City Council Meeting — October 19, 2022

On guard, forward, march. Honor Guard, forward march. Order Guard, order. Honor Guard, Order, Honor Guard, please head, colors.

Let's put a hand over your heart. Ready to begin.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which

it stands, one nation, for God, indivisible, liberty, and justice.

On the guard, order, colors. On the guard, outward, face.

On the guard, forward, march.

On the guard, prepare for both colors. Both colors. On the guard, prepare for both colors.

jakiś It's moved.

Take me seated.

Click. Please call the roll. Thank you. Council Member Yvonne Yu. Council Member.

Recording in progress.

Okay, let me do that again. Councilmember Yvonne Yu? Here. Councilmember Peter Chan?

Here.

Councilmember Hans Liang? Mayor Henry Lo? Present.

All present. Okay, great. Agenda, addition, deletions, changes, and adoptions.

Mr. City Manager, do we have any?

Yes, Mayor. Okay. item 3e on the consent calendar state homeland security program sub recipient agreement grant year 2021 award agreement we do have a change to the recommendation to city council and renumbering the number one should read as adopting a resolution authorizing the city manager or designee to apply for, receive, and appropriate grant funds for the State of Homeland Security Program for grant year 2021. And then numerically, the way it's stated in the agenda, number one should become number two, and number two should become number three. I will provide the city clerk with this information, and that will be the only change that we have.

Okay. Thank you very much. Okay, so that's... Yes.

I have a question, City Manager. But other than the adopting that word change, all the substance inside remains the same.

You're correct. It's just making sure that we adopt a resolution. The grant requires a resolution adopted by the City Council.

So that's the only change?

You're correct.

Thank you.

Okay. Thank you very much.

Okay, moving on to 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 is 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. Mr. Clerk, do we have any requests? Yes, we do. First speaker.

Sarkis Antonian.

good evening mayor council members staff audience uh i'm going to get to something maybe out of the

ordinary on these uh catalytic converter stealing what they're doing they have no clue what they're doing because when they go steal somebody's catalytic converter, they do not know what

kind of maintenance that person has done with the vehicle.

If the check engine light is on and they get a catalytic converter, that could be all broken up inside it and won't be worth nothing to them. And if they try to put that catalytic converter on another vehicle, it ain't going to work

out either. You're going to have to change off your oxygen sensors and things like that. So once in a while, each city should have some kind of a task force. Go to these muffler shops, junkyards, and just see what's going on.

Because you can't put a – and then by the time that person gets that catalytic converter back,

it's about $3,000.

for the CAD, for the oxygen sensors to re-hook up the labor and everything like that. That's a total joke. So you can steal, even the F-150s, they're stealing those too because it's high enough up there.

Okay, so steal a catalytic converter from 2010

and try to put that on to 2015 and it won't work because every year they have different emission standards.

and again if the caliator converter is plugged and if you know I've returned many of them when I was working dealerships and when they're really plugged and you can just pound it and a bunch of all the inside this comes out I don't know if you've ever seen how a wasp makes a nest that's why they call it honeycomb okay and then maybe five years ago around the city. They were stealing four tires on some of these Hondas, Toyotas. They would put them up on bricks and steal them. That happened for a while. So like I said, each city needs some kind of a task force and see what's going on on the stealing of these vehicles. And I really can't see how they're stealing these vehicles and get anything on it. When most of these vehicles have chips in them, and you got the starting, you got the automatic press. So if you don't have the key with you, it's not going to start. And more than likely, again, if you don't know how that person is taking care of their vehicle, you might be wanting to steal that vehicle and he could have a dead battery right there. So that's something that needs to be addressed. and again back in 75 when they first came up with these catalytic converters nobody wanted them because all the all the performance out of those things you didn't get them but 75 where some of you weren't around you couldn't even breathe on this on this air so they came a long ways oh yeah by the way what they want to do is get rid of the electric car that's mind-boggling to me So how are you going to have your street maintenance? Where are you going to get your tax on that? And these electric vehicles that run around, that are running around, do not pay monthly fuel tax from the gas and diesel. That's how we're robbery to the people that are paying for the gas and diesel to get around where they're driving. To me, they're driving free every month. Or every time we go to the pump, they get gas, and they're driving free. and then they charge them once a year, that's a total garbage. Every month their payment comes, it should be going for the roads. And look into it. Thank you.

Next speaker, Nancy Akuri.

Good evening. I want to thank Carl Berger and Ron Bowe for explaining the eminent domain process the city used against CCI, the current owners of the hillside property known as Good Views Property, during the October 5th City Council meeting. They had explained how CCI would be paying our city back for the money we spent to stabilize the hillside. The eminent domain process reminds me of property foreclosure used against parties who fail to honor their legal commitments. Our city tried working with CCI for several years to help them build homes on that site. CCI failed to meet their legal obligations on this property. Our city has legal documentation and court approval to begin the process. I want to thank Peter Chan, Hans Leong, Yvonne Yu, and Henry Lo for voting for eminent domain so our city can stabilize this property for our health and safety. One speaker during an oral communication slide when she said our new sales tax tells we use to stabilize this hill, she then left the meeting before the discussion on this agenda item. Another speaker had already served on our council for nine or more years, questioned why we're using eminent domain process. What is the public good? She must have been aware of the dangerous hillside that's been closing down Garvey Avenue many times over the years since the 1970s. She stated the cost to stabilize the hillside could cost $20 million. Maybe she should have suggested the city check out the stabilization costs of this property when she served on council. I'm sure the cost of this project would have been a lot less than $12 million several years ago. I'm very happy that our current city council members understood the legal process used to keep our residents and many people who travel on Garvey Avenue safe from dangerous mudslides. Thank you.

