City Council Meeting — June 15, 2022

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 Abitement District Agenda. Regular City Council meeting of Wednesday, June 15, 2022 at 630 PM. Let's see. Um, you have been called to order.

please rise for flag salute

which will be provided by the Marr Park Police Explorers um please rise for flexal which will be provided by the mark park police explorers

Color Guard, present colors.

Start with your hearts. Ready, begin.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic over

which stands one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Polyguard, order, colors. Polyguard, outward, face. Forward, march.

Polyguard. Polyguard. Post. Colors.

Polyguard. About. Face. Polyguard. Dismissed. !

Roll call clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you.

Agenda additions, deletions, changes, and adoptions.

City Manager, do we have any? Yes, Mayor, Council Members.

The first addition would be staff communications.

We would have our police chief do a presentation, having to do protection and safety. We can take that after the fire department.

And then the other change, not so much a change, but we would request that you would pull consent item 3E.

There are a few minor edits within the MOU itself that we would like to just point out,

and just to be forthright on what these edits are. Other than that, we're good from the City Manager's Office.

Okay, so for the record, we are adding a presentation by our police chief under staff communications, which will proceed after fire department presentations, and then per City Manager recommendation, we are pulling item 3E.

Correct. Okay, wait.

I'm sorry. To be clear, when you get to the consent items, if you could just pull 3E, so that way we can discuss it. Got it.

Thank you.

And Mr. Mayor, members of the Council, there are actually two conflicts on item number 3H. And so we will need to flip a coin, literally.

The City Clerk has a memorial coin to be able to do that, so that we have a quorum to make a decision with regard to that item.

So for the record, when we get to item 3H, we will do a coin toss.

Okay, thank you. That's interesting. Okay, thank you so much. Okay. Council members, any other items?

None. Okay, thank you. Then we'll proceed. Thank you.

Okay, public communications. While all comments are welcome,

the Brown Act does not allow the City Council to take action on any item not on the agenda. The Council may briefly respond to comments after public communications closed. Persons may, in addition to any other matter within the City Council's subject matter jurisdiction, comment on agenda items at this time. If you provide public comment on a specific agenda item at this time, however, you cannot later provide comments at the time the agenda item is considered. Clerk, do we have requests?

Okay, first speaker is Sarkis Antonian.

Welcome.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, members, staff, audience, whatever. This last election where this city was showing that one person saved the city $55 million, and I'd like to see paperwork, either $5 million or $55 million. I'd like to see paperwork on that.

And if that's the case, that could have been put in the water bill to let the residents know and the businesses know that this council

or one individual had saved your tax dollars for that one issue.

I never received it. Just like Steve Bannon in the world, show your receipts.

If you're going to have advertisement on that, I'd like to see the paperwork. So I've been asking.

I called upstairs, no clue or nothing, or they don't want to tell me what's going on.

Okay, so as of, again, having elections at the House for 25 years, follow these, follow you people around, you know, knowing the council for years. And I just turned 66 in April, so I got a little bit of say. So I've been around a little while. I never known any council member or mayor that can save a city $55 million or $55 million. So I'd like to see paperwork on that, and other people have liked to see paperwork on that as well, too. Because if something is legit, A, great.

But then again, look at the roads, look at conditions, what's going on. So that's one thing.

This marketplace is a disaster to get in there on the Costco side.

So I go around going in the Paramount side. That was on Monday. Then when you want to go out the Costco side, they're blocking the lane.

So if somebody dials 911, how are they going to get in there?

And where are the people directing traffic to get their so-called Costco gas,

which is probably Arco gas?

Because other manufacturers are not going to bid down to their dealers to give them the high-end gas like a Shell, Chevron, Mobile, Union 76.

So more than likely, it's Arco because they're the ones that are the cheapest. And now they're using credit card. So anything around it is over $6.

And then another thing, when time comes, or if it already happened again,

when the time comes to sign contracts with these towing services, and there's two towing services in the city, it should be Freeway and Navarro.

Because they went through that at McDonald's over there. I had to wait four hours to get towed.

So finally we call Navarro. You pay your $60. take it over to AAA, you get reimbursed. So Navarro Toe is like the cleanup batter or the leaf pitcher in sports

because when they're busy, they call Navarro. They even call Hadley Toe and Whittier.

