City Council Meeting — March 1, 2023

Authority, the Monterey Park Financing Authority, and the Monterey Park Geologic Hazard Abatement

District. And we'll start with our FLAXA, which is being led by the Monterey Park Police

Explorer Program. I know it says fire on the agenda, so I just wanted to clarify that.

If you could please stand.

Hold your hands. Hold your hands. Hold your hands. Hold your hands.

Hold your hands.

Hold your hands.

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

which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Color Guard, Order Colors! Color Guard, Outward Face! Color Guard, Forward March!

Go to guard, hold, go.

Go to guard, go to guard. Go to guard, go to guard, fight.

Go to guard, dismiss. thank you

Thank you. Please be seated.

We'll start with roll call

Councilmember Lo

Present

Councilmember Yu Here Councilmember Ngo Present

Mayor Pro Tem Wong

Present Mayor Sanchez Present We have a quorum Thank you

Are there any agenda additions deletions changes or adoptions?

None for the city manager's office then from the city attorney

Thank you any public communications yes, we have public communications

First up I'm Sarkis Antonian

Good evening, Mayor, Council members, staff, audience, whatever. For all you global warmings that think that this is actual California winter,

a little bit more extreme, but I remember one year it rained like almost 30 days straight. with that one year was 30 inches of rain.

And then these storms are coming out of Canada where my theory is this ethanol that they're putting in the fuel, it's contaminating the air so the airflow doesn't blow over here. And the newer vehicles don't need this ethanol in there. So getting back to this city on people that have been here, okay, this might be a little bit before your time, but Cheryl Teague, she was a model and actress.

She went two years of Marquette, but two years of Marquette. And then one of our neighbors, they're in Northridge now, she was Miss Monterey Park in 76,

and then later on she got a TV series for kids, a couple of years,

and then the rock band Chicago, she was going out with the drummer,

and then later on she got married with one of Susan Herrick's sons, the actress. Okay, that's a little bit of those kind of things that have gone that I know about personally.

Okay, so I mentioned a few months up there on that on Hammer Avenue in Graves. So I believe it was Friday night around 720.

There was like about a three or four car pileup.

It was bad enough to bring the tow service out to pick them up. And it looked pretty much totaled.

So when I drive up there, if I'm stopped, I do not make my left turn until I see them stopping. And some out there don't stop. So why is it where the stop sign is put there for a stop sign? And then when there's nobody around, they just keep on going. What's this old saying they have years ago? California stop? Well, you should, if there was enough police officers around, this city would be making some big time money. Because a lot of times, I know where the stop signs is around here. A lot of times I don't even want to stop knowing that I'm going to get rear-ended. But then I know I'll pick what lawyer I'm going to get that's advertised on a TV because this goes on and on and on. Especially down there in McCaslin Park, that three-way stop there, they're not stopping there. They just keep on going. like if it was a right arrow to go green, and then these pedestrians too. I've said it for years, when these crossing guards are not busy, show these people how to walk. And then again, I'm a fast walker at this age. How are you going to get a person with a walker and a cane and it came to cross the street within 50 seconds. Should be at least a minute or so. By the time I cross halfway across the street, it's already going down to 10 or zero. So I don't know how that thing was done. And that on Hammer Avenue and Garvey, they could put an arrow there too because there's a lot of traffic in the mornings on Garvey. And like I've said this before, anytime there's an accident on San Bernardino, Long Beach, or Pomona Freeway, they use this city to go through the city until they can get back on the freeway again past the accidents that it's on the freeway. And that keeps on going like that. That's why years ago Monterey Park was the cheapest on car insurance. and now we're riding the ball game as well. So look into it and thank you.

Next speakers, Larry and Carol Sullivan.

Good evening, members of the council. the city staff those people at home as well as residents that are in the community that are here tonight. I am speaking on my behalf as well as Carol and I are here before you. I am a member of the Burgermeier Library, a member of the trustees. Carol is a member of the board of directors of the library. We'll also be speaking on the women's club and what's going on. So what we want to do is getting an emphasis on the Brighamire Library, what can be done, what we're trying to do to increase the number of books, to increase the computer systems, and the outreach, community outreach. So with that, I'll turn it over to my wife. Okay. Good evening.

First of all, I'd like to thank the police department for Monday Cookies with

the Rookies. It was really nice there, even though it was cold.

The first event, which is April 2nd, is Novel Tea, and it's tea at the library, which makes it really kind of quaint and fun. And so I have the flyer for that, and hopefully, I know Thomas Wong has already purchased the table. If you could all come out and support the library, and we know where all the funds go to for that.

The next one will be April 29th, the Monterey Park Women's Fashion Show. And of course, some of you have purchased tickets. the police department and the fire department have purchased a table. To see who the model is for the police and fire, you need to come to the fashion show.

Next is April 15th and 16th is Cherry Blossom. And I'm on that committee too.

So I do have raffle tickets to sell if anyone needs any. I have 100 to sell.

I was surprised they gave me that many, but they're $2 a piece, and I have them with me. and last will be in October

coming back will be our library gala which we haven't had for three years so probably the middle of October

and further down the line I'll give you that date so I hope to see all of you at all the events and don't forget raffle tickets thank you

since she's plugging so many things I want to mention that on May 20th is the annual pancake breakfast

the Lions Club sponsors and it is in conjunction with the fire department's open house at station number one right here.

So you'll see more ads for this in the Cascades as well as you'll see different flyers around the community.

So make the date on May 20th. It's a Saturday from 8 until noon. Okay.

With that said, we thank you very much. With that said, I'm going back to work, I think.

Next speaker is me.

Good evening.

I just wanted to bring to attention the city manager that I received complaints regarding the deadline for public comments. It is 24 hours before the meeting, and so the public was upset that this did not allow for ample time to submit their comments, because they wanted additional time the day of the meeting. And so I understand there is a lengthy process in getting those comments in. However, if we could extend that deadline to at minimum noon the day of the meeting, it would be greatly appreciated. So I'd like to let my neighbors know that it is a concern to me as well. And in light of increased transparency and to allow our residents the voice to be able to voice their concerns, I would like you to look into that and see if that's possible and directing our staff to do so, please. The other item that I'd like to discuss are the closed session items. So many times I've spoken before regarding my concerns regarding the transparency and the lack of information specifically in regards to finances on our staff reports. So I understand there are two closed session items that were discussed tonight regarding a purchase or possible purchase or lease of property, the Blue Shield building on Portrero Grande. So I would like as soon as that information can be disclosed, that the public be informed as to what the purpose of that purchase or lease is, as well as where that funding is coming from, most importantly. because as residents have been informed numerous times,

we don't have any money.

So I think everybody is kind of interested in where that money is coming from. Is that coming from our new tax increase?

All of that.

So as soon as that information can be made public,

please share. Thank you.

Next speaker, Adam Maloup.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council. I'm Adam Malouf. I'm here on behalf of the Monterey Park Firefighters Association. Just wanted to make a quick stop in tonight to let you all in residence know that Monterey Park Firefighters is planning a barbecue fundraiser on March 25th with all proceeds going to Monterey Park Lunar New Year's Victims Fund. We just got the date settled today. More than likely, it's going to be Barnes Park here at the service club patio area. I think we're going to secure that area. I'll have more details about this time next week. We'll get them out. We'll get them out on our Instagram at Monterey Park Firefighters. Hopefully everybody can pass that on. Once we get it out, we're I have a question. We are going to have it up probably by next week. Like I said, we just settled the date today and made sure availability of the space. and made sure availability of the space. So give us a few days and we'll get it out. And I don't know if we'll have hard copies of the flyer just up on our social media and website, but we'll make sure everybody gets what we have.

All right, thanks. Thank you. Oh, question. A few of us will be cleaning up

Byron Ranch Park at 1. I'm sure we'll be there. Thank you.

Next speaker, Dan Klein of the Monterey Park Firefighters Association.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, city council members and staff, residents at home. My name is Dan Klein, and I'm here tonight representing the Monterey Park Firefighters Association. I've come here tonight to express our opposition to the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act, which is agenda item 3B.

On November 8th, the residents of Monterey Park voted to pass Measure MP.

Measure MP, a yes vote on Measure MP,

basically ensured that funds remain within the city and under local control so the needs of the citizens and residents are met. This deceptive initiative would undermine the rights of local voters and their elected officials to make decisions on critical services that residents rely on. If passed, it could force cuts to fire and emergency services, law enforcement, parks, libraries, public schools, and more. Again, this is not until November 2024, but we just wanted to let residents know that your local firefighters are opposing the initiative. Thank you.

Final speaker, Teresa Rial-Sebastian.

Good evening, everyone. I'm here to say happy Women's History Month, first day, and I'm looking at my city council agenda, and there is no resolution about it. I hope we'll have a resolution acknowledging it and supporting it at the next council meeting, given that at least 50% of our population are women.

So I wanted to bring that out to your attention. Secondly, and my husband was going to speak on this, can you please fix these potholes?

We've got several potholes on Fulton. Some of them are two inches deep. In order to get into your driveways, you have to cross the potholes to come in.

Our car has already had substantial damage, $500 as a result. And you will be hearing about that, unfortunately. but I know other neighbors are also complaining because they'll come in and they'll patch it and then not even a week, and I've been taking pictures, they're deep again. And so they're causing a lot of concern. And I don't know if you have limited crew or what the situation is, especially after the rain, we've had substantial potholes. And maybe I'll just start bringing you chunks of the street so you can actually see it.

And lastly, Michelle, I guess the same people that were contacting you contacted me about the closed session item.

And that was so that residents understand it is regarding 601 Patrol Grande and 2100 Saturn Street.

These are two properties that it seems by the posting here of the agenda item 2A under negotiation are lease terms purchase price in terms of payment.

And yes, people want to know, well, wait a minute. There was this whole concern about the sales tax, how we need it direly to keep services going, to help the library, to help police, to help fire, to help our aging infrastructure, and this pops up. I understand, and I expect you to keep privileged what needs to be privileged. I expect that from my counsel. But I do know for a fact, and I've called other city attorneys, that the funding for this contemplated purchase lease, that is not privileged. So if you can please share with the public what the contemplated funds may be, I think that would put a lot of people at ease.

And also, I just also want to let people know that one property,

and I don't know, again, if it's a partial lease, full purchase, whatnot, but one property is over 90,000 square feet of space, and the other one is over 30,000 square feet of space, and that's 120,000 square feet. So, of course, it is piquing everyone's curiosity. One is 6.5 acres. The other one is 1.3 acres. So, again, if the city doesn't have funding, I understand that, but where is the money coming from? And, Yvonne, I want to thank you for bringing up the Rainy Day Fund. I would like to know how much money is in that rainy day fund. I recall when I was on the council, I made sure or I suggested, and I'm glad staff, I'm assuming, folLod it, is they set aside money that is coming in from the marketplace revenue to set it aside for a rainy day fund. And I'd like to know where is that? I couldn't find that in our budget. So if someone can please answer our questions, I would really appreciate it. Thank you so much.

no more speakers

thank you staff communications

first up is the city clerk's office

so per the direction of the city council

staff has placed an article in the march edition of the cascades newsletter to solicit interest in becoming a commissioner we have also streamlined the application process by creating an online application which is posted on the city's website. We have forwarded seven applications which are on file in the city clerk's office for your review and consideration. Please contact the city clerk's office if you would like to make any appointments. You may also, if you know which vacancies you have now, while we are televised, let the residents know what vacancies might be available so they know what they can apply for still. Thank you.