Next speaker is Joseph Leon.

Good evening, Mayor, Council members, staff, and of course residents of Monarch Park. I'm actually here tonight as the city's representative on the San Gabriel Mosquito and Vector Control District. And basically, I just want to update everyone, all the residents, that Monarch Park is doing great. There have been no humans infected with West Nile virus in our city. We do have mosquitoes, though, which are referred to as ankle biters. I think Ron and I were talking about that earlier. They're out there. They're not dangerous, but they're a nuisance. Just try to use repellent when you can. and that's it. And if you have any questions, you can always go to the district office. They have professionals there. They have scientists. It's great. I mean, you're always welcome to come by and they can give you a tour. And their phone number is 626-814-9466, and there is no direct cost to the residents. We actually pay for this annually through our property tax, a small fee. Have a look at your property tax bill. It's on there. And so there's no direct cost to the residents. And if you have any questions regarding mosquitoes, black flies, rats, you can always call them. Thank you.

Okay. Next speaker is Amy Lee. Actually, she's going to speak and take the time of Leilani Morales.

Good evening, City Council. My name is Amy Lee. I'm a resident of Monterey Park. I'm from District 5. I'm a mother of two. I'm an attorney. I'm also a business owner in Monterey Park.

What concerns me and why I'm here today is to discuss the issues that you brought up at the last City Council meeting on October 5th, specifically Agenda Item 4. One of the questions that had come up was, let me take you back a little bit. Item 4 is referring to the property that is on Graves Avenue. It is by Abajo. It's the hillside and what the city calls Good Views Properties, Good View Project. For many years, the city has been working to try to abate the property. and what am I understanding is that at the last meeting the city had decided to move forward with eminent domain. My concern here is that the cost of this is extraordinary. There was some numbers that were thrown around but it didn't seem very there was not a final number. So I looked into the city budget. I went online at the last city budget. It appeared that the cost for the Good View project is $17 million. That was projected by the City Council in 2022 in May. So it appears that the city had known for quite some time that the project would cost $17 million. That's concerning because it was not shared with the citizens of Monterey Park. As elected officials, it's very important that you're transparent with information you have so that the citizens can make good and knowledgeable decisions on information that's provided to them. When you don't do that, jakiś jakiś jakiś And the second question is, where is that money coming from? And that is the million-dollar question. Where is it coming from? And there wasn't an answer for that. Again, I looked into the city budget. In footnote 2, page C16 of the 2022-2023 budget, it says, the estimated cost for Goodview's project is $17 million.

In year 22-23, unassigned and unassigned funds are reduced by $12 million. and in year 23-24 the funds are reduced by 5 million.

And where is the funds reduced by? It is going to be coming from the Capital Improvement Fund. The Capital Improvement Fund is money that is assigned. There's two funds, one's assigned and one's unassigned. The signed Capital Improvement Funds, that's where $12 million are taken out of. Those monies were previously allocated to improve the city. their money to improve the infrastructure of our city to pave the roads to provide ongoing maintenance and new fire stations to not fire stations fire trucks fire paramedics and to even improve the recreation department including pools which we really do need now that money is gone it is going to fund to we to maintain to build up private property that does not belong to the city. And now that we've moved on with eminent domain, now we've taken on the liabilities. And that cost in the future is unknown. I don't have enough time to get into the possibilities of how much we could expend because the liabilities the city has chosen to take on. But my position here is as a mother, as a resident, I'm concerned about the future of Monterey Park.

I want to share that with the City Council, my concerns, and with the residents of Monterey Park, that they are aware of where this money is coming from.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Teresa Villal-Sebastian.

Good evening, everyone. First, I'd like to address a comment made by a previous speaker.

The previous city council was not aware of the cost because the previous city council sued the landowners so that they could fix the hillside. They.

thank you Amy for enlightening because I asked during the last council meeting from where is this money coming from because in the fiscal impact section of that agenda item it did not say much and that concerns me because remember Yvonne you ran on transparency Henry you ran on transparency you need to be transparent with the residents. And that budget, the budget for the fiscal year, was adopted by U4 on June 15th of this year. And capital improvements, for those folks at home that don't know, capital improvements is money that is set aside to maintain city facilities, city improvements, And city, long-term assets. Not private. City. So I was flabbergasted when I heard after the meeting, when I asked a council member, how much, where are we getting this money from? The person told me it was in the budget, it was reserves, $30 million. That's incorrect. We don't have $30 million. It is $30 million. And I asked, is it assigned or unassigned? can the council use it and i was told yes the council can use it well that isn't true because yes there is 32 million prepaid 72 000 catastrophic committed which means the council cannot use it but for a catastrophic event that is 4.8 million committed for stabilization 3 million and I'd like clarification of what stabilization means, committed, let me see, community development 1.8, and then assigned for capital improvements. Remember, city property, city improvements, city long-term assets is $20 million this year. So when you take out $10 million, it'll leave us $10 million for the next fiscal year, and after that we're going to have $4.6 million. why could you not be transparent with the public? Shame on you. You ran on transparency. Peter, you've always been a huge advocate of transparency, kind of looked at you for an answer. I'm just really disappointed about this. And let me share with the public what are some of the capital improvements. And by the way, please put this on the city website. Make it very transparent. Put the budget there so that when people go in there, they can find their city budget. That's their money. So some projects, and really tiny, tiny print, is a sewer master plan, pipeline replacement, groundwater treatment system, water improvement, water meter replacements, all city, city, city, city. Then we have Garfield and Atlantic and Ramona road capacity improvements, sidewalks, slope improvements, downtown traffic signal improvements, slurry seals, median stormwater, catch basins, again, city, city, city, and city. And then the last one had vehicles on there for various departments, including our police, recreation, and fire department.