So if they cannot handle what they have,

then you should have two tow services that is hooked up to AAA so you're not out there with the COVID and all this other disease that's going on. And good thing I didn't have no kids or older people in the vehicle,

so they have you hang there for four hours. That's not called for.

The toll service is AAA and the toll service, that's in between. They tow you to the dealer, garage, gas station, and then you'll find out what the damages are if it's not under warranty. And thank you again.

Clara Nunez or Nunez?

Good evening.

My name is Clara Nunez, and I've been employed at Garfield Medical Center for 18 years, but I've been employed in the city of Monterey Park for half of my life. I've employed at Dynostic Medical Group and Dr. Terry Lee. I've actually been there too many times.

I'm a single mother of two, currently working 40 hours a week, maybe even more just to make it means. Currently, the situation with the COVID, the struggle that we've had so far, I personally have experienced being exposed at the facility. Not only personally, but have seen coworkers because of the COVID pandemic.

unfortunately expired or passed away. I am here today to, as a healthcare worker,

I've not only experienced overworked, understaffed, but at the same time, the stress level, the impotence of being able to help the community

with everything that's going on, with long hours, stressful hours, unable to see my kids. I have a high schooler that attends Alhambra. I have a junior kid that's currently at Margarita Elementary. It's hard.

And I am here to ask you guys to help,

not only with the community, but with the health care workers that are currently working and being underpaid. We have about 500 or 600 employees at Garfield Medical Center, which unfortunately half of them do not make ends meet. and you will see that they work 18 to 16 hours, five, six days a week. It's unfortunate that we have to come and explain yet again why we can't make ends meet.

I am asking for support, not only for myself, but coworkers, everybody here in the city of Monterey Park that's unfortunately underpaid, and see if you guys can assist and try to help us to get the minimum wage raised to $25. I know there's other cities that have, and I know other employers that are making their new employees come in at $20. I have a coworker that's been at Garfield Medical Center for 18 years, and it's not even making $18 an hour. It's a struggle. I know a lot of people don't see it. Yeah, it's a facility. Yeah, it's an employer. Yeah, it's something that we like to do. I've been there, like I said, 18 years. And I don't have the best experience to say that it's wonderful because, unfortunately, people come in there and they're sick. People are there in need of us, and we have to be at our tippy toes, you know, be at 100 ourselves. But it's unfortunate that we have to come in sometimes and be overwhelmed with the fact that I can't pay my rent, that I can't pay for gas. I live in the city of L.A., and I travel back and forth, whether it's to take the kids to school or whether it's to make myself go back to work and take them to school and come back this way after their activities. My daughter is on a softball team there in Alhambra High School. It's hard. The gas is $6. I'm a single mom. I am here, unfortunately, because I really need your assistance, and so does all of my coworkers at Garfield Medical Center and other nearby facilities that are here in Monterey Park. Thank you.

Vino? VIN Ngo.

Good evening, Mayor Lo, honorable council members and staff.

My name is VIN Ngo.

I represent the Garvey District School Board as the president and I'm here to continue to discuss about traffic safety, pedestrian safety. This has to do with an accident that happened on April 13th, right in the corner or by the corner of Graves and New Avenue.

Of course, it was right after school.

And on the 14th, the school district had a meeting and we discussed safety policies and procedures and how we can effectively make that a little safer for our student pickup and drop off.

Our superintendent then had a discussion with Ron Bo.

That was sometime on April 29th. And Ron, thank you for having that discussion with us to have follow-up procedures to come up with also plans and mitigations on what we can do to effectively create a safer environment for early morning travel as well as after-school pickup. And the week after that, this is around the week of May 4th, staff met with our principal, Mr. Chow. and presented a couple of possible measures, including valet parking zones on graves,

changing street cleaning schedules, as well as adding a stop sign on a certain...

I just wanted to show a map of all the councilmen. And as you look at this diagram on New Avenue coming from Garfield going down to New, there are stop signs almost in every... going down to New, there are stop signs almost in every corner from Russell, Alhambra, Sefton, Orange, Pomelo. And the school is on the corner of Pomelo and New Avenue. And when you get to New Avenue, there's no stop sign there. And that happens to be a downhill slope where traffic is

super fast.

And then on the other side, coming up from Rosemead,

there's also no stop sign there.

So traffic is also fast coming down the hill.

It's kind of a little plateau and it goes back up.

