City Council Meeting: September 29, 2025

council we are live. So good evening everyone. Welcome to the monday SEPTEMBER 29th meeting of the passing city council. Apologies that we ran behind. We were in closed session discussing time sensitive matters. So with that we start with the call of the roll. Thank you, mayor council member kohl present COUNCILMAN Hampton blessed and honored to be here. COUNCILMAN Jones here customer line here. Catherine madison is not yet in the chambers. He's in the back. COUNCILMAN Massouda here, vice mayor riva's here, mayor gordo here. There's a quorum of the council present and MR. Hampton, the future leaders of the pledge of allegiance. Everyone rise right out of your heart. Ready begin. 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 MAY be seated. So we do we do have some ceremonial matters and the clerk will kick it off with the oath of office, raise your right hand and repeat after me. I jessica richards I jessica richards do solemnly firm do solemnly affirm that I will support and defend that I will support defend the constitution of the united states, the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california and the constitution of the state of california against all enemies foreign and domestic against all enemies foreign and domestic that I will bear true faith and allegiance that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the constitution of the united states, to the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california and the constitution of the state of california that I take this obligation freely, that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion or purpose of evasion and that I will well and faithfully at that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of discharge the duties of a member of the urban forestry advisory committee, member of urban forestry advisory committee upon which I'm about to enter upon which I'm about to enter. Thank you MR.. Thank you steenbergen. Thank you. I do have a couple of proclamation's if I can ask sir goldman valorize ruskie and chris otero's join me and this is a proclamation declaring national disability employment awareness month in pasadena. People with as we all know with disabilities are an important part of our community. Pessina has a long history of advocacy for people with disabilities and supporting their families and and frankly the disability community supports many of our businesses with very dedicated and good employees and friends. And so today we we recommit ourselves to ensuring that city programs and employment practices effectively serve and benefit persons of all abilities in order to support individual dignity and self-reliance and productive lives for all people. And we are proud to renew our dedication to foster and equal access and demonstrating commitment to full inclusion of people with disabilities. Therefore, on behalf of the city council I do hereby proclaim the month of OCTOBER 23 in pasadena as national disability employment awareness month and encourage all citizens to recognize the accomplishments and contributions of persons with disabilities. I thank you. Thank you. The city council city of pasadena my name is chris otara. I'm the PRESIDENT Of the seven percent and 17 club and we are very honored to be here tonight and your continuing support is extremely important to us. I just want to very quickly introduce mckayla sanchez. Many of you knew don noller. He was a long time city employee. Uh, he started our silvertown event and he passed away this past year and so mckayla is taking his place to be our event chair. She's going to give you the details of the event very quickly. Thank you. So as stated, we will be having the higher up event if you have not received your invite and would like to attend, we would love to have you. It's going to be held on OCTOBER twenty third at villa esperanza from 4:00 P.M. To 6:00 P.M. And we're going to be recognizing five different companies that have hired folks. We have trader joe's of south pasadena smart and final of tohunga the flower man of pasadena, cedar brothers of pasadena and woods insurance services of pasadena. Thank you. So with your aiba attended all of the events, those fundraisers I would encourage all of you to join. It's very inspiring event and a very important one to support next senior basketball. So we well we have some congratulations to the passing a senior women's basketball league, the league congratulations on the league to wanted to be I'm sorry I need my eyeglasses for winning the bronze medal at the 2025. Thank team for work. Oh, they do work at this point better than mine. Congratulations on the leagues. Want to be all star team winning bronze medal at the twenty twenty five national senior games your teamwork, dedication and dedication to lifelong fitness is an inspiration to us all. Keep up the great work you make passing proud. Thank you so much. Yeah we say a couple guys that all right. So thank you mayor gordon and members of the city council. My name is sarah letts. I'm honored to speak on behalf of the pasadena senior women's basketball league, many of whom have joined us tonight. Yay! Tonight we'd like to share good news about the league which is supported by the pasadena senior center and our friend here, annie laskey. And we also want to thank city staff vanya, for example, is really helpful to our league and we practice every wednesday at robinson park and sunday at victory park and the staff of both of those parks have been fantastic. We really appreciate your your team here in the city of pasadena. Some of you MAY recall we were here one year ago and since that time