I'm trying to remember the others. Let me see. public works vehicle, recreation and community vehicle, fire vehicle, Bella Vista, Garby Ranch Park, Sequoia Park, Edison Trails,

park playground equipment. That's part of it. Library, story room expansion, etc., etc. So I'm really glad that the information is out there. So now when people cast a vote on the tax measure, they will be educated and informed and that's what you want the voters to be educated and informed so that your government, our government our city is transparent please keep that in mind as you go forward thank you and have a wonderful evening applause

next speaker is Michelle Yee

hi neighbors

Ms. Mayshal Yee, I hope you are listening very carefully to what Teresa Real Sebastian and Amy Lee just told you. It's very important that you are listening very carefully. As you hear, there's a lot of misinformation that people are trying to get out there,

including our elected officials who are trying to pull the wool over your eyes. So pay attention. You hear where the money is coming from. it's not in excess of 12 million it's not 8 million 17 million of your tax dollars going to

private property that's ridiculous we already know that and they want to play this game that you're going to get your money back don't worry they're going to pay us back in liens i think we

all have that friend who likes to file chapter seven every time they have to pay their credit

card bills, we know how that money comes back. It doesn't. You can't squeeze blood from a stone. And so, you know, as much as we would like to hope that we might be able to mitigate some of the damage and get some of this money back, we need to wake up. It's not. And they're not going to be able to find enough assets and the number of years that it's going to take to get that money back. It's ridiculous that they would even have considered doing this and taking your money. They want to care so much about the hill and say that we don't care about public safety. We do. Because the money that they just took is the money that could have been spent on our police and fire. That we all use. But instead, we're spending it on private property. Because we don't care about this hill. We do care about our residents. And so that's why we're here and we're speaking up. You need to speak up too. Because you see what they're doing with your money. And they want to take more of it. They want you to pay more so that they can take more and spend it on their pet projects and mistakes like this. Do you want to give them more? Is that a good use of our money? I don't think so. And I don't think you think so either. So you already know what to do on your ballot. Vote no. Sorry. Think about it. You know what to do. Thank you, neighbors.

Next speaker is Candice Griego.

Good evening. My name is Candice Griego, and I'm the proud principal of Brightwood School here in Monterey Park,

part of the Alhambra Unified School District.

I'm joined here by two Brightwood educators as well, Irene Tark and Mae Lee.

We are here today to acknowledge the collaboration with the Monterey Park Fire Department

along with Brightwood School. So we want to thank them for all of their hard work

and present them with this lovely plaque

for all of the hard work that they have done.

So if Chief Pollack could come up here and accept the plaque.

I want to also talk a little bit about the things that the fire department has done for our school over the last several years.

So before I go and read what's on the plaque, I want to explain some of the wonderful things that the fire department has collaborated

with Brightwood School on. So every month we have a student of the month, a star student of the month drive-thru where we acknowledge students for growth on their academics, for being a positive role model, and the fire department each month drive their fire truck over along with whatever cars

they have available and as many firemen as they can afford at the time to help us celebrate our

students with pom-poms and cowbells and helping us hand the certificates to the students. It really

makes them excited about earning that award and the Monterey Park Fire Department has just been amazing in that partnership. Each year they also come out with their big ladder truck to help us

do our egg drop, our annual egg drop. So that's a fun event that we have at our school as well that they come out and help us. But anytime we have a big event, they're willing to just lend a hand and come out there and make it exciting for our students. So today, presented to Monterey Park

Fire Department with sincere appreciation for your dedication and service to our STAR student program, Brightwood School 2022. Thank you, Chief Paula.

I also wanted to mention that Brightwood School has won the California Pivotal Practice Award based on this practice that was developed during distance learning due to the pandemic.

So typically in the state of California, schools are awarded the California Distinguished School

Award. But during the pandemic, that award was changed to the Pivotal Practice Award.

And so Brightwood School applied for this award specifically for the Star Student of the Month drive-through ceremonies that we pivoted during distance learning. And because of that, we won and we are a 2022 Pivotal Practice California Department of Education school.

And so it is due to that partnership with the fire department that that was made possible. so we'd like to request if the city council can come and take a photo with our people here today. I brought our banner from the state of California. Thank you.

And so we'd love it if it would be possible to take a photograph with us. Of course.

Yeah.

Okay.

Ready?

One, two, three. Great. I'm just going to get away.

Okay. Ready? jakiś

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

okay any other speakers Okay, any other speakers for oral communications?

Looks like, nope.

Okay, thank you very much. All right, moving on to staff communications. First report from the clerk's office.