And that continues to be an issue. So our hope is to build a crosswalk, a light or a stop sign on the corner on the Marley Park side. Our superintendent has also checked in with the city manager in Rosemead to also put up a light or a traffic stop on the other side, which is basically, if you look at this corner, it's a really unique corner because it has three different cities. City of Rosemead to the right, City of Monterey Park to the left, and also the county. So we just need all three entities to work together, and we're hoping and we're wishing for the City of Monterey Park to be the first player in putting a crosswalk on a stop sign, then everybody will put theirs in.

The key here is traffic safety.

There's a lot of accidents reported, unreported on that corner, as well as pedestrian safety. Most important, we have kids there.

There's a school there.

So I want to again thank the City Council, the Traffic Commission, as well as Ron for working with us and allowing us to have a discussion to continue this and figuring out what best to mitigate this issue there in terms of safety.

Thank you so much.

Flo Yoza?

Hello. Hello, hello.

Yes, I just found out that our police officers are not equipped with high-quality safety vests, bulletproof vests. I know they're expensive, but I believe our officers need all the protection they can possibly have in this type of environment that we're going through with high crime rates in our city.

Also, they should be equipped with high-quality bulletproof shields so they could use these shields. They're flexible, lightweight, nine pounds.

And when they go up to the apartment or wherever and they're facing the unknown individuals inside, this bulletproof shield can protect them as they talk to the residents. And if they start shooting, it's a bulletproof shield. They can switch to the left hand, pull off the pistol if they have to. But with the bulletproof shield, they can protect the residents, the possible victim. They can shield their partner when barrage of bullets come at them. We have to protect our officers. We have a shortage of officers right now, I was told. And we need to bring our level of officers up to the full complement. We need protection in this city. This should be the top priority for the city council because the residents are at risk. My neighbor, her house was home invasion almost. She confronted him. He pulled out a gun and said, back off, lady.

my other neighbor had his truck

parts of his truck was stolen right from his driveway.

We have too much crime in this area. I mean they go into the markets, the stores they grab and just dash out

because they feel there's no real penalty

for stealing, for harming individuals, for attacking residents. These are people that come from other cities into our area.

And I blame George Gaston because his very weak policy, in my words,

he does this, tells his prosecutors, give them a citation and a slap on the wrist. Basically, that's what he's telling the criminals.

And it doesn't matter how many citations these repeat criminals get. It doesn't matter how many.

It doesn't count. And so the crime rate is increasing in Monterey Park. We just had a big drug bust at the marketplace. You know, fortunately the FBI was coordinating that. They trapped those drug people.

But I was shocked to find out how many of my neighbors

had things stolen off their property, have been threatened. You know, it's not safe.

We've got to make our police department the full support. All of us residents and city council should give our police department the full support. Thank you.

Any other speakers? Okay. Looks like that's it.

Thank you, clerk.

Next, staff communications.

First, communications from Recreation and Community Services Department.

Good evening, Memo. Good evening, Honorable Mayor and City Council. My name is Orlando Mudo. I'm with the Recreation and Community Services.

I'm here to announce our summer programs.

We have George Elder Park Pool. We have morning lap swims, swim lessons, and summer recreation swim being offered seven days out of the week.

You're always welcome to join our water aerobics, shallow or deep water on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

But just remember on those summer days, nice little warm day, come out to our rec swim. That is Monday through Friday from 12 p.m. to 1.30 or Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 4.

Our summer free lunch program is back. It is going to be offered from June 13th to August 5th, Monday through Friday from 11.30 to 12.30 for anybody under 18. It's at the picnic, sorry about that, it's at Barnes Park picnic shelter. Anybody under 18 years old and no registration is required.

Our movie's in the park.

This June 23rd, we're going to be showing Encanto at George Alder Park,

and it's going to be hosted with the farmer's market, and the movie will start approximately at dusk.

And our Independence Day celebration, Saturday, July 2nd,

from 4 to 9 p.m. at Barnes Park Amphitheater. We're going to be having food trucks, live entertainment from electric vinyl,

and a great fireworks show. Just to keep in mind that street closures will begin at 4 p.m., and they're going to be McFerrin, Harding, and Ramona Avenue.