we've had two exciting developments. A short film called it's our ball features four of our most dedicated players. Judy in the orange is a writer producer of the film and one of the stars of the film. Their stories are unique and universal at the same time and you can find the trailer for the movie on the film's website and on youtube. There's also a postcard in front of you and the reason you can't see the entire film yet is because it's being submitted to film festivals so we can compete in academy awards qualifying film. So in AUGUST we were in the holly schwartz film festival in los angeles and OCTOBER we go to the savannah film festival and on NOVEMBER 14th will be shown at the film festival in new york city. So hopefully we'll do well in those film festivals sent teams to the senior national games in iowa we're happy to report that hoop harmony came in seventh place in their age bracket and the want to be all stars earned the bronze medal and all stars brought home an extra medal that we would like to present to the city today because without your support it would have been really, really hard maybe impossible for our teams to succeed. So I'm going to introduce athlete novak who's going to present the medal gordo ethylene is 79 years young. Yeah, she she's been playing basketball for twenty three years. She's had only one hip replaced and she has earned sixty medals at basketball tournaments around the country. Athlete is our most decorated member of the league and she will do the honors to present the medal to the mayor. Mayor I'd like to present this to you and it's such gratitude for your support of our group the team going oh yeah, come on over all the ladies. Yep. We're going to go behind their boycott. Yeah exactly. not good. You like wonderful. They oh yes. Thank you. Thank you so much. That's important to the actual player. The mayor is ready to go well be on behalf of the city council. Thank you. And I'm going to issue a challenge we're going to put together a team of the city council to play all of you now I'm going to coach the team and so so I'm looking at some of my colleagues to volunteer. But thank you so much. Ok, next congratulations to the department of public works upon receiving an award from the california storm water quality association also known as pasqua for the city's stormwater master plan and program, it's an outstanding job on the part of our public works department. They should be commended. I intended two fridays ago a reception here or monday at number here at city hall and it was a terrifically well attended event. We had probably 12000 attendees at the costco annual conference here at the convention center and about 900 of them came to city hall and had a great celebration. So I'd like to invite our public works staff up to receive the award and congratulate on behalf of the city council all of our staff congratulations on wow. Yeah, thank you. Mayor gordo. my name is karen cowan. I'm the executive director of the california storm water quality association. I'm very pleased not only to have held our conference here just two weeks ago. We had a wonderful turnout as the mayor noted a wonderful bands with a wonderful picture with mayor that's gone viral and in a storm world. But we represent the city of pasadena and most of the cities and counties in the state of california. So we're thankful for your partnership. I always say we do more together and I really, really, truly mean that. So part of our conferences we do an annual awards program so this award is selected by your peers throughout the state of california. So it's a in this promotor world means a lot when you're recognized from all of your colleagues throughout the state . So some of the messages we like to advance is think about your rain rather than storm water. So rain ready california protecting and collecting water for our future. So capturing stormwater is a big thing for us and that is what we're recognizing the city of pasadena for us. We're very happy to present our outstanding stormwater bmp implementation project to the city of pasadena. Thank you. I did notice that this is a fun crowd and there wasn't a whole lot of water being consumed but there were other liquids. thank you. Ok, next we'll turn to public comment for matters not on the agenda given the number of cards in our agenda, we're going to say one minute for everyone to try and give everyone an opportunity. But if you wish to have more time you're invited to stay until we complete our agenda and we'll provide with more time. Ok with that ryan apelin followed by jane alfaro followed with landsburg followed by hayley ramsey lazar's if you heard your name and you could line up in the middle behind the scenes that would be helpful. I will ring a bell when you have thirty seconds left. So when you hear the value of thirty seconds after that go ahead now three three year old girl in narbonne and her five year old brother tariq were killed in gaza while sleeping in their home in an israeli airstrike in twenty twenty three reames grandfather khalid was captured on video cradling his granddaughter's body body. He kissed her eyes and called her soul of my soul. She is one of eighteen thousand plus dead children in gaza. Fatah. Many corporate entities have profited from israel's economy is illegal occupation apartheid and now genocide. This city council holds responsibility to respond by passing a resolution to implement ethical investment policies, divesting from any company benefiting from the genocide in gaza to offer ethical retirement options for its own employees and to make a formal recommendation to the sprouse board to also from the company. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Jane alfaro followed by ruth ginsburg. Good afternoon. I would like to read some of the names of the precious babies who have died in the genocide in gaza elfatih ali al bayoumi, mohamed ahmed, carleo juda khalid bellisle mohammed abu ali mean hire mohammed kamel abu azhar ahmed mohammed rahman rahman jamila's mohammed I would shame ahmed fawzi al-khafaji rauf ibrahim rauf lfr hamdi mahmud hamdi rahman mohammed saeed adel abu elbrus tage abdullatif alhassan not MISS Hassan adnan abuja's are who are mohammad ibrahim al mamluks mohammad hussam ashraf shaheen hooda mustapha hatem abu sayyaf mohammad nurul denia your time has expired thank you. Oh my GOD hansberger followed by hayle ramsey for mumsie lazar's and then jessica sexton good evening. My name is ruth landsburg and I'm a first time speaker. I'm a pasadena resident and a physician and also the daughter of a jewish refugee who fled germany in 1939. Tonight I'm going to share the news of the tragic passing of a young palestinian palestinian american this american was beaten to death by israeli settlers in the west bank on JULY 11th. Twenty twenty five the palestinian american saif musleh who's from tampa, florida, was visiting family in the occupied west bank. A group of settlers brutally beat him with clubs and bats and then blocked an ambulance from reaching woozily for three hours. He was just weeks away from celebrating his 21st birthday. Thank you. Thank hayley ramsey lazar's and and jessica sexton then tonneau downin did we manifest on this earth to be corporate pawns that overlook our own humanity in favor of institutions and ideologies that say that geniza is acceptable on this brief moment you have on earth will you invest in peace for all children or do you believe you believe you have something more important to do? Let's all wake up. Let's stop numbing ourselves to each other's suffering. Let's stop denying responsibility. Let's stop succumbing to our own laziness and selfishness and cowardice over and over again while our fellow human beings are crying out for our help divesting is my job. It is your job and it is anyone who has a sales job. Jessica sexton followed by hour downing the tammy hassouna and then old and denim welcome. Good evening. My name is jessica sachs and the civil rights advocate and litigator from washington dc. I provide a notice to you guys on JULY 14th of this year and I am not seeing any action so I'm here to provide notice to you in person again this is in accordance with uscis rules of civil procedure as well as rule seventeen or twenty from the united states supreme court. The constitution of the united states is the overarching requirement that every state must follow. Unfortunately because one of the five united states constitution is not being followed in the state and says no person should be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime unless presentment or indictment by a grand jury. I would I have a notice I have thirty seconds. Yes. Your state has enacted law and is a very constitution that is allowing your law enforcement your judges, your prosecutors to charge their way of information as opposed to indictment that is unconstitutional and employment violation is when you pay a public official to commit a crime. It's also a violation of article one section ten as well as article amendment fourteen. So I would implore all of you to look the things that I have said confirm what I'm saying to be true expert and then direct to public officials to act in a lawful constitutional manner according to the constitution. I do have a notice that I will be putting on the record and I would suggest that you guys read second notice that I have provided to all of you. Thank you. Know, if you can hand it to the sergeant at arms. thank you, sir. My name is daniel darling. I'm a civil rights litigator from washington dc we're here because obviously the first time when we did this by zoome it didn't really work. So we decided to come here from washington dc and provide a little bit more clarification on this issue. No state can create its own alternative legislation. Substitute that for guarantees constitution out in force that is always constitutional state of california doing just that when you're law enforcement whom you all pay go out and choose to rely upon in your state statute that permits them or directs them to charge by way of information as opposed to indictment that is it's a crime. It's unconstitutional that action is unconstitutional. You guys pay those officers to do that job and again an emolument is when you pay someone to commit a crime. So let me lay this out to you guys. The best I can now I have to have to return. I have one hundred sixty thousand criminal affidavits on behalf of victims have been charged by way of information as opposed to dykeman for my ear within state california many are from within within the city and county area here these affidavits identify some very specific crimes which we've already done but I want you guys to understand that if I have to return that time we're talking about criminal days. We're going to talk about criminal complaints and eventually they'll come with you with indictments for public officials. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you, timmy. Transunion for by old and I have a I have a question for the last speaker, sir. Was that did you say that you are representing the federal government can can issue indictments? I'm saying that these criminal charges in the criminal criminal complaint are you saying that you're here on behalf of the federal government? No, threaten this council with an indictment? No, I'm saying that you converted into criminal complaints. Thank you. And those will come tammy soon . And can I just inquire my organization from the last few speakers they don't provide an organization. Are you from an organization, sir? I'm advocating on behalf of more than 700000 people are currently in prison here in america illegally simple question. We've heard of a law firm or organization of some kind on behalf of the seventeen thousand they're under have no other organization or law firm really with that. Thank you. Ok, thank you. Sorry MR. Disunion. Yes ok uh my name is tammy justinian. i'm a first time speaker uh I am an armenian american and I'd like to commend the council on recognizing the armenian genocide this past this past APRIL and issuing or creating an official day remembrance for that armenian genocide in that proclamation or gorder you say quote as a community it is appropriate for us to stand together and join our armenian brothers and sisters in an effort to memorialize their fallen ancestors and to ensure that this horrible act is not repeated end quote. I am also a palestinian american and I urge the council to also recognize the genocide of the palestinians. It's happening now as we speak here tonight as we see the tides turning around the world, you still have an opportunity to make an impact on this genocide and to be leaders in standing for what is right. Let's not wait one hundred and ten years as we did for the armenian genocide is recognized time has expired old dinner. Thank you for about yesterday. I don't have much time so I don't have to explain why I'm here. I'm still here but because the mishandling of the anthony maclane murder we call it what it is and I have done some more research now I need to be given an opportunity to show what I see on your own footage and it was never completed at the oversight at the safety meeting . So we want to continue that and complete this complete meeting and I'm sure we'll come to a different opinion, a different view of it. Thank you, alan. Say I say well I'm here to again seek that we the agenda this item that there be some type of referendum put in place by this board as to a true resolution for anthony maclaine's murder by the pasadena police according to your own policy that you're supposed to be holding accountable by the oversight commission which has no authority or power. So you guys either need to disband that oversight commission because it's not handling this business or you need to give it the power to do so because otherwise you're going to continue to have this. And anthony's murder was the result of the board being created and yet you do not have the strength victor gordo who made the commitment that he was going to bring justice that's what he ran on and it has not happened and we want to make sure every week it will be echoed until it happens because that is what the city charter says will be done with this commission is holding police accountable until that happens, I want. Thank you, MR. Emily fernandez filed by zoe lowboy by rene gonzalez and jill davis, james maddox and edmond mandon. Welcome. Hello everyone. Every monday I come to this meeting because I'm afraid of what this world is becoming and I don't know what else to do with a fear but to be in community but even more than fear what I feel is horror for what I see at the daily death tolls in palestine or children like JAURhs who died at four years old in AUGUST. But also I worry about the living we must save the living. I cannot imagine the transgenerational trauma we are inflicting on orphange children mothers who cannot feed their children, doctors who cannot save their patients, those who have immigrated who cannot save their country. What kills me is that we are paying for this every day. I know it can be hard to speak up maybe even more so for you but I don't want to live in a world or in a country that stay silent in the face of this kind of horror and especially when we are funding it. Stand with us. Your time has expired and support the resolution next week. Zoe love by rene gonzales tanjil davis than james maddox oh several pasadena residents have public record showing two council members joined the JULY 20th, 2007 youth federation L.A. Summer delegation trip to israel and gaza border with expenses covered by the federation. First we're glad to see the council engage with global issues, even international delegations. Clearly the push for divestment is incredibly applicable to city business. Concerningly, this trip took place during an internationally recognized genocide and apartheid itineraries entered the israeli perspective. The events of OCTOBER 7th included visits by gaza where millions are being starved and bombed. It is not wrong to visit places of injustice. There were many delegations to apartheid south africa and the jim crow south to witness and crucial critically discern oppression. We want to trust that when our customers travel abroad they do so with integrity, critical thinking and clear commitment to human rights. That in mind I would like to invite both council members who attended to share what they learn from this trip and how it has shaped their perspective. Thank you. Rene gonzalez followed by jill davis and james maddox, edmond mandon and then torline hazama, husam mullion you say that it's very systematic who has stepped forward? Ok, go ahead MR. Mannix. Good to see you. My name is james fanatic's. Thank you very much. On tuesday, NOVEMBER 11th we will be having a veterans day event out in front of city hall . We will be honoring the return of the 2nd battalion of the marines that we offered a yellow