Economic development.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Councilmembers. This is your Economic Development Manager, Joseph Torres, speaking. In addition to our other various communication venues, I wanted to take this opportunity to inform our residents and business owners about recently announced resources available to our community during these challenging economic times. They are the LA County Economic Opportunity Grant Program for small businesses, the Southern California Gas Company Gas Assistance Fund for residents, and the Restaurants Care Resilience Fund for small restaurants.

Next slide, please.

LA County's Economic Opportunity Grant Program is now open to eligible micro-businesses, small businesses, and nonprofits. The program will award more than $54 million across 6,800 grants to regions and organizations in Los Angeles County, which includes Monterey Park, adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Microbusinesses have two opportunities to receive grants. Microbusinesses with under $50,000 in revenue in 2019 may apply for grants of $2,500. This application closes on March 25, 2023.

Microbusinesses with under $100,000 in revenue in either 2019, 2020, or 2021 may apply for grants of $15,000, and this application closes on May 20, 2023. For small business with annual revenue between $100,000 and under $2 million in either 2019, 20, or 21, can apply for grants of $20,000. Applications must be received by May 20, 2023. For nonprofit organizations with annual revenue under $1 million in 2019, 2020, or 2021, may apply for grants of $20,000. And nonprofit organizations with annual revenue between $1 million and under $5 million

in either 2019, 2021, may apply for grants of $25,000,

and applications must also be received by May 20, 2023.

Next slide, please.

LA County is providing full support to help businesses navigate the application process. Applicants can attend live info sessions or online webinars to learn more about the program or to ask questions to EOG team members. Live support by telephone is available for questions regarding eligibility of the application process. Applicants may watch online multilingual informational video tutorials to learn more and prepare the documents needed to apply at their own pace. And detailed application guides are available to explain how to create a profile, upload documents, and verify banking information for the application process. For more information, I invite our small business owners to visit the website address on the screen, which is eog.smallbizla.org, or call the City of Monterey Park Economic Development Division at 626-307-1385.

Next slide, please.

The next program is available to households in our community that are having difficulty paying their natural gas bill. As you know, this winter's unprecedented natural gas prices, on top of already high inflation, have been a real hardship for many of our residents, especially our vulnerable, our seniors, and people facing difficult circumstances. The Southern California Gas Company Gas Assistance Fund may be able to provide those households with a one-time grant for the amount of the gas bill, not to exceed $400. If the eligible applicant is age 55 plus or has an older adult 55 plus living in the household, an additional $100 is available for a maximum grant of $500. Additionally, those facing certain financial hardships may be eligible for extra grant funding. For more information or to apply for the Gas Assistance Fund, I highly recommend community members to contact the Chinatown Service Center, which is one of the nonprofit organizations administering the program for SoCal Gas, to see what their household may qualify for. And finally, SoCalGas is also funding the Restaurants Care Resilience Fund, which helps small restaurants with improvements, upgrades, employee retention, managing debt, losses, and rising costs. Small residents may apply for grants of $3,000. Applicants must have no more than three independent locations, not exceeding $3 million in annual revenue. The application will go live April 15 through the 30th, 2023. For more information, I invite small restaurant owners to visit the website address on the screen or contact, again, the City of Monterey Park Economic Development Division. In addition, information on these and other programs and resources for small businesses are available online in the Economic Development website section of the City website.

Next slide, please.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Mayor, Pro Tem, Council members.

I'm happy to answer questions.

Council, any questions? Yes, Mr. Mayor. Okay, Councilman.

Thank you for that presentation, Joseph.

My question is, how are we getting this information out, besides today's presentation, for example,

the utility assistance from Southern California Gas,

as well as the program for small businesses,

How are we making sure that those who need it are also getting the information as well?

We actually just received that information late yesterday.

So we had immediately put it out on social media.

We are doing our normal email blast to the business community.

We're posting it on all the other communication venues that we have. And we try to do that in three different languages, English, Chinese, and Spanish.

Are we also working then with our downtown business association to make sure that their members are also getting this information?

Yes.

This information and all the others that come out as resources for small businesses are communicated to both our BIDAC and EDAC commissioners. Okay.

Thank you.

Any other questions? Councilman Wong.

Thank you again for helping to highlight these programs that are available for businesses and families in our city. Do you know, I remember seeing the LA County grant opportunity, some of those announcements were in other languages as well. I know we're pushing that out. Do you know if SoCal Gas has released information as well that's in language that we can help to amplify? or if we're able to ask them to make sure that those are being

Council Member Steve Eshoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoushoush try to translate them into Chinese as much as possible.

No, I really appreciate that.

I think because a lot of our businesses are immigrant-run and non-English proficient, I think it would be very helpful to make sure that these materials go out. And I understand that these aren't our programs necessarily, but if we can, when appropriate, translate those materials to disseminate and then ask the actual program owners, SoCalGas or whoever else, to make sure that those materials for our community or translated to the proper languages, I think that would be extraordinarily helpful.

Absolutely.

And then if there are, I'm assuming and I'm pretty sure there are other assistance programs, if we can just do some additional research or look around to see what other programs we can help promote to our local businesses.

We actually have a variety of those programs already published in our website. All our community has to do is to access the economic development website under Help Your Business Succeed. And in addition to these newly announced programs, we have ongoing programs both from the county, the state, and the federal levels. And not only in relation to small business resources, we also have workforce development programs available as well.

Great.

I think it would be great to partner with our chamber and other organizations like PACE. I know a few of us did a small business walk with the SBA administrator when she came to visit last week, right, with PACE and some other in-language service providers. Maybe we can enlist their help in helping to push this information and these programs out as well.

Absolutely. And we are actually definitely being proactive in tapping into and leveraging our economic development partners resources.

We actually partner with the Pasadena SBDC as well as the ABA and PACE in conducting small business workshops at El Encanto.

We have about three of them scheduled for spring.

In the wintertime, we usually don't have those seminars scheduled. but I know in summer and fall of last year, we held about six or seven small business workshops, all conducted by economic development partners. So we understand with our limited resources in the city that it's imperative for us to tap into and leverage our other economic development partners' resources.

No, that's great. I really appreciate that. And I understand and am very cognizant that we don't have unlimited resources. but to the extent that we can I know we did some some initial surveys of businesses that were impacted in the aftermath of the shooting just a few weeks ago if we do have kind of direct contact information for some of those businesses already making sure that we I assume we probably

already doing direct outreach to them for some of these programs absolutely we we actually are

in touch with them on a weekly basis to a point where my staff and I actually go out door-to-door downtown onto the downtown businesses, and we distribute these flyers with resources and

programs that they need in both English and Chinese. That's great. No, I really appreciate

hearing that, and I'm very heartened to hear that we're doing that. So we hand it to them personally,

And they really appreciate that, too.

And it allows us to really put our finger on the pulse of the businesses, especially in the downtown area. So we are proactively doing this approach.

Perfect. No, I really appreciate that. Thank you so much.

You're welcome.

Thank you so much. I just had one quick question.

For residents that are listening that might have a really expensive gas electric bill, how can they get some help and resources? I know that you recommended they could contact the Chinatown Service Center.

What else could they do?

That's really the first step that they need to do is to contact the Chinatown Service Center. Each region has its own nonprofit organization responsible for administering the program. There are certain criteria that the gas company requires. A lot of them is based on income level.

so based on your income level you could get um you know stepped up credits on your gas bill

again it's on a one-time basis but that would be the best way for our residents to find out what their households qualify for is to contact the chinatown service center because they have all

the criteria and it's kind of fluid right now it's still um there's it's still changing but

for the most part they have up-to-date information okay thank you you're welcome

okay no more questions thank you so much thank you fire department

Good evening, Mayor, City Council, residents of Monterey Park. My name is Chris Thompson. I'm a Battalion Chief for the Fire Department, and I wanted to share two community events that we're having up at the Fire Department are hosting. one in April April 22nd is going to be our community preparedness clinic it's a great opportunity for citizens in the community to learn some disaster skill sets you'll learn how to

cut off utilities supply emergency supplies learn exit drills for your home and create a emergency contacts in face of disaster we also will bring our cert information to be able to to join our CERT team, which is our community emergency response team, and have a great event to prepare our community for resiliency during a disaster.

Our second event is going to be Fire Service Day. Larry already kind of mentioned it.

It's going to be May 20th from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. It's a great event that you get to come meet your fire department and get some demonstrations on emergency response and action. There will be live demos, photo booth, face painting, and also the CERT team will be there. The Lions Club and the Monterey Park Fire Associations are going to create a pancake breakfast in the morning, 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., and then we'll have free hot dogs and refreshments at 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. That also will be at 350 West Newmark's Fire Station 1, and the Community Preparedness Clinic will be at Barnes Park.

Any questions?

Thanks. Thank you, Chris.

Appreciate the announcement of these events. I'm wondering for the community preparedness, the emergency preparedness workshop,

if there's opportunities to perhaps record portions or all of that to maybe put up on our website

or in other channels. I know not everyone in the community can probably show up that day, But if there are ways to either film that or to take snippets of that and make that into social media content or more digestible kind of portions, write tips for preparedness for different kinds of disasters to disseminate out in the community, I think it would be great to be able to have that content to put out there.

I'm glad you mentioned that. That is a goal of community risk reduction.

We plan to have a weekly skippet of how to prepare yourself in disasters from storing of food,

where to meet, shutting off gas appliances and exactly what you said

and try to get our community resilient for these disasters, knowing that their expectations of the fire department might not be there during the

big one or the earthquake that everyone's expecting to happen one day.

No, thank you. We really appreciate it.

And looking forward to pancakes in the morning and hot dogs

just a few hours after.

All right. Thank you. Thank you so much.

rec and community services

good evening mayor pro tem and members of the city council my name is alejandra espinoza and i am a program coordinator for the recreation and community services department today we'll be presenting some upcoming events for the month of march next slide please coming up on march 7th from 1 to 2 p.m. we will be offering a Alzheimer's workshop. We are partnering with Alzheimer's LA to offer an educational workshop for those that are living with individuals that have Alzheimer's and dementia at home. You can register by scanning the QR code or by contacting Langley Center for more information on how to register. Next slide please. Coming up on March 16th from 1 to 3 p.m. at Langley Center we will be having a shamrock ball. This is in celebration of the St. Patrick's Day celebration. This is welcome to adults 50 and over. For $10, guests will enjoy refreshments, raffles, and giveaways. We will also be having a live performance by the band Daddio, which is a 70s band. Last month, we did have a very successful Valentine's Day dance that featured over 150 guests, so that we hope next month is just as successful, if not more. Next slide, please. Coming up on March 18th from 4 to 10 p.m. at Barnes Park, we will be having our Electric Park event. This will be featuring electronic dance music. It is open to all ages and it has free admission. We are still accepting applications for those that are interested in becoming a vendor, and we want to remind everybody that the motto of this event is that united we dance.