All right, thank you very much. Well, as we all know, the election season is in place. So, again, we had this presentation last meeting, but we'll go over some of the basic information. November 8th is the election, and who are we voting for? So there are three council positions, seats one, three, and five, as well as the city clerk, the city treasurer, and ballot measure MP, which is general tax proposition. So the city council positions are district, so only the residents living in those districts will vote for their respective council members. For the city clerk and city treasurer, those are citywide, and all residents get to vote on those, as well as the ballot measure MP. Next slide, please. So what are your voting options? As far as I'm aware, most of our residents have received their ballots. Those were sent out, I think, last week, if I'm mistaken. So the next step is, what do you do with them? Okay, well, several options right now. First, the vote by mail or VVM, you can mail those back after you fill out the ballot. You can actually drop those in your mailbox. So no postage needed. So you can save yourself a little bit on the stamp there that you don't have to put on a stamp. another way you can do that is you can return it to any of the vote center location that's within Los Angeles County and the third option is drop it off at any of the ballot boxes in Los Angeles County there are countless numbers of them and I can't you know tell you where they're at but I can tell you the two that we have are one located in City Hall at 320 West Newmark which is just outside. The other one is over at Sierra Vista Park. The address for that one is 311 Rural Drive. So they're located and accessible 24 hours a day. So, you know, whenever you feel that you want to take your ballots over there and drop them in the box, they're very safe and secured. So, and if you want to see what they look like, that's the slide showing the big yellow, white and blue boxes. You can't miss them. All right. So if you choose not to return to the box or mail it in for whatever reason, you can visit any of the Los Angeles County Vote Centers to vote in person. And again, for Monterey Park, the locations are one at East Los Angeles College at 1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez between October 29th to November 7th, between the hours of 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. And on the day of election is November 8th from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Those are the traditional ballot hours for election days. Another location is the Langley Senior Center, 400 West Emerson, from November 5th to November 7th from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. And on Election Day, 11-8, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. And finally, Union Church LA at 201 South New Avenue, November 5th to November 7th from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. And on Election Day, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Of course, if you don't happen to be in Monterey Park in any of those days, you can go to any election center. And I believe you can go on the website, lavote.net, if I'm not mistaken. Yes, so, and you can find the location near to you. So my example of that, if you work out in Santa Monica, let's say, and you cannot get back here to Monterey Park, you can still go to a vote center and actually cast your vote. because, you know, based on the ballot, your information will pull up in that machine. So you can go to the website and look those up. Okay. And if you have any other questions, call our clerk's office, 626-307-1359. Or if you want to call the L.A. County Registrar Recorder's Office directly, 1-800-815-2666 and press option 4. or if you have a camera, you can read that QR code there and you can access the website as well.

So, that's it. Thank you. Thank you very much. Colleagues, questions? Yes. None? Okay. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you, Mayor.

Okay. Moving on to the next presentation, Public Works.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor of the City Council and Moroni Park residents.

I just want to give one last reminder on the spirit bus. We do have one more community outreach

Which is a part of the monster mash tomorrow

So we will have a booth where people can come out and get some more information on the spirit bus What our efforts are doing and answer any questions that residents may have or even students so Also one last reminder to please fill out the survey if you haven't done so yet, and it'll be closing October 31st

So with that, thank you. Thank you for questions colleagues. Okay. Thank you very much Next, Recreation and Community Services Department.

I see we have a special guest.

I get the reference I get the reference.

Good evening. I'm Mr. Clean, also known as Memo Chavez, Recreation Supervisor with the Recreation and Community Services Department.

I'm here with Clever Girl, Deborah from the library. The library and recreation would like to invite you tomorrow to the Monster Mash event at Barnes Park from 4 to 7. We're encouraging everyone to wear their costumes. The event will have free games, candy, giveaways, all provided by city departments and local organizations. We'll also have a magic show and food trucks. So hope to see everyone there. Thank you. And also before I go, I'd like to remind everyone that the annual health fair will be taking place this Saturday at the Langley Senior Center located at 400 West Emerson. The health fair will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. No health insurance is required. Translators will be available and we'll have different screenings for those that want to come and maybe get their blood pressure, flu shots, or vision eye exams, things like that. So hopefully if you have time, you're able to make that. So thank you very much and have a nice evening.

Thank you. I like to have any questions. Okay. Yeah, thank you very much.

Thank you. And we'll see you tomorrow at the Monster Mash.

Okay, let's see.

This concludes staff communication. Moving on. Presentations, none. Old business, none. Consent calendar items, items 3A through 3J. Colleagues, any items we wish to pull for discussion?

Yes, I'll change the mic.

Yeah, I would like to pull item 3F. 3F. 3F and 3J.

3J. 3F and 3J. Okay.

And adopt 3E as corrected.

Okay. Right. 3E as corrected. Okay. Okay, then. May I have a motion, then, please?

Actually, may I? We do have a speaker for 3C.

Oh, okay. Sure. Then we'll pull 3C. Okay. So 3C, 3F, and 3E, correct? Okay.

Okay, then I have a motion for the remaining item, please. We'd like to make the motion to approve 3A, B, D, E as corrected, and then G, H, I.

Okay, thank you.

Moved by Councillor Chan, seconded by Councillor Yu.

If hearing no questions, comments, members please vote.

Votes unanimous. Motion carries.

Thank you very much. Okay. First item, 3C, report submitted to the City Council to Government Code Subsection 8630 regarding the City's employment emergency for resolution numbers 2022-R49 and 2022-R67. Continuance of such emergency. Mr. Clerk, you said you have a request to speak on the item? That is correct. And the speaker is Teresa Real-Sebastian.