MPK night at Dodgers Stadium. Dodgers versus San Diego Padres will be Friday, August 5th at 7.10 p.m. tickets are only $36 and tickets can be purchased at montereypark.ca.gov

forward slash Dodgers but don't forget it's a Friday night don't forget to stay after the game to enjoy their Friday night fireworks and it's going to be a great day once we beat the Padres so go Dodgers and don't forget to continue to follow us on social media all our social media platforms are right there and just at Monterey Park Recreation

thank you for having me and you guys have a wonderful evening Thank you very much. Do you have any questions? I'm not the councilman. I'm sorry. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next, Fire Department.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council. My name is Chris Thompson. I'm a newly appointed battalion chief for the City of Monterey Park Fire. My goal here is with the 4th of July coming, we want to promote safety from the fire department. We want to make sure that people understand how dangerous it is out there to light fireworks of any kind

and it may cause a fire, cause health and damage to people's home.

So if you are going to enjoy fireworks on the 4th of July, we want you to be able to buy the safe and sane fireworks

and make sure that you do not modify them, try to make them fly in the air or explode. And we want to make sure that everyone knows do not buy the illegal fireworks

Those are extremely dangerous and and we will be out enforcing them with the Monterey Park Police Department. We created a task force that will be

Surveying the area and making sure that people do not use those type of fireworks

We're going to be enforcing the health and safety code as well as a municipal code that these fines can be upward to anywhere between $2,000 and $5,000. So they can be very expensive and it's not worth it. On July 4th, you'll be able to start using your fireworks, your safe and sane ones, starting at 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on that day. We're hoping that the residents understand the dangers of these fireworks, even though they're safe and sane, but keep them away from residents at least 10 feet and make sure that wherever you light them, there's no flammable substances around. We're asking people to make sure that they monitor their children and making sure they stay safe running in the streets and enjoying themselves, but also remind families to take care of their pets as well. Pets get really excited during these times, and they tend to want to escape, or they just panic, and it can cause some havoc. July 2nd, like Orlando State's, is going to be another alternative for a great fireworks show, entertainment, and food. Like you said, the event starts at 4 to 9. It's a great option to enjoy the Independence Day Festival with your family and friends. So in closing, I wanted to make sure that we all stay safe, and I hit the key points again. Use the safe and sane fireworks. Do not modify them. Do not use your illegal fireworks. Do not be around legal fireworks, and make sure that your family and friends stay safe. Please supervise your children. Make sure they're safe while you guys are enjoying the entertainment, and then make sure you secure your pets. Other than that, I want to make sure that everyone has a happy Independence Day and stay safe out there. Any questions?

Yes, Councilman Chan. Thank you.

Just one quick question. And thank you for the presentation, Chief Thompson. And do we still have those booths to sell the fireworks in the city for this year?

Yes, we do. They're getting inspected by our fire prevention and arson investigators and make sure that they're selling the right fireworks and they've got a certain amount of time. I believe it's June 28th is when they can start opening up to sell the safe ones.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you. All right, thank you. Any other questions? Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Okay.

Next, Staff Communications Police Department.

Good evening, Council. I'm actually joining you via Zoom tonight.

Good evening, Chief.

How are you?

Thank you.

So I just want to give some brief comments. I know there have been some concerns expressed at the last council meeting and at this council meeting. So I just want to provide a brief update on traffic safety around schools to City Council tonight and to our community. We understand there are community concerns regarding the safety of our children around schools. Over the past two months, the Monterey Park Police Department Traffic Bureau, Public Works, City Manager's Office have been working both with Alhambra Unified and Garvey Unified school districts to address those concerns. The traffic bureau has been evaluating the traffic safety around school drop-off and pickup at all of our schools and working with school staff to improve traffic flow and student safety, including modified drop-off and valet pickup lanes, as well as the drop-off and pickup procedures. Some of those procedures were modified due to COVID, which created some additional traffic concerns around some of the schools. Many of the issues, however, were a direct result of parents and caregivers who drive on campus and around the neighborhoods near the schools at arrival and dismissal times. They're often in a hurry and distracted, which can lead to some unsafe conditions for students.