Next slide, please.

coming up on Thursday March 23rd from 1 to 5 p.m. we are having a karaoke contest at Langley Center this will be featuring 20 contestants it is welcome for adults over 50 and over for the $5 entry fee it will include refreshments and prizes at this event the audience will be the judges and it will be folLod by a open mic so that the audience can also have an opportunity to sing as well. Next slide, please. And then lastly, on March 30th from 5 to 7 p.m., we will be having our spring A-Cunt event at Barnes Park. This is welcome to all ages. It is a family-friendly

event. For the age group 0 to 3, we'll be allowing one parent to accompany their child in the A-Cunt

area. All other age groups, we will be asking parents to kindly spectate their children from a designated area at this event there will be prized eggs games and also opportunities for pictures with the bunny next slide please and we want to remind everybody who wants to stay up to date with our upcoming recreation events to follow us at monterey park rec otherwise i would like to thank everyone for their time and if they have any questions i'll be happy to answer them

any questions from council councilman no no question just thank you for everything that

you're doing and this is a lot of events I know there are even more that are in the pipeline and looking forward to going to as many as I can I can't make all of them unfortunately but appreciate again Robert and the whole team for all the social media outreach that's been going on on all these events as well I really appreciate helping to provide these spaces for the community to come together especially in light of the tragedy just a few weeks ago so thank you so much and thank you to the team for keeping these efforts up.

Thank you.

I also wanted to thank you, especially

on behalf of my daughters who

love a lot of your programming that you do. I know they're definitely looking forward to the springing hunt and

actually my wife really wants

to go to the Electric

Park event, so I think we might go to that together, actually. But thank you so much for all

the programming that you do. You guys are doing a great job. Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, I have a question.

So for the equipping dance event,

Robert, will you be one of the DJs? No. Oh. All right.

Actually, I have a question. For the karaoke events, do you need to bring your own music? No.

So you can provide us with the music that you would like,

and we will incorporate it in our programming.

As long as you let us know ahead of time, we'll be happy to include it.

Thank you.

Any other questions? All right. Thank you so much.

All right. Thank you.

We will now move on to presentations. We have a Monterey Park Community Healing Fund update.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Amy Lee. I am the trust administrator, not trust administrator, for the Monterey Park Community Healing Fund. If you did not hear in the last council meeting, the Monterey Park Community Healing Fund was developed in partnership with the California Community Fund to address, to help the city heal after the tragedy that happened in January. It's a fundraiser that we're running. We've been up for about a month now. Just wanted to update you. As of the 24th, we've raised about $31,000, which is pretty substantial. We are now starting to promote and get the word out. We've just finalized our promotional material, and you'll be seeing that shortly on websites and Instagram and things like that. So keep an eye on it. What the fund is for, once again, is to help the community heal in the aftermath of what happened. And if you have any questions, let me know. Are there any questions from Council? Mr. Mayor? Yes. Councilman? You know, I actually, no question.

I just want to thank our Treasurer for taking on this task and for helping to guide.

Council Member Esquire. Council Member Council Member Council Member

! Council Member We've gotten donations from Florida, Texas, all the way to Australia.

So that's very exciting, and it's very kind of people to think of Monterey Park. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Seeing as there's no old business, we'll go ahead and jump into consent calendar items.

Council, are there any items you would like to pull?

Mr. Mayor? Yes, I'd like to pull 3E. 3E? Mm-hmm. I would like to pull 3B and 3D.

3B and D.

Anyone else?

I have B.

Okay.

Okay.

And before we move on consent, I'm not pulling any additional items. I just want to note, per Carl's, or city attorney's direction, out of an abundance of caution, I will recuse myself from 3g the annual weed abatement declaration lists my employer sewing California Is listed as having a number of properties that are on the list so out of an abundance of caution recuse myself from that

Okay, so we have pulled items 3 B D and E so a

C and F and G and H.

Do I have a motion to?

I'll make the motion.

Okay. Anyone want a second? Second. Okay.

We vote.

Approved unanimously.

Thank you.

So do we have any staff reports on item 3B?

We have one speaker for item 3B.

Oh, I'm sorry. Speakers? Mr. Real Sebastian.

She would like the staff report presented first, please.

Yeah, that's fine.

on 3B

3B

Mayor, Mayor Purtam, Council Members Item 3B is the

Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act it would amend the California Constitution with provisions that limit voters authority and input

Adopt new and stricter rules for raising taxes and fees and may make it more difficult to impose fines and penalties for violations of state and local laws.

The proposed Constitution initiative is sponsored by the California Business Roundtable, which I will talk about later on in this presentation.

the measure puts billions of local government tax and fee revenues at risk statewide with related core public services impacts.

The measure would have significant negative impacts to the City of Monterey Park's operation and core services delivery

by reversing the recent voter enacted measure MP that was approved in November 2022. Local governments levy a variety of fees and other charges to provide core public services. Major examples of effective fees and charges are nuisance abatement, such as for weeds, rubbish, general nuisance abatement for fund community safety, code enforcement, and neighborhood cleanup and programs.

• Commercial franchise fees • Emergency response fees, such as in connection

with UUIs • Advanced life support, known as ALS

• Transport fees • Document processing and duplication fees • Transit fees, tolls, parking fees and public airport and harbor use fees • Facility use charges • Fees for parks and recreation services

garbage disposal and tipping fees. Virtually every city, county and special district must

regularly adopt increase to fee rates and charges and revise rate schedules to accommodate new users and activities. Most of these would be subject to new standards and limitations under the threat of legal challenge. Based on current volume of fees and charges imposed by local agencies including council adopted increases to simply accommodate inflation. California cities estimates that the amount of local government fees and charges revenues at risk is approximately $2 billion per year, including those adopted since January 1, 2022. Over 10 years of $20 billion, $20 billion of local government fees and charges will be at their heightened legal peril.

The City of Monterey Park increased fees in 2022 by a CPI of 8.3% to assist the City in paying increased costs.

Taxes, hundreds of local tax measures were approved in 2022 that likely do not comply with the provision of the initiative. Nearly $2 billion of annual fees from these voter approved measures will cease a year after the effective date of the measure, reducing the local public services funded by these measures unless the tax is resubmitted for voter approval. Reduction of local government tax revenues have impacted on impacts on Corb, excuse me, Corb services, infrastructure, including fire and emergency response, local government streets and roads, drinking water, sewer sanitation, parks, libraries, affordable housing, homelessness, prevention and mental health services.

The City of Monterey Park's Measure MP established a three-quarter percent transaction and used sales tax that will be in effect until the end of the voters generating approximately

$8.5 million annually.

Fines and penalties are also subject to this initiative. The physical impact to the City of Monterey Park of the tax protection and government Accountability Act is placed on the November 2024 ballot and passes, the City may lose

approximately $8.5 million annually in general fund revenues from passing of the Measure MP, which has been projected to support and maintain essential services.

The City will also have to revert back to the 2021 service user fees, furthering reducing

general fund revenues and straining the City's annual budget. Adopting the resolution will include the City of Monterey Park in standing together with other governing bodies in efforts

to stop this potential dramatic revenue loss going to the ballot. In addition, the ballot measure of 2024, the Business Roundtable, is sending out letters to elected officials and people of status, which some of you have already received. The letter in the fact sheet mischaracterizes the

impacts the measure will have on cities if the voters approve it in November 2024. Specifically,

the measure does not clear up confusion about what a tax is. Rather, it expands what a tax is by converting some fees into taxes. It does not preserve the predictability of tax dollars It actually creates physical uncertainty by making the measure retroactive to January 1st, 2022. Does not preserve local control. It prevents a city from negotiating the rental and sale of its own property. Cannot eliminate hidden taxes because there is no such thing as a hidden tax. tax. Cannot require truthful description of a new tax proposal because truthful descriptions are already required. A general tax can be used for any governmental purpose and a special tax must be used for particular purpose earmarked by the voters. falsely argues that massive increases in taxes and fees punish hardworking families, when the measure, in fact, makes it more difficult for a city to punish municipal code violators and protect residents. No matter how the California Business Roundtable tries to paint a different picture, let me be clear, this measure is one of the biggest threats to local control that we have ever faced. There have been different iterations of it over the past five, six years, and why we oppose it, and this is also the League of California cities opposing it, is this measure calls for stricter rules for raising taxes, fees, assessments, and property-related fees that fund critical local services.

The measure puts at risk the billions of dollars currently dedicated to fund critical local services by creating new mechanisms to challenge or repeal local revenue-raising measures.

It could force cuts to public schools, fire and emergency response, law enforcement, public health, parks, libraries, affordable housing, services that support homeless residents,

mental health services, and more.

The measure reduces funding for critical infrastructure like streets and roads, public transportation, drinking water, new schools, sanitation, and utilities.

The Business Roundtable, who is supporting this bill, is a trade association and lobbying group whose membership consists of 181 CEOs, America's companies, major America's companies, including Walmart, Amazon, Apple, Albertsons, American Express, American Airlines, Chevron Corporation, ExxonMobil, Fox Corporation, General Motors. Those are just a few of the 181. So you understand when they are supporting a bill it is really to benefit their own agenda. This concludes my report. I'll be happy to answer any questions and I do know that there's some public comments.

I'll answer any questions if necessary. Public comments?

Teresa Real, Sebastian, one comment.

Thank you, Ron, for the staff report. I think that clarified for a lot of people what this meant.

I am in support of opposing this bill.

One of the questions I have, because in the staff report,

It said that if this bill moves forward, it was my understanding that they did garner enough signatures to put on the November election. So if someone can clarify, what is the status of that?

Also, here's my concern. Whether somebody supports our sales tax, Monterey Park sales tax or not, that's not the issue. The issue is our voters decided whether or not to impose that tax upon us. We decided. So now everyone in the state of California is going to decide whether we keep it or not. I don't think so. That's my biggest concern. It's like when they start chopping away at voters' rights. I want to decide. And again, it's whether you support it or not. We should be given that opportunity. That's my biggest gripe with this proposed bill. One more thing is, if the league or other cities initiate a lawsuit or whatever it is to curtail or prevent this from moving forward, I really hope this council has the wherewithal and the backbone to join that lawsuit and litigation. Because in the past, councils have been given opportunities to join litigations, and instead they shied away. So I agree with Ron that this is one of the biggest taking away of local control. I have to say one of the bigger ones is AB 109, Prop 47, and Prop 57. And the reason I bring those up is because we hope that this bill doesn't move forward. We hope that if it does, it's defeated. We hope, hope, hope. We don't have a crystal ball, and we all know how California voters are sometimes misguided.

They're misguided with these beautiful titles, right? Look at what happened with Prop 47, Prop 57. Our police chief said, no, these are not good. 57. Our police chief said, no, these are not good. Crime's going to go up. 10,000 felons are going to be released. ! And look at what happened. Now our police department is stretched.

! If somebody steals something from my porch, they get a slap on their hand. And guess what? They'll be back the next day.

! So we don't know what's going to happen. We hope.

! That this will be defeated.

And if it isn't defeated, that's $8 million that we're out of.

So my next question is, I have to ask the question, if it is not defeated, what's going to happen?

I have to ask the question, if it is not defeated, what happens? Are you going to limit city services? Are you going to cut staff? Are we going to have layoffs? What will happen to the city? And given that we don't know the answer of our potential, not potential, our future revenue stream,

why in the world is my city council discussing in closed session a purchase and a lease of these two big properties? How in the world are you going to pay for it? You haven't shared with us where the money's coming from, and now $8 million might be at stake.

Please, counsel, you lead. You five lead.

I've been watching these meetings. Look, I don't want to come to this meeting. Trust me. I'd rather be home sipping hot cocoa, watching TV with my doggies and my husband.

But these are issues that are pressing. And I know some residents, they don't want to come up and speak in public. I get that. I get it. Or kids have homework or whatever the case may be. But these are issues that will not only protect you, but it'll protect future of Monterey Park. So please,

you need to lead and start setting the tone. Even though there's a staff agenda item that's being proposed doesn't mean you need to follow. You need to lead. I expect you to lead. And that That is all I will say. Thank you.