Hello again. I decided to stay once I saw the agenda items. So on item 3C, it says report submitted to the city council pursuant to government code, blah, blah, blah, regarding the city's employment emergency. continuance of such emergency and I read the staff report is it was one page so and and the action here it says to receive and file and to extend the employment emergency and it did refer to two resolutions unfortunately I only had time to find one so first question is can you please elaborate on this a little bit further it's just one page if it's an emergency I'm sure it's worth more than just one page of discussion. And also, one pivotal thing is for how long would this employment emergency be extended? If you can please answer those questions, I would be much obliged. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Manager, would you like to respond?

Mayor, City Council, the emergency order requires us to report on any type of emergency every 60 days. When this emergency was adopted, we continued to aggressively try to hire for a lot of our

vacancies that we had. I think at that point in time we had somewhere in the vicinity about 56 vacancies. And as you know, as I mentioned at that specific time, we are competing with many other cities for many of the same positions at specific times. So it is very urgently needed for us to make decisions very quickly because we have found that there are candidates that we are interviewing that are also interviewing for other cities at the same time. The ones that are in the queue for us to bring on, they may have a job offer at the same time, and they have an opportunity to make a decision really quick. So our normal process, as government usually is, we tend to have a lot of processes in place and not bad processes but it takes time to get back to the candidate that we want to hire we are not bypassing requirements whether we're looking at background checks security checks whatever may be we are just going through the process of interviewing much quicker we are looking to have boards the same as we've always have but our boards are made up of professionals that are sometimes not only just in-house but around neighboring agencies and they are interviewing at the same time their candidates. So this emergency really is trying to aggressively hire these positions as quickly as possible And what we are doing here today is reporting back to you on filling these positions. As for the length of the emergency order, we are trying to fill these positions as quickly as possible. I don't want to give the public or anybody the false sense that we can get this done.

that by the end of the year we can release this emergency order. But it is hard out there.

I think if anybody understands the job market, it is an employee's job market to select and pick where they want to work at any time and quit at any time if they get a better job offer somewhere else.

So we're trying hard to fill positions. And the reason being that also we're aggressively doing this

is we are trying to provide the customer service and the services to the city of Monterey Park

that they want to have. And they don't like the idea that the reason that we can't have the hours that we normally have

is because we don't have the people to man the counters or to answer the phones,

that you have to go to voicemail, and someone can't come out and address your issue at your house because we don't have the resources. I know you hear this quite a bit, but we're doing the best we can to try to get people on board.

I don't have a time frame. I wish I could say it to the end of the year. Thank you, Council.

Thank you, Mr. City Manager, for clarifying. Colleagues, any questions, comments? Okay. Okay, then this item is a receiving file report.

We still need to make a motion, right?

I'll make the motion to approve item 3C. Okay, moved by Councillor Chan. May I have a second, please? Seconded by Councillor Yu. Any further questions or comments? Hearing none. Members will vote.

The vote's unanimous. Motion carries. Thank you.

Okay, next item, item 3E, State Homeland Security Program Subrecipient Agreement Grant Year 2021, Award of Agreement. Staff report. Oh, I'm sorry.

Oh, I'm sorry. Whoops. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. What's wrong?

3F. I'm sorry.

Resolution declaring the month of November is Movember to raise awareness to prostate and other male counselors. I'm sorry. Staff report. Chief Halleck.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the Council. Before we unite is Item 3F, which is to adopt a resolution declaring the month of November as Movember. The Movember Foundation challenges men to grow mustaches during Movember, formerly known as November, to spark conversation and to raise awareness and funds for the many health programs that men are afforded to. To date, over 5 million mustaches have been grown worldwide. The mustaches are a symbol to promote awareness regarding men's health issues and to encourage yearly checkups regarding prostate and testicular cancer. The growth of a new mustache prompts a conversation, which in turn generates awareness and educates people on health issues men face. Not only will you see mustaches within the fire department and citywide, but our partners in public safety in the police department are going to be wearing beards this Movember to bring awareness to men's cancer issues. So we're happy to have that in a partnership. The vision of the Movember Foundation is to have an everlasting impact on the face of men's health. Tonight I'm wearing a pink necktie because we're still in October and want to bring awareness to breast cancer for the month of October. And then next month we'll transition into Movember. And I think we've all been impacted or know somebody who's been impacted by these terrible diseases. And I think it hits truly close to home this year as we lost one of our family members on the council, Fred Cernoso to cancer. So I think if he were sitting here today, he would champion this cause and really want to make sure that people are getting checked and then checked and then checked again because the key to beating this is early detection. And by bringing awareness through these events, that's the best way to battle these diseases that are impacting so many people. So with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have. Thank you, Chief Halleck.

Councilman Chan, you have the mic.

Thank you. And thank you, Chief Halleck, for this presentation. I know that kind of like every year you make that presentation, and I just want to put this and let people and other residents to be aware of cancer,

not just prostate and breast cancer, but there's many other kinds of cancer. And as you said, you know, very nicely is to have early detection and tests. I know that I hate to go to a doctor's office, but time and again, still have to do it and get a checkup and test and so forth.