the traffic collision that's been referenced on new during public comment was actually an error in human judgment and that was the cause of the accident it was not it was actually not at one of the crosswalks it was mid-block and it was an error in human judgment the traffic officers and patrol officers have increased their enforcement around the schools which was extremely important in reminding parents and caregivers to avoid double School Parking. Have their children use the crosswalks, not cross mid-block. And follow the traffic safety laws. The traffic bureau has been working to re-educate parents and caregivers after the long break caused by pandemic for in-person classes. It seems that some parents and caregivers are not as familiar with those procedures anymore. They've been conducting parent education sessions as well as distributing educational materials in conjunction with school staff. We will continue to work with the schools throughout the summer to ensure that parents and caregivers are well educated about traffic safety as a new school year begins, as well as working with schools on traffic flow, including the valet lanes, drop off and pickup procedures, and looking at other traffic calming measures that are necessary. But we are working diligently to address any of the concerns, and a lot of it is in fact parent and caregiver education related. And we will continue to work with school staff with both Alhambra Unified and Garvey unified to address the issues that the community has brought forward. The safety of our students is always the most importance to all of us. And if you have any questions, I'm here to answer them.

Thank you very much, Chief, for the report. City Council? Yes, Councilman Lang.

Thank you, Chief Gordon, for your report. It's always great to hear that we're proactive for the traffic safety issues, especially around schools. I just want to really quickly, there were some comments made earlier about bulletproof vests, body armor, and shields. And it's my memory that we have shields and that we have body armor. I don't know if you could just comment on that really quick because it was a surprise to me to hear people comment that they don't have the top equipment.

um we all of our officers do in fact have um bulletproof vests um we're always looking at different vests and different options you know so we're consistently evaluating that which we're currently doing but all officers have bulletproof vests our tactical teams have additional um types of body armor. So our officers, absolutely, our goal is always to provide them with the best safety equipment that they can possibly have. And we're also always reevaluating what those needs are. We do have the shields that the community member referred to. We have multiple shields deployed in patrol. They're in the sergeant's vehicle, and they're available for officers that need them depending on the circumstances of the call. But we have all that equipment. We have additional tactical equipment that is always available as the situation calls for.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Lang. Any other comments? Thank you again, Chief Gordon, and again, thank you for those who brought this issue before

the council election. Mr. City Manager, if I'm

mistaken, our traffic commission

and again we thank our assistant commission but on your agenda tomorrow

isn't the issue there will be a presentation

also on Monterey Vista

as well in the traffic

commission tomorrow As I understand it, Mayor, Council Members as I understand it that there is

an agenda item that we'll be talking about the Garfield

delineators that were there placed there because there are homeowners that are there that were

concerned about their ability to turn left. I am not aware of anything.

City Manager, do you know if there's anything else under the agenda?

I don't believe there's an agenda item. I could check for you though.

Thank you very much. I'm sorry if I may add, there was public comment at the

last traffic commission regarding that. But there is no follow-up at this time at the traffic commission

tomorrow. Okay, thank you very much.

Okay. That concludes our communications. Moving on to... And again, thank you for those who presented.

Next, presentations, none.

Old business, none.

On to consent calendar, items 3A and 3K and as we heard earlier from our city manager and the attorney we are going to pull

item 3E as well as 3H. Any other items, council members, that you would like to pull? Okay. Hearing none, then may I have motion to approve the remaining items that have not been pulled.

I move to approve all the consent items except E and H.

Moved by Council Member Chan. Excuse me. Mayor. Yes, I'm sorry. We do have speakers for item 3A. 3A, okay. Okay, then.

Then A, H, and E. So. Except that three. Okay.

So I amend the motion. Okay, thank you so much. Thank you. Second. Second by Councilman Lang.

And Mr. Mayor, members of the Council, Councilmember Yu does have a conflict on item 3i, but she can stay on the dice as long as that item is not removed from the consent.

So, okay, so we are pulling 3a, 3e, 3h.

I'm sorry.

3i does not, it's 3, Councilmember Yu has a conflict on 3i because of a property conflict,

but it does not need to be removed from the consent calendar unless you want to discuss it in which case she'd have to recuse herself. Oh I see I'm sorry thank

you for clarifying. She can vote. It will not be counted toward that 3i but it will be counted on the balance of the consent calendar. Thank you very much thank you.

Okay council members please vote.

vote unanimous motion carries thank you so much first item for discussion item 3a monthly

investment report may 2022 a staff report or whoever please call up the person who made a

request to speak okay first speaker actually is Nancy Okuri okay thank you

Good evening, you all. I want to thank you for sharing our monthly investment report with us.

Now I can see how you invest my property taxes, gas taxes, sales tax, and utility taxes for the benefit of Monterey Park.