Sorry, not my pen.

No other speakers.

Any questions from the Council on 3B?

Yeah, actually, because I brought it up, I would say the biggest problem for the initiative is to retroactive. And it suggests you go back to January 2022

and eliminate all the city tax measure. And there were so much efforts that we have done,

and the tax is our main part of the city income. As city council, we're doing our best to support both businesses and residents.

Jeopardizing our income means to greatly reduce resources that we can use for our people, especially our public safety,

and limit the expansion that we need to support a growing city.

So I oppose the initiative. Thank you.

I'll go next because I'm on the same position as Councilman Yu here.

Look, voters have spoken.

we are in control of our taxes and how we want to use them for city's benefit so just

stop at that

I just want to ask my fellow councilman if that was a motion I'm happy to second

I'll make the motion I'll second

okay let's take a vote

approved unanimously

thank you and just uh i know we approved this but if the city manager i know that this is placed and i think there was a question around when this would be on the ballot i believe it's qualified for the november 2024 ballot so between now and then uh if there are other actions this council and the city should take to make our concerns heard in the community. Please tee that up for the council to take as well.

Thank you. And we'll move on to 3D. Is there a presentation?

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Brotem, and council members. Laura Bourgeon, Finance Manager. Tonight I'll be presenting the Mid-Year Financial Report for

Fiscal Year 22-23. Next slide, please. We will be going over General Fund revenues, General Fund

expenditures, budget augmentation requests, General Fund balance. Next slide, please. The city's general fund receives revenue from taxation, state, or federal intergovernmental transfers and user charges. This table shows a comparison of prior year mid-year revenues versus current year mid-year revenues received. As you can see, we've received $3 million more in revenue than received at the same time in the previous fiscal year. This is attributed in part to an uptick in transient occupancy tax that is trending higher than budgeted Additionally, we have updated our budget figures budgeted figures to include revenue from measure MP at approximately 1.2 million Which brings our budget general revenue general fund revenue to approximately 53 million at year-end

Next slide, please

overall citywide general fund expenses are at 49.11 percent we are trending in line with budgeted

figures next slide please the city is requesting a mid-year budget augmentation in the amount of

eight hundred and sixty eight thousand six hundred and three dollars from the american rescue plan Act Fund. This includes $100,000 for the demolition of the training tower at Station 3, $100,000 for the rekeying of City Hall doors, $375,000 for an emergency rescue ambulance, $58,000 for MPK Rewards software licensing points, merchant reimbursements, and additional marketing costs, $6,802 for fire department software subscriptions. Next slide, please.

$14,207 for Verdugo services, $15,694 for fire protection, engineering, and consulting services, $100,000 for human resources costs related to recruitments and onboarding, $58,900 for police department costs related to the January 21st incident, and $40,000 for a recreation community services vehicle.

Next slide, please.

The city is also requesting a major budget augmentation in the amount of $212,116 from water funds and $8,000 from sewer funds. This includes $175,116 from the water funds for contracted staffing and on-call contract services. Water funds in the amount of $23,000 for unanticipated repair and maintenance of city facilities $14,000 in water funds and $8,000 in sewer funds to replace fleet vehicles assigned to public works

Next slide

The city reserves continues to meet the general sorry government finance officers association recommended amounts at June 30th the unaudited reserves were at 29 million the city of Monterey parks general fund balance committed for catastrophic events is established at $4,840,000. The city has prepared a plan to increase the committed catastrophic event reserves to $6.3 million by the end of fiscal year 24-25. At this time, the city is requesting to increase its committed catastrophic amount by $500,000 from $4.8 million to $5.3 million for fiscal year ending June 30, 2023.

This concludes my report.

We are available to answer any questions you may have.

Council, any questions?

Sure, Mr. Mayor. Yes, thank you. Yes, thank you for that immediate report.

Question regarding our reserve, which, again, it's at $29 million, you said?

Correct.

Okay. How has that changed?

I mean, again, I know in the last three years have been challenging because of the amount of COVID and the COVID-related recession.

but what was our reserve before?

The reserves in the prior fiscal year, I believe that was $34 million.

Okay.

I believe that's the figure.

Okay.

Thank you. You're welcome.

Any other questions? Councilman Liu?

Yes. Most of the departments are spending less than half at their midyear report budgets, and really thankful for that. And there's an item called community CIP, which is spent 100%. Can you explain a little bit more on that?

Yes, that is actually, I believe, because it's fully encumbered for the CIPs.

So we haven't tracked, we're not tracking actual expenditures for the CIPs. We consider it fully expensed at the beginning of the year. So that's why it's at 100%.

So can you explain what the CIP stands for?

It's a capital improvement program. Okay.

And the 100% spend is on what?

Is one, is in a certain project?

Actually, oh, yes, it's for the city hall carpet.

Oh, okay. Yes.

And I also wanted to mention that rainy day funds of money set aside, you know, especially for government to be used during a time of revenue, shortfall or budget deficits.

So as we can find in a mid-year budget, you know, our city unrestricted general fund balance represent the available resources to provide funding for future contingency, such as earthquake, economics fluctuations, major infrastructure repair, et cetera.

So as of June 30, 2022, I wanted to answer a question on the public comments. The city continued to meet the Government Finance Officer Association, GFOA, recommended amount of no less than two months of regular operating revenue or expenditure, which our balance currently is almost $29 million.

And the previous year, it was about $35 million. So we dropped actually for a few million dollars. Is that why? Can you explain why we dropped about a few million?

I'm going to defer to our finance director.

Good evening, Mayor. Mayor Porche, I'm Council Members.

That is related because our revenues did not exceed our expenditures, and we did have some of our gap expenditures last year.

So that's how it's related.

Revenues did not meet our operational expenditures.

Right. So that's why we use up some of the rainy day fund.

And so are we going to rebuild that fund?

We are hoping with, we are. We're putting in half a million every year.

That's the plan on top of the measure MP that's coming in.

where we're hoping to be able to, if revenues are bringing in,

keep our expenditures low so that our revenues can start being, have a surplus so we can start building our reserves again. Okay.

And hopefully we can actually have maybe three months or so.

I know minimum two, but then hopefully we can do more. So thank you so much.

We're still very healthy, though, based on our GFOA's requirements. We're still very healthy. Right.

Thank you.

Other questions? I have a question. Okay.

Councilman, just out of curiosity, what was our reserve 10 years ago versus 25 years ago compared to today? Do we have an estimate amount?

I don't have that amount with me, but I can provide it to our city manager and have it given to you guys in a later date.

Okay. Thank you. I have a couple of questions.

kind of along those lines so looking at the general fund balance the 20 about 29 million dollars this is going back almost a year now right this is funding our reserve posture as of the last end of the last fiscal year so this is nine nine or so months ago the 29 million yeah yeah that's at the end of June of 2022. Do you know, I mean, ballpark, where are we much Lor now?

Our expenditures are right in line. Even the gap has been fairly slow in expenditures. So we're fairly close still to the, I would say anywhere from, but this is just a guess because I don't

have a number. It's maybe anywhere from 25 to 29 million. And then this, so the working capital line item in the unrestricted funds, is that meant for cash flow? That's for cash flow. Okay. And then $3 million is enough for cash flow purposes? I know because the revenue trail is pretty far behind.

It should be enough. Well, you look at the whole entire, you look at us in entirety, the unrestricted, the committed funds, the city, nobody can touch those unless Council Council Approves it with the 3-2 2-2 vote. So, that's permanently there unless Council releases any of that money. So, technically, even though we categorize this as a capital, as working capital, technically, that 9.2 is really our, that will always be our working capital as long as Council doesn't release it to be used for something else. Okay, and then the, the, the city capital improvement,

So these are, this is funds set aside right now in a formal sense, it's reserves, but it has been, that $19.156 million has already been allocated to specific capital products, so that money will be spent.

Is that right?

That money has been assigned.

It's not necessarily required to spend it, but it has been assigned to specific projects or contracts.

So likely to be spent?

Likely to spend it.

So our real reserves is really the $9.7 million. I mean, in terms of totally unrestricted money that we can do whatever we want with, in that sense.

There's money assigned that can also be used for the gap program

We do have some money assigned that has been earmarked for the gap program So we do have the funding there and we can and there's money assigned for other projects like we can Unassign it if necessary. So it's not just the 9.7. We can use the 19

for other things

And then do we have I mean, I know this relates to our general fund reserves. Do we have existing reserves? in our enterprise funds as well?

Yes, we do, but again, I don't have that number, but we do have reserves.

GFOA requires for us to have reserves on all of our funds.

Okay.

And then the staff is requesting a budget augmentation increasing expenses in the amount, just under $868,603 from ARPA funds. Do you know where offhand how much in ARPA funding we still have that we can allocate to the projects for other purposes?

We have about unassigned.

We have about $3 million right around there, unassigned.

And we don't have any specific plans for that additional $3 million at this time?

We had a council previously agreed to set aside funding for continue to pay for our part-timers. So during budget we plan to use some of that money to cover the part-timers for next fiscal year as well

And then in the Mid-year budget report document on my agenda. It's page 67 Just a quick typo click on the first bullet point there November 8th voters adopted measure MP authorizing three-quarter transactions use tax. Measure was adopted based on 58% voter approval. Tax will begin collected by business on April 1st, 2022. I think that should be 23, right? 23. That's correct.

Yes, it'll be April 1st, 2023. So we're not going

backwards. And then

just really quick, on the rekeying of City Hall doors, is that both external and internal doors for the hundred thousand dollars I'm sorry repeat the question so the ARPA funding the budget document augmentation or reeking City Hall doors For a hundred thousand dollars. Are we doing that for the external doors too, or is that just internal or it's?

Yes, it's for both internal and external doors

cool that's all I got

this is a receiving file or do we need a motion

to accept this? we have to

accept because we're asking for an augmentation

of our budget

I have a question just on two items

one is on the MPK rewards

I believe the amount

I'm not sure if you guys can project this still but

how

I know the last report we got on

MPK rewards it was on we were paying on a monthly basis.

So the amount that you have listed there,

how far will that take us to

in terms of continuing to use the MPK Rewards app?

Sorry, I'll help with that one, too. I believe that's to the end of this fiscal year.

So June of 2023.

That's what this augmentation request is for.

Okay, thank you. And then just for clarification,

and then the other amount I had a question about was the extra cost due to the mass shooting that we had in our city. Can you explain what those extra costs were exactly?

That's police overtime.

Is it all police overtime?

It's police overtime, and there's some few other materials that were purchased,

but it's the only salary related would be the overtime.

Everything else is either supplies of some sort.

Oh, okay. Thank you.

A quick question.

On the mid-year staffing changes that were noted, there's an item on page 60 in the table in the middle. There's changes in terms of vacancies and deleting and adding positions. There's a position for finance for a full-time finance analyst. I'm just wondering if that's one analyst or if that's multiple analysts just because the amount is Higher than some of the other amounts for for higher level. I think positions

Yes, that's for two financial analysts one in payroll and one in revenue

Okay, thank you. And I'm happy to make a motion to adopt the staff recommendation

as noted

I'll second. Okay. Thank you. Let's take a vote.

Approved unanimously.

Thank you.

And is there a staff report on 3E? !

Good evening, Mayor, members of the Council.

My name is Beth Chaus, Senior Planner here at the City of Monterey Park.

And the item before you this evening is the General Plan and Housing Element Annual Report, which covers calendar year 2022.