And I think that's the best way to prevent. Although I've been talking to a researcher in City of Hope, the cancer research hospital. And he's a researcher. And he told me, actually, they have invented or discovered how to cure cancer. But of course, it's a long way to go. Whatever is established or test good in the lab, when it's come out in mass production, it's different. And of course, the government agencies and what FDA, they took years and years to approve it. So we may be still decades away from the invention. So we still have to be careful. And other than check-up, I would like to ask the residents to go out to the parks, to swimming pools, to exercise. And I think that may help. And I'm going to swim. If you'd like to meet me in the swimming pool every Sunday, most of the Sundays, I cannot say every Sunday, most of the Sunday I swim in Elder Park. So I know that there's a walk with the mayor or do other things, but if you want to swim with the councilman for the next month, well, that's the last month. And then swim with the resident, then go to Elder Park. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Chan. For you, any comments or questions? Okay, thank you.

And Chief Hallig, again, thank you for bringing this item before us. And it's important to always raise awareness about one's personal health and wellness. And again, to the audience out there, you know, let's always look out for each other and our personal wellness as well as that of our neighborhoods. Thank you. Okay. And we still have the item before us.

Yeah. And I would like to make a motion to approve item 3F. Okay.

Moved by Councillor Chan. May I second, please? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Any further comments or questions? Hearing none. Members, please vote. Vote's unanimous. Motion carries. Thank you very much. Next item, item 3J, Matt Cycle 1 grant, Portrero Grande improvements. Staff report, please.

Our Public Works Director, Sean Igoe, will be presenting this report.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor and City Council and Monterey Park residents. Tonight you have before you item 3J which is the MAT cycle 1 grant which is for Potero

Gondre improvements.

This is an agreement with the City of Monterey Park.

Yeah, it's on.

Sorry, a little closer.

So tonight you have a for you 3J item 3J which is MAT cycle 1 grant fund for Potero Gondre

improvements.

This is an agreement with the City of Monterey Park, LA County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, LA County Department of Public Works, and the cities of Rosemita Montebello for Metro active transport or MAP funds.

Next slide, please.

So if you do recall, back in January we presented this concept and potential funding to you. and this is the original project limits which is specifically in the city of monterey park we currently have this within our capital improvement program our cip at 3.6 million dollars this was to include asphalt repair beautifications signal improvements and medium improvements along with many other amenities next slide please

So the the MAP program actually alLod us to expand this project with agencies as I mentioned which is LA County Department of Public Works and the cities of Rosemead and

Montebello.

So this alLod us to solidify 6.4 million dollars of additional funding to complete not only some of our work but also additional work with within these agencies what this does is it allows us to complete not only bicycle paths but also improve pedestrian pathways so currently within the city of Monterey Park we would be looking at improving additional areas where we don't have sidewalks and so we would allow those to be completed and then also improve our ADA ramp compliance. So all that said this will lock full connectivity between LA County, City of Monterey Park, Rosemead and Montebello. So with that, any questions?

Thank you very much. Colleagues. Councilman Chan, you have the mic?

Yes. Thank you, Son. Public Director for the presentation.

And yeah, I know that before there's a residence and many it's been asked.

Actually, I'm sorry. Do we have any requests to speak on the item?

Yes, Mayor, we have a request for a speaker.

Oh, okay, sorry about that. Sure. Okay.

Thank you.

The first speaker is Teresa Biel Sebastian with Armand Sebastian allotting his time to her.

Thank you, Vincent.

First of all, I just met Mr. Sean Igoe.

I think this is a great concept. However, there's a few things I'd like to bring to your attention.

The first one being that this is a bike lanes from First Street to Atlantic to Riggin to Fulton to Markland and then to Potrero Grande.

I asked individuals along this bike route if they received any notice.

They did not. and in order for a community to fully embrace projects, it would be nice to have given them notice just to let them know, FYI, this is what we're considering. I don't think it'll be invasive, but at least they won't be upset when they start seeing markings on the street. It would be nice to have community support. Secondly, here it says that the purpose of this is to increase overall safety.

one of the proposed routes as i mentioned is going from first street to atlantic

i'd like to and this predates you mr igo uh the land use element remember that lovely document that we spent a long time on this is actually november 30th 2019 agenda item 2a it talked about

various factors as a matter of fact there was a resolution here that was signed by hans leong

who was mayor at the time, but this was consideration of a draft land use element, use of the general plan, final environmental impact report. And in here, it stated significant unavoidable effects that cannot be mitigated. It went on further to discuss transportation and traffic. And on here, it said, despite the implementation of mitigation measures, the following intersections would continue to have significant and unavoidable impacts.

And I recall the council had a discussion about that. What did it mean?

And one of those is Atlantic Boulevard and First Street, SR60 westbound off-ramp.

And so there was a discussion about this because prior to this, and I didn't have time to find it, There was a prior report, a staff report, where they had talked about some of the intersections that were the most, the least safe in our city, and this was one of them. And it had to do with the SR60 off-ram. So my concern is, why are we putting a bike route through there? Or are we, once again, transferring the liability from Metro to the city?

I don't understand. So I hope there is some analysis of that because one of the other purposes, it said, is connectivity and schools.

So why not bring it down, Cesar Chavez, right in front of the biggest school we have located in the city of Monterey Park, ELAC. And that would avoid this issue, and it would also encourage students to use the bike routes.