At the June 1st meeting, you, Council Member, discussed a request from City Treasurer Joseph Leone to transfer $5 million from the LEIF to the county investment pool to earn a higher interest rate on our money. But you questioned Martha Garcia, our Director of Management Services, about Joseph Leon's request to transfer these funds. Martha Garcia finally agreed that his request was reasonable. They advised this council that two signatures are required on any of our funds to be transferred to any other account. Currently, Joseph Leon and Martha Garcia are the approved signers for the legal documents to transfer funds. Then you all agreed with Joseph Leon's request and voted your approval. You also discussed a possibility to review our city investment policy at a later date. I suggest you wait to review it until after the November election when we have three new council members, a new city treasurer, for them to participate in this discussion. I've heard rumblings that a few people want to restrict the city treasurer's power to approve or deny how we invest our city funds. Currently, we have a four-member investment committee, Joseph Vion, our elected city treasurer, Martha Garcia, our director of management services, Inez Alvarez, our assistant city manager, and Ron Boar, city manager. May I remind you that our residents voted in Joseph Vion to be our city treasurer. Martha Garcia, Inez Alvarez, and Ron Bo are all city employees who work for us. Please remember when Monterey Park Incorporated in 1916, our city charter stated that we have five council members, one city clerk, and one city treasurer. Thank you.

Joseph Leone.

Good evening, Mayor, Council members, and of course residents of Monterey Park. It's Joseph Leone, city treasurer. Actually, just a quick update since the investment report is on this current council meeting.

Since our last meeting, the funds were moved from accounting to LEAF. It's not reflected because it was moved after the report came out. But it has been moved. So currently, if you look at your report, it's incorrect because now we have approximately $42 million in county and $35 million in LEAF. but if you can see from your investment report the county still has a better return than LEIF so actually that was a very good move to move the money over a little bit of interest and also since our last meeting we have set up an investment report committee meeting to discuss the concerns and issues that are raised by the council so we'll be meeting shortly and then hopefully after that I'll come to the council again to let you know what occurred at the meeting that's all, any questions? thank you so much Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Our team city treasurer. Thank you. No other speakers.

Thank you, clerk.

Council members. Yes, Councilman Lange, you have your mic.

If there's no comments, I was going to move to approve item 3A, the monthly investment report.

No second. Moved by Councilman Lange. Seconded by Councilman Chan. Council members, please vote.

Votes unanimous. Motion carries.

Thank you very much. Next item.

3E, resolution approving the memorandum of understanding between the city and Monterey Park Chief Office Association for the term of July 1st, 2022 to June 3rd, 2023. Staff report, please.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor, Council Members. My name is Christine Tomikawa, your Director of

Human Resources and Risk Management. I'm here to present the draft MOU for the Monterey Park

Professional Chief Officers Association. As you can see before you, we pulled the item because we had one minor edit in the draft MOU, which you all have on your desk. On page one, there were two classifications before that were covered by the MOU, the Division Chiefs and the Fire Marshal. but the fire marshal is no longer covered by the chief's MOU and so that is why we're deleting or striking that classification from coverage of the MOU. But when the agenda was sent out, that change hadn't been made yet. So that's the minor change that we want to discuss.

Thank you very much for that clarifying report. Council members, questions?

I have a good point. Clerk, any speakers?

No request. Any speakers?

Doesn't appear to be. Thank you.

Thank you, Clerk. Okay.

In that case, again, colleagues, any comments, questions?

No, I just want to move to approve item 3E. Okay.

Then I take that as a move by Council Member Chan.

Second by Council Member Yu. Council members, please vote.

vote's unanimous motion carries thank you very much on to item 3H

22 catch basin

retrofit device

installation award of contract

staff report or is this the coin flip? okay

thank you Mr. Mayor, members of the council Mr. Mayor you and council member Liang both have a conflict on this particular item because you have real property within 500 feet of the locations. Since we only have four council members, the rule of necessity comes in, which requires the city clerk to, through random act, select one of you to remain on the dais so that we maintain the quorum. He has chosen the random act to be a, is it the centennial pin coin?

This is a 50th anniversary special coin, personal collection of our assistant city clerk here.

So in a very special bright line not written in the rules, you guys can call heads or tails, and the city clerk will determine who wins from that. If somebody from the audience wants to make sure that it's not a weighted coin, you're welcome to come up and check.