So the report's purpose is to comply with various government codes, specifically government code 65400, and it helps update the legislative body of the city council about the implementation of the general plan, as well as requires the city to report to HCD, that's the Department of Housing and Community Development, the status of housing protection in the city. So this evening you'll be reviewing this report and hopefully directing staff to then forward this report on to two state agencies, the Governor's Office of Planning and Research and the Department of Housing and Community Development. And the deadline for this is April 1st of this year. Next slide. So just to familiarize yourself with the elements contained within our general plan, there are generally nine required elements within a general plan. The last comprehensive general plan update was completed in 2001 with two additional elements adopted in 2014 and a focused update on the land use element in 2019 and additional updates in 2022 related to the housing element, the safety element, and the adoption of the new environmental justice element. In the next few slides, I'll be summarizing the general purpose of these elements and achievements that we've made towards implementing during 2022. Next.

The land use element was last updated in 2019 with the voter approval in 2020.

The element guides land use patterns for future development or redevelopment within the city. In 2022, the priority was to address inconsistencies within the land use element and the zoning code, which is the implementing document to regulate land use. In 2022, staff brought forward zoning ordinances related to outdoor dining and office uses in the first floor within central business zone.

And these updates and work related to these ordinances is ongoing. recently city council approved contract with line use consultants to help resolve some of these

inconsistencies between the two documents line use element and zoning code so you can expect more changes occurring within this year next the the economic development element is or has been the guiding document to help maintain or form a robust economy within our city. In 2022, the city has seen continued use of programs such as MPK Rewards, which is a shop local program that has attracted and retained patrons and promoted local businesses. Through 2022, the Economic Development Division has furthered the goals of the element by providing coordination between the private sector and city departments. These efforts have really been highlighted through the newly launched business approval process to help new businesses establish themselves within the city. The new system was created to address concerns from the business community related to the process for obtaining a business license within the city, which has been streamlined and has received a positive

response from business owners. Next slide. The circulation element addresses both local and

regional circulation within the city. Examples of implementation on the general plan have included regular maintenance of streets including slurry seal projects as shown on the top right and traffic signal improvements at key intersections such as Garvey and Garfield. The circulation element

also covers public transportation efforts, which largely are maintained by regional transit operators, such as Metro and the Montebello bus lines.

However, local transit system, the Spirit Bus was restarted in 2022 and from its pause in operations during COVID.

So the transit program has also looked to evaluate its current bus lines, schedules and operations

in order to bring more effective and efficient local transportation options in the community.

Next slide. The housing element is the one element that is required to be updated periodically. And in this past year, the element was adopted in January and then amended in November. Staff is working with HCD and expects certification of the element soon. during the calendar year. Building permits were issued for 67 new units, 10 of which were related

to single-family homes, and 57 for accessory dwelling units. A detailed summary of those

units were provided in the tables of the attachment to the staff report. Among other work towards implementing the housing element, programs continued to address

housing in the city, such as the city's efforts to consider and approve an inclusionary housing ordinance, work with the neighborhood engagement team to address homelessness, assistance in fair housing, and a residential rehabilitation program through our housing division.

The safety and community services element was updated and adopted in January of last year. This element addresses protecting the community from unreasonable risks associated with the disasters, including earthquakes, floods, fires, and landslides. In implementing this element, the city staff participated in trainings such as activation of the EEOC, trainings that are run through FEMA related to the standardized emergency management system, national incident management systems. City also engaged the community by leading CERT trainings. In an effort to help the city respond effectively to emergencies and prepare for unavoidable disasters, The city began efforts in updating the local hazard mitigation plan to be consistent with state and federal laws. And that work was started in 2022 and work is still ongoing. The newest element within the general plan is the environmental justice element, which was required when cities are updating two or more elements. This element helps to ensure a healthy environment for all to reduce pollution burdens on disadvantaged communities, providing technical assistance to those most impacted by pollution, having meaningful consideration of recommendations by populations and communities most impacted by pollution through land use and environmental decisions. to this end city has included components of civic engagement and participation on various programs and policies which will help shape city's future policy and services.

So as listed in this slide, there have been outreach opportunities around the city related to priority setting, public safety, services at library, transit services, as well as our growing green outreach program related to sustainability. Next slide.

Other elements that were included in the general plan are listed on this slide as part of the resources element. This element addresses open space and conservation efforts, both of which Citi has... This element addresses open space and conservation efforts, both of which City has actively worked on, including park upgrades and improvements to the city's water systems. ! The Healthy community element is intended to support and promote a healthy community and community. ! And to implement this element, City has partnered with the county and other non-profit groups ! To help offer free flu shot clinics, making COVID tests publicly available, and to promote long-term health. City has also installed signage for walkability routes around certain parks, such as the one shown here in the middle, to encourage healthy exercise habits. to encourage healthy exercise habits. The sustainable community element establishes goals and policies to guide the city in sustainable practices. Among efforts to implement this element have been education in the form of water conservation, smart gardening for the community. The city has also been electrifying parts of the city's fleet of cars, including some for the police department. and as part of our sustainability efforts, we have launched the Going Green campaign, which started last year and continues into this year to form a sustainability plan. So while this report is intended to provide the council and the state with a concise summary of activities that have carried the implementation of the general plan, this is not an exhaustive list of all the activities that the city has conducted within 2022, as you've heard in the presentations before mine. However, the city will continue to further the goals of the general plan with its various programs and will continue to implement the general plan in the next years and coming years. Staff recommends that the council receive and file this report, direct staff to forward the copy to the appropriate state agencies and take any additional related action that you find necessary. This concludes my report and I am available for any questions. Any questions from the council? Yes, Mr. Mayor. Councilman Lung?

Are there any public comments on this issue? No? Sorry. No comments.

Thank you. All right, go ahead. Sure. Again, thank you for that presentation.

I have a question. So I'm looking at, let's see, page 104, and the question has to do with ADU.

So if I understand correctly, so right now we have approved 54, is it?

I'm sorry, 57 ADU units. They've been finalized as of the end of 2022?

So 57 units, or I'm sorry, building permits were issued for 57 ADU units in 2022.

I see.

And over in the objective panel, it states that number three supports the city's effort of alternative forms of affordable housing with the goal of achieving 128 ADUs over eight years.

How did we come up with that number, 128? 128 was included in the programs and policies within the housing element. That methodology came through our consultants that would have likely gone to the state to consult with their formula for projections of ADUs.

And to add to that, Councilmember, a lot of times that's based on the construction history, like the patterns in the city. And so they use that as also a measure to say in the past years, you know, we've averaged a number of X ADUs. And so that's used to support the city's goal for the eight-year cycle. Okay.

And I'm kind of curious, our process for approving ADUs, I mean, what have we, I guess what I'm trying to articulate is that, you know, I believe I've heard comments about our process for approving ADUs and to the fact that they may be cumbersome. I mean, would you agree or disagree with that process of approved ADU's projects that come to our city?

Sure, I can respond to that. We have been working actively on enhancing our process, our construction process. We'll be highlighting one of the main improvements that we're currently working on at a future city council meeting. But we have heard very similar comments as well. We have received some complaints, and so we take those to heart, and we take them very seriously, and we have been working on amending that. On the planning end, we do issue the approvals relatively quickly. We do allow for digital plans to be emailed, which helps expedite. It helps people submit the plans without having to come to our office. and on the building side, they can also submit electronically as well. But we did recently make enhancements to our software, which is about to go live, to help with expediting.

I see. Now, going back to the same page,

panel for the status and program implementation. So these are filing, they're your application for new ADU projects, correct?

If I'm understanding correctly, the 57 ADU units and or JADU units, those are the building permits that were issued in the last year.

I guess my question is, so let's say someone has, okay, hypothetically a home that built an ADU that was maybe non-compliant or it was built 20 years ago and if that person then were to make it comply, would that then be counted towards our total RENA numbers or be counted as a finalized ADU project if it's something that has to be updated?

So if a unit was never previously permitted and has now come through our permitting system, that would be considered a new unit.

Okay.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Other questions?

Not at the moment. Council Member Wong?

I will apologize in advance.

I will probably be a little scattered as I go through some of my questions. Just picking up on the ADU's question. and I appreciate the effort that the department is working in terms of making the process for applying for ADU permits more efficient. Are we looking at potentially pre-approval of any ADU designs or just other efforts to make it more efficient and easier for people to apply and build ADUs in the city?

At this point, we have not considered any pre-approved plans for ADUs,

but we are making enhancements in our technology for the department.

And so with those enhancements to the technology,

people will be able to submit electronically

and the plans will be reviewed by staff through some electronic software. And so that will expedite the amount of time that it takes staff to provide comments.

Do you know what currently our process the average time for someone applying for an ADU permit to get from application to approval?

In a ballpark figure. Building on the building end, we're relatively quick. We are using a consultant to help streamline those.

And I would say it's about 10 business days, not including weekends or nights, or I'm sorry, weekends or dark Fridays, which are closed every Friday.

So I would say an average 10 days, but it could be longer because we do have other divisions that may take longer to provide those comments. So it could go up to 15 days, business days.

Sir Tommy, three to four weeks.

Yes, on average.

Yeah, and if there are ways to streamline that or to accelerate that, I think that would be helpful because that's just our approval process and they have to go through the construction, their bids and all that stuff. So whatever we can do to help make it easier for people who will want to build more housing or that kind of housing, at least additions, I would appreciate and support those kind of efforts. Going back up to the economic development element, uh it mentioned uh the and the presentation also mentioned the business approval process and i know that relates to the business license applications and all that um have we done outreach or round table for small businesses and other businesses in the city to identify other opportunities we can help implement to assist businesses in getting started up faster i know as i've talked to some business owners, at least in the last year or two, there have been concerns around when a new business wants to come in, the amount of time it took, and I know COVID added to some of these delays, but took longer than ideal times to get a building permit sometimes for restaurants and other small businesses to retrofit their space. Have we done any of that kind of outreach, and are we hearing anything in terms of what else we can do to help businesses really get set up?

Sure, I can speak a little bit about that. I know through our economic development division, our economic development manager does reach out to businesses on a regular basis.

And I know in 2022, a broker's luncheon was held, and so that was a good way to connect with the business community. from that outreach effort.

Several businesses or brokers did approach the city about some of their needs and their efforts to try to get more support from the city.

And so I know, you know, I think that has led to some of the good work that economic development has been doing through, as Joe highlighted today,

through the resources, the research,

highlighting, pushing out the information to our business community through the website and social media.

Thanks.