The second part I wanted to bring up is that this is a reimbursable project. Well, yes and no. And I'm sure all of you council members read the very lengthy contract, which specifically states on page 11, suspension or termination. Paragraph 2, should LACMTA, or I'm just going to say Metro, determine there are insufficient measure and funds they can suspend or terminate and that they will not reimburse grantee, meaning us, a city, any cost incurred after that suspension or termination date. And then there's page 18, paragraph 13, the obligation for Metro to grant the funds for the project is subject to sufficient funds being made available for the project by the Metro Board.

And you know what happens there. They change and priorities change. We've seen that happen. May I remind you of the 7-10 completion?

And then it says, grantee shall fully fund and contribute the grantee funding commitment if the funds...

necessary to complete the program. And I bring this up because again the Metro Board changes quite often and their priorities change unfortunately. So I don't want us to be left footing the bill out of our capital improvement

projects. And lastly it says increased mobility. I like to think outside of the box. This is six million dollars. Here's food for thought. Since we were gonna

to give $17 million to a private entity to help stabilize a hillside. $6 million divided by $200, which is the average cost of a bike, is 30,000 bikes. Why not give a bike to each resident or each household, I should say, here in the city of Monterey Park? That will encourage mobility. Just food for thought, but I hope you all read the contract and that we will be properly poised here to move forward because I would hate to see more of our capital improvement funds depleted. Thank you so much for your time.

No further speakers.

Thank you very much. Councilman Xi'an, you have the mic.

thank you and thank you for the speaker for your concern and um i would like to ask

uh city attorney what the speakers has been mentioned about contract is it

usually is what's written in contracts

the legal stuff of the legal thank you mr mayor members of the council as the council's aware

most of these contracts although we try to change the language

in them are a take it or leave it proposal

from various entities that are providing grant monies so I don't know

that I can actually answer the question

that you posed but I will observe

that it's very difficult to change any of these template documents where the city is getting

money from other entities

so in my career I've been

less than great in

being able to do that

it's similar to when the city issues its own

contracts and we are less than enthusiastic in changing the language in our own

contracts so

to answer your question yes if grant money runs out

or if

policies change

yes all those things are within the control

of somebody other than the city

of course we all understand you know there's a standard

for all the

public fundings is pretty common

on using this kind of languages. Yes. Anything coming from the state,

the feds, Los Angeles County, or any of the subdivisions of Los Angeles County

see very similar language and we have a very similar

problem in terms of trying to change any of that language.

Thank you for that, to clarify that. And also,

of course, with the

metro, this is metro money, and I would like to ask this city

manager that this funding, the $6 million plus

from the metro, only if the city or the project got an overrun of funding

of the expenses, then this should be all funded by metro.

If everything is according to plan, then the city should not be coming up with any funds, right?

I will not speak for our public works director, but I will speak on experience.

that most public works projects they try to hit the mark the targeted mark of the project scope

and the funding there are at times some overruns for the project in our experience with overruns of projects whether it's a transportation fund or some type of traffic signalization fund if we do have overruns and it's justifiable. MTA has been understanding and been able to provide us with

additional funding to support the project. Okay, thank you. And Director, when do you think we can start this project and when will it be done? And I know that we are only talking about the portion on a patrol grande not the whole process at this time correct yeah we do plan

on starting uh this project the next couple of years and then it probably will take another couple years after that so it just you know depending on how we go out for bid um how long that takes and bring on a contractor um but we do still have to design the project as well so because we're technically commingling two project at the benefit of the city it does take time to bring on a consultant to help design in essence two projects and melding them into one. So that will take

some time, but our hope is to start in the next couple of years. I see. Oh, that takes some time. And then, of course, on Reagan, we have already

a bike lane in place. So on this

project, that means we will just extend that to connect from Cesar Chavez,

East LA College there, to Reagan,

to Fulton, Mockland, and then connect to Pochero Grande.

And that will take phases. And the whole thing is complete by, you know, what time do you think?

From what I remember, I believe it's going to be around 2025, fiscal year 2025.

Oh, okay. Okay, so three years, the whole thing?

Three to four years, yes.

I see. Okay, that's good. And what I was saying when I started is that people have been saying that the bike lanes, Not that many people using it. And I know that because, of course, I ride bike. Not as good as our treasurer and our city clerk. And they can ride hundreds of miles. But I cannot. But I'm just a recreational biker.

That's all. But the reason why we don't use the bike lanes at this time, because it goes nowhere. It's only a short distance on Reagan or on Alhambra Avenue. And, you know, after that bike lane, then I still have to go to the street, you know,

fighting with the pedestrians, fighting with the cars and everything.

So, and that safety is important. But if we connect all the roads eventually, then I think more people will use it. Because right now, if I want to buy grocery from a house to, say, Ralph's supermarket, there's no buying lane. So I'd rather drive.

And of course, if I buy a few bags of grocery, I cannot carry it in the bike.

That's another thing, too. But of course, I mean, one reason that people seldom use the bike lanes is no connectivity. And I think that's the biggest obstacle. And we have a bike master plan that was approved by the council, I think, eight, nine years ago. Yeah, and that connects the whole city and connects with the other and the neighboring cities as well. If that is done, I think a lot of people will use bike because it's going to somewhere safe. And that's the reason. But of course, we have to start somehow. You have to take the first step in order to finish the distance. So I think this is, well, we did the first step,

but on Reagan, on Alhambra, even many, many years ago,

and now we are taking the second step, third steps, and so forth. And I think it's a good plan, a good vision that we can foresee in the future

because of the energy problem, climate change, and all those things, and we need to be aware of what's going on and do something for the earth.