Okay. Thank you, city attorney, for that explanation. Okay. Well, I will defer to my colleague. You get to pick heads or tails.

Congressman Liang? Ladies first. Wait.

Wait, I thought it was just...

Council Member, it's you and Henry that get to choose heads or tails.

I thought you said, oh, not me? You? Yeah. Oh, and Henry? And Henry. Not you? Not you. Oh, you said, okay. Didn't you say...

I said Mayor Lo, and I'm sorry, I'm fighting a sinus infection, so... Wait, wait, wait.

Just to be clear, because I live on De La Fuente, and then Henry lives on Mooney, so that's very far from each other I just want to make sure we're accurate

actually so this is 3h yes 3h yes and councilmember Liang this the one of the pieces of property or locations is West Newmark and South Atlantic and the other location for mayor low is South Sefton Avenue and East Grave Avenue I faced upon the map that I was provided it looks like both of these are within 500 I see.

Okay.

Thank you for clarifying for the record and for the audience.

Okay. Mayor, you can...

Excuse me.

Yes, yes, Councillor Chen. Seems I'm the only one that does not have this 500 feet, but can I participate in this game?

Oh, my.

Just a request.

Heads or tails, Henry? You're asking me? All right.

Ted, I'm going to ask you a question. uh you're asking me all right um all right uh tails

! I must be heads okay thank you okay okay okay okay all right we like to have a witness to watch the coin toss yeah also um

! also um being that this coin doesn't actually have a head so I'm gonna designate the 50th side

! as the head and the city seal as a tail! as a tail. Is that agreed?

Sure. Repeat that again for the record. Okay. This coin

has no head. Okay. There's no figure of any sort here. So I'm going to use the 50th anniversary wording as the head. Okay. And then the city seal as the tail. Okay. Alright? Alright.

I didn't get to practice that one.

But. So

let me go ahead and flip it. I haven't practiced this, so I'm going to try this.

Okay.

Maybe, Mr. Treasurer, you can read what it is.

Is it the head? Okay. This is the head.

Thank you. Okay.

So based upon that, Mayor Lo, you have a conflict, and you must recuse yourself apart from the chamber. Okay. Although the back room is fine.

Then I will recuse myself. Do I need to gavel? Okay. All right. Thank you. So the back room is fine.

Excuse me. Okay. So, City Attorney, that means I have to sit through here three times?

Three times.

Is it? Because.

Oh, no. It's just a vote on this particular item.

Oh, I mean the same item. Just three H. I know. Oh. So I have to do it. I have to listen to the same thing? No, just once. Oh, just this is it? This is it. Just one go. Okay. All right.

So unless you want a staff report, you can decide what you want to do.

Move to approve Item 3H, 2022 Catch Basin Retrofit Device Installation Award of Contract. I second that.

Please vote.

Well, vote's unanimous. Motion carries.

Thank you very much. Sorry for the complication. First time we've been able to flip a coin, I think, in my tenure here. Is that the first time ever?

Since I've been here. 2009, so whatever that is. 12 years? Thank you very much.

But as a soccer referee, I flip the coin every game.

Thank you very much. Okay. Moving on to public hearing none.

New business done. City Council Communications.

I'll start with Council Member Yu.

Wow, today will be a short meeting. I would like to appoint Jessamyn Presenta to my planning commission.

I met Jessamyn last week at our library trustee interview process, and Jessamyn demonstrated her passion to serve and her finance knowledge and involvement in her credit union real estate development. With her 14 years living in Monterey Park, raising two young children here, I'm sure Jessamyn will be a very good addition to our planning commissions. Thank you and I look

forward to working with her. Thank you, Council Member Yu. Council Member Chan.

Thank you, Mayor. And I just serve and chair the last meeting as the Metro Service Council Monday. And that's the end of my term. And I served three years in the Metro Service Council. And our first year was a member. Second year was elected as the vice chair. And the last year, the third year, I was elected as the Metro Service Council chair. And I fulfilled the three years term and finish it and was very honored and humbled to be in that position. And this position is a combination of the public transportation, talk about all those metro services and so forth, representing Monterey Park, Montevallo, and Rosemead. So I finished that and I'm very honored to be in that position. So just want to report that. And other than that, just happy Father's stay to every Father in the City of Monterey Park. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Chet. And also let me take this time to also thank you for your service on the Dismissional Advisory Board because I think, if I recall, you presided over some very interesting issues from the Contras of the 710 North Project to subsequent funding for the monies, not to mention issues from next-gen buses to the Eastside Extension to Metro XR2820. You represent our city during many serious important