No, I would encourage whatever efforts, other additional efforts we can take to reach out to local businesses just to hear from them what else we can do to help streamline some of their processes and assist them and just on our end what we can do to help clear hurdles and streamline our approvals and things like that. I think more engaged, especially as things are opening back up and it's safer to get together. And even virtual engagement with some of these folks would be, I think, helpful input for the council as well. Going down to the RHNA goals, I think this is more a statement than a question. These are significant numbers for anyone in the community that's paying attention. We just talked about approving less than 200 building permits in the city

in the last year in 2022.

to or how much was that 67 units residential units were approved so just for context right we

the city of Monterey Park approved 67 housing units in the entire city all of last year to to be built and some of those were 80 most of those were adus the arena numbers that we are submitting this housing element for is calling for 5257 at least the planning for almost five more than 5,000 more additional housing units to be built in the city of Monterey Park in the next nine years and so at our current pace we're not even come close just curious from staff's perspective and I know we're submitting this plan to the state that lays out some of these strategies and tactics that we'll be trying to implement to help get to that goal or as close as we can get but if if you can just detail a little bit of what else we can do to and what our thinking is in terms of the city to help permit and plan for these additional units and just for context I think there's what 25,000 total housing units in the entire city and work this would mean adding or at least planning to add 20% more units to

the entire city's housing stock right yes council member mayor pro tem

definitely the the the city's arena is very ambitious very high and what we're seeing this

year is because of covid there was definitely a slowdown in the number of house larger housing projects when you see it when council when it comes to planning commission when it comes to city council you know those projects then eventually make their way into our building Plan check process now that process does take a while for these larger scale projects and so Oftentimes, you know they don't go and create construction plans until they get the approval from City Council or Planning Commission That takes at least six months to come up with the engineering the construction drawings And then they go they additionally have to go through our process They have to get, you know, planning approval, building approval, fire approval, public works. Like, it's pretty lengthy, the process. So because of the slowdown that happened in COVID, you know, we're still seeing some of that resonate now. But rest assured, we have been engaged in many conversations with many property owners, developers, last year, this year, on projects that. developers last year, this year, on projects that scale anywhere from 20 units to over 100 units. ! And for example, the Celadon project, that was approved in 2021. ! We're not going to see building permits until this year. ! And so just to give you some context, what you approved over a year ago is barely going to come ! And so just to give you some context, what you approved over a year ago is barely going to come to with construction plans this year. And so just to give you some context, when we report next year, year, you'll see the numbers go up because you'll see Saladon, you'll see a couple other housing projects that got approved a while back. And so that's what's happening, just to explain. But, you know, additional efforts that the city is doing is, you know, we're always getting calls from developers that are interested in, you know, developing in our city. And we point them in the direction of our site's inventory in our housing element that has an inventory exactly that of all the sites that are available that have been identified for housing plus there's additional ones out there that are not in the site's inventory but somehow came on the market and are now ripe for redevelopment so we're we're constantly meeting with developers trying to facilitate the process as much as we can no i appreciate hearing

that and uh have we done other i know we've done some roundtables in terms of potential development opportunities have we done other outreach or do we have plans to do additional outreach just to get additional ideas from developers and builders and other business interests to see what else we can do and gather ideas on what else we can do to help ease the way for the planning and building of more

units as we're being required by the state as part of the housing element there was a robust outreach

effort that was done to gather the input from the development community and You know that include included a survey some workshops and at those workshops and through the survey they did

gather input from our development community to Identify ways in which the city can remove barriers additionally our housing element has specific programs that address that and as

the city council in a very recently approved a contract with RINCON.

And so we're going to be utilizing their expertise, their knowledge to help us advance the programs that are in our housing element to reduce barriers in the development process.

Thanks. No, I appreciate that.

And the RINA goals and the benchmarks that were being asked to by the state, and I'm reminding

everyone because these are state imposed goals uh right calls for the planning and building of

housing at different income levels and i know that a lot of the developers and the outreach we've done is to market rate developers uh if they're i would hope and encourage that we also reach out to affordable housing developers and see what else we can do to help remove barriers and do the same kind of streamlining to make sure that we're also working to meet the low income extremely low income requirements for the meeting the RENA numbers too and hope that you'll keep the council apprised of those efforts as well. On the housing sites inventory that you mentioned, if there's a way, can staff tomorrow send maybe all the members of the council the copy of the current housing sites inventory that's being sent in with this plan? I can answer that. Actually, it's online.

it's underneath community development webpage if I'm not mistaken yes

if you type in the Monterey Park housing element

that will take you to the main page and you can find

the final adopted housing element on that page

great that's helpful thank you

if you can't get it we can send you the link tomorrow make it a lot easier by email

Thanks, Ron. On the safety element that was mentioned in the staff report and the materials, are we, I don't know if this is a question for you or more for Ron or the police chief, are we thinking or what's the status of relaunching our neighborhood watch program and potentially other efforts to help further the safety element?

I would like to defer this question to our police chief regarding the neighborhood watch program.

Hi.

Before COVID, we had over 100 neighborhood watch programs in the city. Some of those are obviously inactive. We're in the process right now of inventorying our Neighborhood Watch program

to see which neighborhoods are willing to start back up again. Tonight's our first Citizens Academy that we're conducting right now as we speak. So we are going to start that program up again.

I know that Council Member Ngo is asked to be part of that also. We will get that out to everybody and see which neighborhoods are willing to host

some of the organizations, some of the meetings.

We have a very robust program that we're willing to roll out. We just need places to do it in the city. Thank you.

Great to hear that we are getting going on relaunching and reconstituting our neighborhood watch programs.

That was all I had. I don't know. And then on page 98,

of the agenda packet.

It mentions

objective three,

amend the municipal to permit emergency shelters by right in the OP zone. Where is the OP zone?

Is someone going to remind me?

So that's the office professional zone.

There are several locations throughout the city.

So that's Corporate Center Drive, McCaslin Park, right?

Along Monterey Pass, along Sheriff's Road, parts of Corporate Center,

the north portion of Petrogron, and the southern portion of the 60,

although that will unlikely allow for actual emergency shelters.

Thanks.

and then on page 97 program to conservation of at-risk housing and affordable housing I know we've talked about about building housing and new housing units to meet the arena the state's arena goals but as is noted in the housing element the it's extraordinarily important critical to preserve existing affordable housing and naturally occurring affordable housing

in the city.

Are we, if we can start and continue to think through what else we can do to provide assistance to the owners of those existing units, especially, it mentions a number of, right, Golden Age Village, Lions Manor, and a number of other senior adult and low-income housing that does currently exist in the city, if there are efforts or some sort of way to put a plan together to see and support and provide resources and direct resources to making sure that those units don't go offline and become market rate or get redeveloped into market rate I think that would be important as well and then just a logistical question on this so if council approves this housing element plan today this would be what is sent to the state for final approval is

that right uh no this is not the housing element this is just a report on the status of implementation

for the general plan of which a portion is the housing element so the housing element is still

awaiting approval from the state okay mr mayor members of the council so the city council adopted

the housing element in january 2022 amended it in november 2022 we are awaiting certification and the council and during the amendment of the housing element in November authorized certain administrative changes if need be pursuant to HCD's direction or requests.

So that's what we're working on at the moment.

The city has a valid housing element. The only issue is whether or not HCD certifies the housing element. But legally speaking, we have a housing element which complies with the law as far as we read the law. So the only issue is certification by the HCD.

Any idea or guess on timeline for certification?

That is an interesting question, but let's just say we are working hard on it,

and we've enlisted, I think I mentioned last meeting or the meeting before,

we've enlisted the assistance of the governor's office to help us through that process, and so I think that on a staff and consultant level we are working very hard to have that done so I all I can say is soon thanks no I appreciate that

and then I think hopefully my final question on page 106 the program 17 fair housing and tenant landlord counseling I know the city and I've seen the city start to host these landlord and tenant education workshops. Do we have plans to continue those on a regular basis or any other kind of augmentations? I know there are nonprofits that provide those kind of counseling and workshop services as well if there's thinking about maybe reaching out to some of those nonprofit organizations to also help with outreach to tenants and landlords to educate them on requirements for being a landlord and tenant. and programs that are available and resources for them.

So the city contracts with the Housing Rights Center

to help complete efforts for education,

both landlords and tenants related to fair housing.

I would have to defer questions specifically related to that contract to our housing division.

If we can have Martha, our finance director, there's a question related to the housing

workshops that are provided by HRC.

Good evening. Good evening.

We had four workshops, two for tenants and two for landlords.

And we had, I would say anywhere from on one of the workshops,

the least amount that would show up would be about six or seven.

and then when we had the one for landlords back in November, that one was pretty large.

We had about closer to 15 that showed up.

This last time in February, there was a little bit less.

We had about, I think for tenants, it was about like three or four, and then we had for the landlords, it was probably about three to four as well.

Thank you.

No, and I appreciate that we're doing this kind of outreach, and if we can find resources to augment that and make sure that we're doing this on a regular basis,

I think that would be super.

We pay, we actually work,

and we actually have a contract with Housing Rights Center, and part of our contract is for them to provide these kind of services.

So we do pay through CDBG funds. We pay the contract.

Great.

Yeah, if we can do more, right, outreach.

We can definitely work on doing something more for including our budget for next year unless you bring something back this year.

Yeah, I know there are increasingly more tenant protection programs and requirements that landlords have to abide by on an annual basis coming out of Sacramento. know and the challenges that many people don't know what they are both landlords and tenants and then whatever route we can do to help educate people about those requirements going forward i

think would be helpful i'll invite them over to see if they can do another and we can just keep recurring but they do come they stopped during covid but they were doing it prior to covid but

i'll see if they can come more than the four times yeah and were those uh was their language

or translation services provided during this?

So the flyer, the notifications went out in both Spanish, English, and Chinese.

I think it was Mandarin.

And we did have interpreters. So we did have interpreters for all three languages. So if anybody needed assistance with interpretation, we did have to all four workshops we had interpreters.

Great.

And I don't know if we've connected with people like the Chinatown Service Center or other nonprofits that have reached the immigrant community here in Monterey Park? I don't know if that's maybe worth staff reaching out to to see if they might connect with the Housing Rights Center.

That's a good idea.

We did not do it this time, and definitely next time we bring them back, I will reach out to Chinatown and other organizations to bring in more tenants and landlords,

because it was quite a bit of information. It was very useful.

Cool. Thank you.

I'm is this a file and or accept and file or do we need to take formal action?

Actually, I have a question. Yes, I do going back to

the housing element. So, maybe just for Council's information and understanding. So, let's say HCD does approve our housing element and that's our plan for the next nine years. Given that the state has said publicly that they tend to be more aggressive in enforcing it, will they be coming in, like say, mid-cycle? Again, let's say if it's nine years, then

in two or three years come back and give us an update or require us to give an update to the state to keep, I guess, everyone accountable to make sure that we are actually making every effort

to meet the goals of the, our own housing element? What is that process? I mean, is it just

you approve it and then we wait nine years from now and, or do, is there steps in between?

So this item this evening is one of the steps to make that report to the state

so they can monitor what has been happening on a housing front and on a general plan front within our city.

So that's how they get their yearly updates,

and this is one of the requirements to make that report

and sometimes a requirement for additional grant funding.

So we want to ensure we are eligible for future grant funds. if this is the requirement to gain that.

And that's just making the report to the state.

And so does that mean, although I know we're still waiting for approval from HCD, but when is then our next, I guess, requirement, our next reporting to the state? When is our next time we have to let them know about our progress?

So the deadline every year is to report to the state by April 1st.

So likely, again, around this time next year, you will hear a similar report with different numbers or different programs that we've implemented within 2023.

And is, let's just say, again, hypothetical that we are not meeting those goals.

Could they disqualify our housing element to some point in the future if they think we're not meeting our goals?

Oh.

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, let me make two observations.

One, the city doesn't build housing. We facilitate the construction of housing. So as you've heard tonight, the city has implemented many different programs to help facilitate, including outreach to various housing developers and what have you. So as the mayor pro tem indicated, we have more than 5,000 units that we're supposed to build in the next eight years. Now, you saw that there are going to be additional building permits issued. The reality is, historically speaking, to my knowledge, no city in the state of California has ever met its RENA numbers since they've been issued. So the likelihood that this city or any other city in the state of California is going to meet the arena numbers is unlikely, I think.

So I'm open with that.