And with this, I can see the plan is pretty good.

You have the Unputable Grande because it's wide enough. And so you still have two lanes.

You still have parking space and then pavement for pedestrian to walk on and then the bike lane. And I look at it and I like it very much. And so I want to thank you for the job. And, of course, with the funding from Metro, that helps.

So thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Chan.

Any questions? Councillor Yu? Okay, thank you. I do have a question. So I know we've been working with Metro on this project, and again, this is something that I favor because I think it's important to adopt active transportation alternatives. But in addition to this current pot of money, are there any additional pots of money we could explore with Metro, especially, you know, there are different class bike lanes, And I think that that's something worth maybe having a conversation with Metro as we move forward with this project. Sure, we can explore that.

Part of this project does identify three of the bike options, so Class 1, Class 2, Class 3. So we will have those options within this project.

But we can always look for additional funding if it's available.

Okay, good to know. All right, thank you.

Any further questions?

I would like to make the motion to approve item 3J.

Okay.

Moved by Councilman Chan. Seconded by Councilman Yu.

Hearing no further comments or questions, members, please vote.

Votes unanimous. Motion comes. Thank you very much.

Okay. Moving on to item C4, public hearing. Let's see. We have before us item 4A, continuation of public hearing regarding consideration of the resolution of the City Council of the City of Monterey Park, California, for submittal and receipt of grant funds for the permanent local housing allocation programs for the State Department of Housing and Community Development. It is recommended the City Council continue the public hearing, really scheduled for October 19, 2022 to November 2, 2022, and take session, additional actions, related actions that may be desirable.

So let's see then why don't I open the public hearing then?

Or the staff report?

Okay. Oh.

Okay.

Okay. Okay.

So we're just continuing this to November 2nd. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Motion please.

We move to continue the public hearing schedule for October 19th today to November 2nd.

Moved by Councillor Chan. Seconded by Councillor Yu.

any further questions comments hearing none any requests speak on the item okay then hearing none then members please vote vote unanimous motion carries thank you very much okay new business none city communication city council so what comes

from you during the last council meeting we discussed a good view project I want to say I really appreciate all of your comments on social media. You guys gave us different perspective and I also learned so much about the history of the project. We will take all of your comments, concerns, and suggestions into considerations. Especially we'll continue to

look for putting lien on owner's property since we already put lien in 2017 and foreclosed the owners two properties recently in September that worth about $7.4 million. And there may be some misunderstanding as well from the speaker about eminent domain. Eminent domain referred to the power of the government to take private property and convert it into public use. So if the city obtained the property through eminent domain, it becomes a city property. So it is not a private property anymore. So we're not helping any private developer in this case. I think they're not very happy about this as well. And on accounting, the $6.4 million is still there on our book as our city asset. So we're not losing it. For the repair costs, with the $7.4 million we're collecting, and we're chasing more properties from the owners to cover the repair costs, after repairing the hillside the 6.4 million land made worth more than 6.4 million so the market value will appreciate even though we don't build anything on it so we're not losing as much as we expected and I wanted to thank you all for your comments and understanding. Thank you. Thank you Councillor Yu. Councillor Chan. Thank you. I attended the State of the City run by

the Mayor Lo on the 12th, which was well attended in the council chambers, and talk

about the city and what's going on and so forth. So thank you, Mayor Lo, for putting this together.

Thank you.

And I attended the Navy's birthday, 247th birthday in San Pedro on the battleship Iowa.

and yeah it's a big ship and I had a picture in front of the big guns and that was great and they had

that and it is a nice well-framed certificate and it's very nice and so

yeah so that that's that's all I want to report thank you thank you very much

colleagues and for my report I want to thank everyone either those who came in the audience in person or listen from home the cities well the state of the city last Wednesday. And I think my understanding is that it's been a while because of the pandemic since we had a state and a city. And I want to thank all the staff who helped us prepare for that report on where our city is and discuss some of the good projects we have, not to mention the responsible management of our budget and our fiscal health and really what we've accomplished in the past two years from projects that have enhanced our economy as well as created jobs and also our efforts to continue to provide the services that all of us have come to expect from parks and recreation to public safety. Again, this is our city, our community, and when we talk about the state of the city, It's really about the direction we are taking the community forward. And I want to again thank everyone who attended and for your support during this presentation. Also, last week I attended the flag-raising ceremony at East LA College for a national coming out day. This was Tuesday, October 10th, in which East LA College actually made history. They are the only community college in this area to have observed coming out day, as well as the occasion to celebrate the opening of an LGBTQ support center for students at ELAC. And so, again, we commend East LA College for being a partner with us, as well as being a space for students to learn and nurture. During my remarks on the importance of what is coming out day, Coming out day is meant to support those who are going through the coming out process, but also as a reminder that words can cause harm as well as encourage hate. And I think that especially in light of some recent comments made in our neighboring city of Los Angeles by some city leaders, more than ever, it's important and incumbent upon us to remember that we can have our discourse, we can have our conversations about issues, but let's also remember that we're all in this together, and it doesn't help for any healthy conversations, any discourse, if we resort to using hateful language that can encourage violence. And so I think that's the spirit of why ELAC

hosted a coming out day event.

And let's see, I think that's it for me.

City manager, city attorney, anything else? Okay, well, hearing none,

Then let's see, future agenda items, none. Closed session, none. And so, well, we are adjourned for tonight at 7.40 p.m. Thank you.