see what the session is.

Council Member Henry Lo -

But I'm meeting a lot of legislators and so learning process and also representing Monterey Park and raise some voices, you know, for the local government. So I met a lot of other city council and mayors. And so hear a lot of their opinions about different topics and wanted to share with all of you next time.

Unknown Speaker -

So now I just attend one day, but then I have another two days to go. So thank you. We'll provide more update later.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Thank you, Councilman Yu, and thank you for representing our city in Sacramento.

Unknown Speaker -

Okay. That's sure.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Councilor Chan, you have your camera on, so anything to communicate or report to us? Thank you, Mayor. And Councilmembers, we all attended the grand opening of the Langley Center Fitness Center exercise room, and the ribbon cutting and so forth, and we have a tour of the facility, which is good.

Unknown Speaker -

and I went back yesterday to do some exercise and it was good.

Unknown Speaker -

So thank you for the staff for doing that.

Unknown Speaker -

And this morning I talked to our mayor, Henry,

Unknown Speaker -

about if the city wants to do something to support Ukraine.

Unknown Speaker -

Yeah, Ukraine. And I think we need to do something to support the, and no war, that kind of things. And so we talked with the mayor, and I think the mayor has a good suggestion to change the color of the Cascades into blue and yellow in support of Ukraine against the aggressors. So I think it's a good idea, and I would like to ask the staff it can be possible to change the color on the Cascades. And also, I would like to do something either by a resolution or by some form of support by the city council and the city of Monterey Park to support the residents and people in the country of Ukraine. Thank you.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Thank you. Thank you very much. Let's see, Councilor Liang. Thank you, Mayor Lo. I just want to, again, I attended as well, the grand opening of the Langley Center Fitness Center. You know, that day I made some comments because Council Member or Mayor Pro Tem, Fred Cernoso, and I shared time playing pool at the Langley Center when it was prior to it being shut down again. And every day that we went there, we would peek into the fitness room and see it kind of coming along. And I think he would be really happy to see it once he has a chance to get over there. But I learned, we had an opportunity to go into the fitness room and use the equipment and test it all out. And I learned a very important thing that day. And that is that I am very out of shape. When I got home, like my arms were, they're still hurting now just from lifting a few little weights. But now that we have that center, it's a great place, I think, for me to start a resolution of exercising more. So thank you to the city staff. I really want to thank also the family of Don Newton for his family's generous contribution for making that happen at Langley Center. So thank you and everyone have a wonderful evening. Thank you, and let's see my turn. As I also said earlier during a Mr. Gary's presentation about his department. But yes, I mean, we're very pleased that Lining Senior Center will be always open, actually. And I think it's a good sign of things to come as we resume a lot of in-person services. And certainly my personal hope is that we will eventually also be meeting in the city council chambers in person as well. Also, thank you very much, Councilor Chan, for bringing up the request to express solidarity with our fellow human beings in the Republic of Ukraine. As you may know, I'm actually wearing yellow and blue today. Also to show solidarity, because that is the Ukrainian flag. And I think it's a great idea that we bring back a resolution. And if possible, also to light our Cascade Fountain in the colors of the flag, which is blue and yellow for Ukraine. And many cities have already been doing so. So the city of Los Angeles, the city of Long Beach, and many other cities. And I think it would be great if we can do that with our Cascade Fountain.

Unknown Speaker -

Let's see, other items.

Unknown Speaker -

Let's see. I think my colleague, Councilor Liang, already asked staff to work with those who spoke during public comment about a recognition for La Tierra.

Unknown Speaker -

So I think that's a great idea. Again, that's part of our history.

Council Member Henry Lo -

It's always good to catalog our history for future generations.

Unknown Speaker -

Let's see. I think that really is it for me. And let's see.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Any other communications from council or staff?

Unknown Speaker -

Actually, I just wanted to quickly bring it up that I received a first and also text message

Council Member Henry Lo -

right after we visit the Laney Center, it seems like he's been with us.

Unknown Speaker -

He saw the picture that someone posed on Facebook and he said, hi, Yvonne, you look so buff,

Unknown Speaker -

you know, out in the fitness center photo. I'm jealous. And so before I even see it.

Council Member Henry Lo -

So yeah, I wanted to relate that message to all of you that Fred has been with us too, even though he's not present. Yeah, he's physically present. Thank you.

Unknown Speaker -

Thank you. Thank you for you so

! Okay, let's see.

Council Member Henry Lo -

! Future agenda items or any future agenda items that counselors would like to bring back.

Unknown Speaker -

! I know that

Council Member Henry Lo -

Councilman Chattery mentioned a resolution in solidarity for Ukraine. Any other items,

Unknown Speaker -

resolutions that would like the City Council to discuss in the future?

Council Member Henry Lo -

Okay, I am hearing nothing. Okay, those session items, there are none.

Unknown Speaker -

Nothing. Okay. So session items, there are none.

Unknown Speaker -

Okay, then

Council Member Henry Lo -

in that case, unless there are any objections,

Unknown Speaker -

then can we adjourn today's meeting then?

Okay. Okay.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Then we are adjourned

Unknown Speaker -

at 8.46 p.m.

Council Member Henry Lo -

Have a wonderful evening. Enjoy your rest of your week,

Unknown Speaker -

your weekend. Be safe,

Council Member Henry Lo -

be in good health, and we will see each other

Unknown Speaker -

soon. Bye-bye.

Reference

No documents are available for this meeting yet.