To answer your direct question, certainly the law will change between now and when we have to start this whole process over again. if I were to have a crystal ball I would say that at the moment the way that the legislature is is comprised of that HCD will be given additional power to try to enforce the housing

element requirements through the government code and so to complete my thought on this as of right

now there is not a process whereby in the future if we had a housing element in the future that it be denied for certification simply because we didn't meet our RHNA numbers but that's not to say that eight years from now there won't be such a process in place very long-winded but that's the

honest answer if i may add to some additional comments i'm going to provide reality The reality is property owners are going to build housing if the money is right. So let's be very factual about that. So in order to build housing that is affordable, there has to be some financial incentive. Okay, that's another point. that's what rda at one point was was uh supposed to do to help that right now there is no incentive for anyone to build low-income housing because the cost is too great construction costs loan costs are very high i understand what the requirements are by the state and what every city has to abide by. But the reality is we've been dealing with a lot of property owners and the property owners want some incentive with money. Okay. Or reduce some or increase density. Okay. Density is very important to them because the more density you allow, the better it is for them. And the second part is reduce parking requirements. So if council is willing to do that, and that's not a topic right now, but these are some of the things that we are hearing from the developers. But I just want to keep everything in a reality base because we can only do so much as an entity to direct property owners to do this. But we can't build it for them, even though we try to.

I just have a comment here. I mean, the reality, it's probably safe to say that we are way behind on these plans because in the last 10, 15 years, we just weren't growing. So as the city manager said, density is a key component. And if you look at the surrounding cities, they found a way. So if you look along Valley and Garvey and other cities, they found a way. They found incentives or they found a way for higher density. Either they treat the code, they treat the plans, they treat the permitting. They allow that to happen. Now, our city, we're probably more land restricted because there's no space.

We're infill.

There's only a couple of sites where we can build that. So I would say let's work with whoever is willing to come out here to build, to meet some of these requirements. I don't think we're ever going to, we're not going to get to 4,900 in nine years. I don't think that's achievable. But we need to make an effort to satisfy this so we don't get penalized in the next three years, five years. So whenever the state decides to say, enough is enough. I just don't want to be on that side of the fence.

I just had two comments.

I wanted to, first of all, thank you for the report, and I wanted to go back to one of the comments that the Mayor Pro Tem made about ADUs, which I think is a really good idea, and I know some cities do, is looking at approving already pre-made plans that residents can use. I probably would use one to convert their garages or anything like that to an ADU. anything that helps streamline that process and helps reduce the cost I think especially as I'm looking at the numbers a majority of those were ADUs I think we could potentially increase those numbers and help residents facilitate through that process I think that would be great if we can get some

type of action going on something like that I know that some of us would be

interested in doing something like that and I know that residents would probably be more inclined to build ADUs if it was less of a workload, if plans were already approved and ready on a website. So if we can look into that, that would be great. I also think that, as I'm hearing everyone, that housing is such an important but also a very serious issue. And I don't know that we will be where we need to be in the next eight years, but I would like to think that we will be there or we can be there. So I just want to say that we should also look at creative ways that we can find to do housing, including maybe even looking at buildings that already exist that we could potentially repurpose for housing if that's possible, especially if housing construction is so expensive. this is so i want to offer the option and the idea of maybe looking into existing buildings that might already be available that we could potentially convert into housing within the city that could potentially help us with these numbers as well so if we can come to a developer and say we've got this building can you convert this into a house into housing that could potentially help us meet these numbers so if you guys can look into that would be great mayor if

I may sure yeah what I would suggest also is you will soon be entering into a strategic planning workshop this will be a great opportunity for you to discuss

many ways how you can maybe accomplish what you're looking for in housing and

that'll give us also an ability to have a stimulated conversation on maybe the

common goal what we're trying to achieve so it sounds like it's going to be one

of the topics thank you are there any more comments for the council questions

I'll move to receive and file as recommended by staff second okay let's

vote. Approved unanimously. Okay so we're moving on to new business items. 5A

resolution regarding firearms legislation and local regulation. Mr. Mayor, before we

actually move forward. I just wanted to just also

state for the record,

although I don't have a legal conflict of interest on this item, I do want to just state for the record that I work for the California State Assembly and although this has no bearing on my employment, I just ended up consulting with our city attorney, I just wanted to

put that for the record.

Thank you.

Is there a report on this?

Mr. Mayor, members of the Council, the Council at its last meeting requested that this be placed onto the agenda as a future agenda item. Based upon the conversation from the City Council at that point, along with some of the other comments that have occurred from the dais since the January 21st mass murder, we put together a staff report and a resolution that hopefully meets the council's expectations and reflects what its thought process is in terms of pending gun regulation both at a federal and state level but also gives direction to staff and myself in terms of trying to bring something back to the city council for consideration that may help reduce the likelihood

of this happening again.

So I think the staff report speaks for itself. I should note that this morning there was a request to add in AB 733 and AB 732 to the resolution in terms of demonstrating the city council's support for those two bills. AB 732 is being proposed by Assemblymember Fong. It has not been completely vetted by the legislative council's office, but in reading it, it appears to deal with guns.

It proposes to amend the penal code.

If convicted of an offense that prohibits gun ownership, a defendant must relinquish any weapons that he or she may have, and if they fail to do so, then they would be guilty of an additional crime. And it also requires reporting to local law enforcement agencies regarding individuals who have failed to relinquish weapons after a conviction. in reading ab 733 i don't it doesn't immediately appear to me that it has to do with gun regulation it amends the penal code as to electronic tracking so i'm not sure exactly whether that falls within the category of the expectations for the city council again these are spot bills meaning that they have just recently been proposed so there are no committee reports on it and the legislative council's office has not issued any of its opinions on it but i wanted to make sure that the council was aware of that and the public was aware of that the council was provided with copies of those bills but i i didn't offer them so i can't offer you any additional insight as to

their efficacy happy to answer any questions are there any questions from the council or comments

I would like to make a motion to adopt the resolution with the addition of at least the first assembly member fong bill since there is language there and ask staff to track the second bill I know it's there's there's no actual language of the spot bill at this moment but when it comes back and as we

would expect

language there to be in line with what the council has asked

for staff to bring

back to council when that time is appropriate maybe bring that bill back to the council for action but appreciate the staff putting this report together and to note that the specific bills that are called out in this resolution is for this council to support at the federal level bill S14. this council to support at the federal level bill s14 by ns 25 by senators ! and then in the state legislature ! and state legislature

! and state legislature !

and state and state and state legislature assembly member of fong bill that you mentioned that has actual language to be included that first as something were fun bill that you mentioned that has actual

language to be included in the resolution as presented tonight I'll

second okay let's move

approved unanimously thank you I'm really quick I know we've adopted this

resolution I just want to be clear and clarify right this all the resolution provides direction to account to city staff and the city attorney to come back with potential language on an ordinance on local measures right that we can take that mirror LA counties actions that were taken just a few weeks ago to restrict access to guns and in unincorporated county areas yes mr.

Mayor members of the council the specific direction to the city manager and the city attorney are within 90 days First of all to bring back an ordinance that to me at least it seems clear that the city can enact which has to do with land use

And that would prohibit

It would create a thousand foot buffer between places of sensitive Areas of use for example childcare centers and what-have-you between a thousand foot buffer between those types of areas and

firearms dealers there is also a list of other things that the City Council is

directing me to consider for example requiring signs with specific language within firearms dealerships much like you see you know warning the state of California is determined this area to be have substances that may cause cancer it would be something similar where signage would say warning guns may kill Or something along those lines. So those are all exploratory things that we will look into and come back with to the City Council within 90 days Certainly this will allow us to draft an ordinance with regard to the land use item that I mentioned But as as the mayor pro tem points out the county board of supervisors did adopt a number of things that are substantially similar to what's in this resolution And to be frank, I just stole them and put them into this resolution

Which which I appreciate and look forward to receiving the report back, obviously with legal review on terms of what is actually within our purview and our ability to do, and hope that that will come back at the proper time. And just, I know we didn't really have a conversation about this, but I appreciate my fellow council members for supporting this resolution. And just in light of the tragedy that we're all aware of just a few weeks ago, for us in our city to be subject to that kind of gun violence, our hope in adopting this ordinance at least mine is to work to make sure that not only we but others and our neighbors and other communities don't have to experience this kind of violence in their own communities and unfortunately that's already not true right just in the last few weeks continue to see other

mass shooting incidents occur throughout the country 93 and the hope is to take

whatever action I think it's our responsibility to take any action that we can to help prevent this in our own community and in others.

Any other questions, comments?

I also wanted to reiterate and thank city staff and Carl and our city manager for bringing

back this resolution.

I think it's an appropriate response to what happened in our community, and I think that hopefully this will help prevent any further mass shootings, but also kind of put into perspective what happened in our community and hopefully help prevent future ones not just in within our community but and others as well so we thank you for that and we look forward to seeing

what you guys can draft in 90 days thank you

city communications

Should we just start with Henry?

Sure.

Thank you very much.

Well, let's see.

This past week, let's see, last Saturday, I attended the Martin Park Pony Little League and Softball League opening at Garvinch Park, and I really want to just thank all the families and all the teams for coming out. There are 24 teams total that started their season. And I think it was important that, again, here we are talking about, you know, as we're trying to plot a path forward from our recent tragedy, and I think, you know, every time our community comes together to do what is expected, but also what we expect of ourselves, then that's something that I think is very important,

and I just want to commend the league,

and I wish the best of luck to all 24 teams that are playing this season. And I also want to thank them for inviting me to, as well as the council, to welcome everyone, although I didn't get to throw a first pitch, which is a good thing because I can't throw it for life with me. But nonetheless, they did let me welcome everyone. And then also, let's see, I believe on the 16th, I and some of my colleagues attended an event put on by the California Contract Cities Association. And it was actually their monthly meeting of the board of directors. but the contract cities decided to make a point to have their event in Monterey Park and specifically to have the event as a fundraiser for the victim's assistance. And I want to thank California contract cities for having their event here in our city. It was held at the clubhouse and also for working with Chantile Service Center as the non-profit fiscal agent for the proceeds that were collected and also for recognizing Brandon Say at this event. This is just another example of, I think, the operating support we have from the region who wants to make sure that we are not dealing with a loan

and that, you know, as we move forward,

that, you know, we are able to gather the resources,

which we are doing, and, you know, and again, earlier today I know we had an update on our own city community victim fund. Again, thank you to our city treasurer

for going above and beyond,

but just thank all the organizations

who have come out to support us

during this past month.

And then before I popcorn over to my colleague, I also want to just say thank you to my colleague,

Mayor Pro Temp Thomas Wong,

for bringing forward item 6A for tonight's consideration.

That's it for me. Thank you.

Yes, for me, I just wanted to mention about Brandon Say at our last council meeting that I was telling everyone that my son is also Brandon, and I named him after 90210. And after knowing Brandon Says and his sister also named Brenda and Brandon, and after a conversation at another event, I realized that their mother is also named Yvonne.

So I was like, but the mother is no longer with them after having cancer. So, yeah, they said maybe, you know, mother really named them after 90210 as they don't know.