discussions and we thank you for that. And I want to point out and I've been And what is that concern, you know, many times in the service council and also in call meetings is that what I find out is that the foothill cities and Los Angeles city, they have the crowd. They have felt felt. And the southern part of St. Gabriel cities, along 10 and 60 freeway cities, we are kind of like being shortchanged a lot. But I, you know, voice my opposition and voice my concerns and, you know, ruffle some feathers and so forth. But hopefully we get some, you know, concerns that's coming our way. And I hope that will need to be continued to represent this area of concerns in transportation to the metro and also to the Cork. So I know that, Henry, Mayor Lo, you are the representative for Monterey Park to Cork. Yes. Hopefully you will continue the fight.

And I will say that I have also observed during my short time at City Council exactly that dynamic between, I hate to use the north and south, but yes, between the northern communities of Foothill and those in the Sang-Yiwa Valley Basin.

And I think, yes, the work continues. Thank you. Councilman Chan. Councilman Liang.

Thank you. I want to also thank Council Member Chan for his service. You know, there are long meetings. both of us have had that experience of attending meetings that were six, seven hours long. But, you know, it's interesting, you know, as Peter steps down, last Friday I attended the installation banquet for the Chinese-American elected officials in which I was sworn in as the new president. Oh, congratulations. 22 and 23. My colleagues were there as well. and that's all I have to report. Everyone have a good evening and happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Meng.

My turn now. You know, I would like to thank our Parks and Rec Department

with our Police and Fire for the wonderful job they did

last weekend at Monterey Park's

second annual Pride March and Festival.

If I recall,

I think we have probably double, if not more, the turnout we have from the year before. And it's really wonderful to see really an example of this city embracing its diversity and demonstrating to the world that we are an inclusionary community. And I also want to take this time to acknowledge partner organizations such as the Elhambra Unified School District, the Elhambra Teachers Association, the Boys and Girls Club of the West Sango Valley, not to mention our elected representative from our Congresswoman Judy Chu to our Assemblymember Mike Fong and the representative from Supervisor Hussalisa's office

who sits on the Metro Board.

And just, again, thank you for everyone who turned out for that occasion

and hopefully next year will be bigger. And then I'd like to also take this time during my communications to ask my colleagues that we can adjourn this meeting

in acknowledgement and memory of the unfortunate killing

of two officers yesterday in our neighboring city of El Monte

who were killed during the line of duty. And I want to read their names for the record.

Officer Joseph Santana and Corporal Michael Paredes.

and they had fallen while they were on duty protecting the families,

the neighborhood of the community of El Monte.

And our thoughts are with the families, the community of El Monte,

and also I think it's important to always acknowledge the work, the value, the courage

of all public safety officers, and even as we speak, while El Monte, the community,

is processing and mourning the tragic events that took place earlier this week. Our own police, I understand, is providing assistance. And so, again, if I may, we'd like to adjourn in the memory of the two officers.

Thank you.

And then, yes, City Manager, I know you have something to share.

Yes. Mayor, Council members, I just wanted to read it into the record.

Tomorrow's Traffic Commission meeting, 1B, they will be addressing New Avenue and East Graves intersection crosswalk.

So just for the public and your information, I stand corrected. Okay.

And that's because we're in the Monterey Vista Elementary School issue, correct?

Correct. Okay, thank you so much.

Thank you for the record. Thank you. Okay, great. Future agenda items.

Actually, colleagues, I would like to propose a future agenda item.

with your support.

So as we all heard tonight as well as in past meetings, public safety is a lot on people's minds.

And I recently came across an ordinance adopted

by one of our fellow L.A. County cities, Artesia, concerning the curbing of death of catalytic converters.

And I have spoken to our city manager

to see if we can perhaps study what Artesia has done and bring it back as a future agenda item. And before I need more information, I'm happy to share with you.

Yes. Can we have? Okay, thank you. Thank you.

Okay, we have, I think, consensus. Yes.

I have direction. Thank you, Mayor. Council.

Okay.

And with that, closed session.

We have no closed session. Okay, thank you very much.

And I'd like to adjourn tonight's meeting at 7.27 p.m.

and have a happy Father's Day.