So it was a quite interesting fact I want to share. And last week was quite busy attending. I attend Congresswoman Chu's roundtable with Secretary of Health, along with a few community leaders, to discuss our needs on mental health and hopefully to obtain more funding. Also, I attend a small business walking tour with SBA Administrator Guzman, and I was hosted by Congresswoman Chu as well. We visited a few businesses at our downtown Monterey Park. We have direct conversations with a few business owners, hearing their concern after COVID and also after the mass shooting. So there's a lot of resources that being able to provide to them, and thank you so much for Congresswoman Chu's arrangements directly with the White House and federal funding. So it will just make our job easier. I also attend Women's Club Tea Party. We had so much fun there. So I'm looking forward to the fashion show as well. And also attend the DoSan and ToySan associations and their New Year celebrations. Knowing, learning, their volleyball team ranked actually number two in the nation. So congratulations on that. Also attend the Topgolf groundbreaking ceremony at Quiet Canyon in Montebello. Learning that Montebello issued 60 million bonds to finance the project. And after six years of numerous meeting and planning in order to obtain the world-class organizations to their city, their hard work actually did pay off. And the operation will start operating in 2024. so that, you know, I learned from the, you know, we are our neighbor city, so hopefully our residents will be able to use that facility because it really helped our mental health, especially our senior residents. I grew up in a golf course as my father is also a professional golfer after he quit being a doctor in his 50s. So I grew up in a golf course most of my time, and I'm actually excited to see more golf facilities being built. Congratulations to Mondebellos and looking forward to it and that's it for me. Thank you. All right.

Well, I will not try to repeat the number of events but I would just say that along with our council members, I was at the Health and Human Services Cabinet Xavier Becerra meeting, the Small Business Administrator meeting, the Doshan Spring Festival, and then Topgolf event.

You know what?

Topgolf is going to be a big player in the golf industry. It's more entertainment than golf, to tell you the truth. But it will take away some of our Marri Park Golf Course players to go there. That's just the reality of competition. So Marri Park Golf Course needs to step up to retain and continue to generate golfers to go there. I also wanted to thank the fire chief and police chief for the public safety meeting we had, the town hall, back on, I think it was the 16th. I think what you shared, the stories of what happened on the 21st of January, I think it gave a lot of the residents, the folks who were there, insight in terms of what you thought, what you were doing, how you planned it out strategically.

it gave them a lot of healing to understand what we went through.

And even though that was three weeks after the event, it was still fresh in their mind, but thank you for doing that. And then right after that event, we were at the Contract Cities, and I get the privilege of bringing back at least a dozen checks to Chinatown Service Center for all the donations made from the Contract City attendees, different pledges. on the 19th I attended a seniors defense seminar I want to thank the city manager for working with a number of organizations there allowing it to happen right by the picnic area of Barnes Park Pool Ron you'll be happy to know that in the two sessions 500 people showed up I think there were probably 750 people who ended up being there between 9 and 12.

So I want to thank the organizations who put this together,

Chinatown Service Center, who actually did the coronation,

the Seniors Fight Back group,

which is a group that is founded in Orange County, and also Asian Strong. It's a group that came from the Bay Area. So they put together the seminar. And they've been doing this in Southern California. They're now going, gravitating throughout the San Gabriel Valley. we put them in contact with St. Gabriel and Ahambra and I told them we need to do another one in the city here in addition to Barnes Park we'll pick another park

because there's a lot of residents

especially the elders who would benefit from this and last but not least I want to thank the mayor and the mayor and I sat

in a diversity and inclusion

panel with Bank of America Associates we brought 460 folks sold out NBC on a Wednesday night, it was last week. Talked about diversity and inclusion, talked about our healing, talked about supporting our city. And the bank made a pledge to match dollar for dollar for any contributions made to the Advancing Justice as well as the Chinatown Service Center on the victims' funds. So a lot of dollars will get to the victims. It may not come through the CCF group that we have, but at the end of the day, we're raising money and we're helping the victims of the families who are impacted.

That's all I have.

I also attended the roundtable, and I appreciate Congresswoman Judy Chu and her office for helping organize. uh the round table and i appreciate uh congresswoman judy chu and her office for helping organize uh last week ! uh round table with health and human services secretary uh and uh the small business walk with uh ! small business administrator isabel guzman uh both who have roots actually in this area ! assembly member or uh secretary becerra actually used to represent Monterey park in Alhambra ! in the state legislature before he went to congress

! um um and uh

uh small business manager actually grew up in Montebello so appreciate them coming home to

to visit us and to commit to providing resources to the community and as we continue to recover and

and to commit to providing resources to the community as we continue to recover and heal from the shooting. And appreciation to Congresswoman Chu for her efforts to continue to bring attention and resources to our community. On that note for Congresswoman Chu,

I sent a note to city staff

and would like to ask with the support of other council members, Congresswoman Chu was called out specifically by one of her fellow members of Congress in the last week or so with spared too many details, but essentially calling the question her loyalty to the United States, despite being an American citizen and a longtime member of Congress and an elected official, I would like to ask that the City Council support and direct staff today to issue a draft, a letter or a statement, and issue that in support of Congressman Chu and to help denounce the comments and xenophobic remarks that were issued by her fellow Congress member in Congress in an interview that was done on TV that called into question her loyalty to the United States and essentially supporting anti-Asian, anti-Chinese sentiments here in the United States, and particularly given the rise in anti-Asian hate incidents and crimes in the last few years during the pandemic, I hope that the council, my fellow councillors, will join me in issuing this statement and this letter to Congressman Chu in support of Congressman Chu

and to the public.

Mr. Mayor, if I can add.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Temp for bringing this up. And yes, I also support the proposal to issue a statement. I think it's important because Congressman Chu is a resident of Monterey Park. She's privileged served here on the city council as well as on the Garvey School District Board of Education, not to mention she was a professor at East LA College. And so she is probably so involved in the community and has been part of civic engagement. And I think, as you already said, I think it's outrageous that a colleague would scapegoat not just her, no, not just her, but also by extension, some of the organizations that she works with, such as East West Bank. I mean, that same congressman also made disparaging remarks about East West Bank and its CEO, and specifically questioning all their loyalties as Americans. And I just think that that's wrong, especially in this day and age, to use such insensitive, frankly, racist xenophobic remarks, I think is incredibly outrageous. And I think we do need to issue a statement expecting our outrage, especially a city like ours, a diversity like ours that has such a long history of being a gateway to many different Asian ethnicities here in the community, other ethnicities from around the world and around the country.

I don't know if that is enough direction for staff.

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, we're happy to put that on as an agenda item on the next agenda as a consent item. It's not on the agenda tonight, so if you wanted to do that as individuals, certainly you may. But if you want the entire council to do that, we do need to put that onto the agenda.

But we're happy to do so.

Thank you.

To hopefully wrap this up,

I have an appointment for a commission I'll announce, and I've already sent this information to Cindy in the clerk's office, but I'd like to appoint Jacob Cato, K-A-T-O, to my vacancy on the traffic commission. And I appreciate the clerk's office for helping to announce our opportunities and vacancies on certain commissions. I look forward to reviewing and I took a quick glance at some of the applications that came in I'm hoping to reach out to some of them to conduct some interviews soon

I'd also like to ask

I mean just given our talk on the the housing element today and the general plan and our need to meet or Work to meet our arena numbers and the goals if we can I'd like to request if there's support on the other council members to invite the Sangeroo Valley Regional Housing Trust to come give a briefing to the City Council about their efforts on building housing to in the Sangeroo Valley and

just get an update from them yes that's good yes I know Councilwoman to are you

is our representative of the cog at the regional housing trust is that part of the cog is an instrument of the cog so I don't know if she can relay our our requests to them and I think that's all I oh really quick it just I don't know if there's an update on our requests for redesigning or certificates for if

there's a status report on that our recognition certificates the just the

city's are doing that is on our list of things to do yeah we do not have an

update and i think also you have a resolution under your name yeah oh yeah so i don't know if

we're finishing comment for before whatever order you want to do sorry didn't want to intervene too

too quickly no worries um i'm not going to reiterate a lot of the events that we've already

gone to but i did i did want to mention a couple of them i also wanted to take uh thank the police chief and our fire chief for hosting that town hall i think it was very uh relevant and i think the community was very engaged uh there's a lot of people out there i think they really respected and were very attentive to what you got to say um not to mention a lot of the questions that came afterwards i thought it was a very useful town hall i noticed that you guys have another one coming up um as well so i'm thankful for you guys hosting these um and and hopefully we continue you to do those because I found them very helpful even as a resident not just as a council member so I appreciate that and appreciate you guys for doing that I also wanted to thank you I was able to go to the cookie with the rookie on on Monday I surprisingly left without having a cookie though but I got so many only because I was so engaged in so many conversations with people who were there and a lot of the residents who were there and a lot of the police officers as well so I wanted to thank you for hosting that event as well. That was very well done and really liked and enjoyed going to that. So hopefully we can continue to do that. I think it was a great opportunity, not just for the community, but even for ourselves to kind of get to know a lot of our newer officers. So thank you for hosting that. It was great seeing a lot of you guys there. I also wanted to mention that I got a chance to go to an awards banquet here at the Quiet Cannon, And the Mark Keppel High School academic decathlon team placed first place in L.A. County for the fourth time in a row. They are a force to be reckoned with, and I won't go into specifics about that.

but I would like to

at a future council meeting like to request that we bring them in and honor them not only because they make our community very proud but because this is not a very easy achievement or a very easy thing to do four times in a row and now they are headed to state

they'll be competing next month

this month actually, we're in March already, right?

Later this month for

the state title. Anyhow, wanted to

share that because that was, as a resident of Monterey Park, made me very, very, very proud because I know my daughters will be going to Markepa High School

as well. Mr. Mayor, could we also, as a courtesy, invite the

feeder elementary district to Markepa, which is the Garvey School District, just to know that we are honoring the academic decathlon

team? Sure. that's a great idea

and I just have to back when I was a school board member and Vin can attest but I believe about a third of Mark Keppel's students actually come from

the Garvey school district and so

some of those academic decathlon team members may be

from Garvey so always got to make sure to promote that district I know

probably about 20% of the students

from Garvey school district feed into

there but I think there's probably more than 20% on the academic decathlon

team I will say that

Okay, so I didn't want to bring this up. But it just turns out I'm the academic decathlon coach at Alhambra High School.

And we took third place.

Oh, congratulations.

This is their last time they're scoring first.

So I told them I'd bring them in and honor them.

So we'll have to honor the coach too. Yes.

Yes.

And Mr. Mayor, I believe, Coach Sanchez. I believe San Gabriel also placed in the top five or no

They're not Top 15

They're high performing as well. I would appreciate all of Alhambra Unified School District's goals

And that is it for me Maybe we can now approve resolution

Or item 6a

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. I brought this to the attention of staff to bring this resolution language to the city council. I would appreciate the council's support in adopting this resolution. Just for quick context, back in many, a few years ago now,

more than a few years ago,

the state did pass Proposition 8 outlawing same-sex marriage in California. The law has never really went into effect and the Supreme Court has ruled that same-sex marriages are legal in the United States, but that language, because the proposition was passed by voters in California, still sits on the books. And so there's a constitutional amendment that's being proposed in the state legislature to formally remove that language from our books and the laws in California and hope that the council will join me and join Councilmember Lo in adopting this resolution to support the effort to repeal that language officially and formally from our books in California.

So I'll make a motion.

I'll second it.

Okay, let's take a vote.

Approved unanimously.

Okay, and now we're in future agenda items.

Anyone have any future?

I know we talked about several of them already.

I had one.

It is Women's History Month, and I did want us to, if council can, I'm sorry, if staff can draft a resolution on celebrating and honoring the contributions of women in our country,

still to this day.

and

officially mark March as our Women's History Month

yes anyone else

okay not hearing any comments

we will adjourn at 9.15pm

have a good evening