ribbon to and they will there will be a ceremony returning the marking their safe return. The speaker will be the the my friend namur the california court of appeals associate justice eileen moore, a combat nurse, vietnam veteran life member and it is my honor to say she's a friend of mine. she will be our keynote speaker . Thank you. And we were asking that you let your constituents know in your newsletters that there is a an event on the eleventh and guest will be honored. I will be happy to be there. Thank you, sir. Hot dogs. Thanks. So rene gonzales then jill davis, edmond mandon, then torline hazam hasaan malian and then jenova roebling's gonzales. Welcome. Thank you mayor. Good evening everyone. After the atomic bomb was dropped in hiroshima in AUGUST 1945 killing over one hundred and forty thousand men, women and children babies and unborn children one man one man named tattooer yamamoto ignited a flame from the still burning embers he kept and maintained his flame as a symbol of peace. Remember and to comfort the souls of those who died in the atomic bombing to prayer in the hope of nuclear abolition and permanent world peace. The flame is now situated in the hiroshima peace memorial park and has been shared with many locations in japan and across the world as a powerful symbol of peace. One of what we now unesco world heritage for humanity has been the recipient of the flame of peace and in a powerful solidarity ceremony they have scheduled a handover of the flame of peace ceremony at plaza de la bus during the war pasadena delegation visit on november four twenty twenty five your time is MAY GOD bring peace to all humanity this time seems certain to be fair at home and around the world came in jill davis oh my honored counsel I'm a first time speaker property owner here and I wanted to come to object to please don't divest boycott israel. It's the only democracy in the middle east where jews, druze, muslims they all vote and they all have we're going to be respectful in israel. That's not true in the other places. The reason why children are getting killed are two reasons. The first reason was OCTOBER the 7th of a premeditated murder of little jewish babies that were taken and put in the terror tunnels. The beep us twins and then those tunnels are the problem. Those palest and kids and people are put in harm's way in those hospitals and those schools and the terror tunnels. So this is an ideological warfare that's going on and I hope you don't fall for this global thing against america's basic friend israel. Your time has expired. Thank you so much. Thank let's let's let's let's be respectful of everyone's opinion man mandon follow by telling husa malian then jahnavi and of elvia montenegro sir welcome to democracy would allow all people in a country to be represented in the original people of that land the indigenous people who were invaded murdered repeatedly. We're talking about now the worst of it it doesn't include operation protective edge in twenty fourteen that killed over two thousand doesn't talk about operation cast lead. It doesn't talk about sabra and shatila. This is ongoing read hartzell read gravitons keep the the father of the likud party read ben-gurion this was intended. The numbers you're hearing are far low. They do not include hundreds of thousands in the rubble. Buyology torline studies I spoke thank you sir asar million sir. We want to be respectful. We want to thank you. Good evening mayor and council members. My name is celene and I stand before you as a descendant of survivors the armenian genocide because of my family's history, the suffering of people facing displacement, starvation and violence is deeply personal to me. Gaza is very close to my heart. At our last meeting my friend laila joined us live on video call from gaza. She stayed awake until 6:00 in the morning her time listening to everyone's beautiful words and she was so deeply moved to feel the care and support from this community she asked me to bring her voice into this space again tonight in her own words she wanted me to share this. If you talk about us, please tell them that I am your friend and that we are suffering from malnutrition. The most important thing we need our most basic right is safety along with medicine and medical care which we do not have. We need people to support us to stand with us and to help us by boycotting everything tied to the occupation because it is the reason for our suffering. Our condition is proof of these crimes and the world must see it. Thank you. Thank you to the followed by elvia montenegro. Nasser korem, welcome. Hi my being I'm a graduate student at california state university northridge. I'm pursuing my master's degree in social work as part of my academic program I'm conducting a community assessment project and have chosen pasadena as a focus I it is my home in my community. I care deeply about it in an effort to complete this project I have reached out to the mayor and all seven district members to question opportunity to ask a few questions about the community and the people you unfortunately I have not yet received a response. Well I understand that my project MAY not be the highest priority. This experience has raised a broader concern if it is difficult for a student to receive a response, how accessible are city leaders to community members with pressing issues? My sincere question is is it normal? Is normally this challenging for residents to receive a response from their elected officials? I truly hope for the opportunity to connect both for the success of my project and more importantly to strengthen the relationship between leadership and the community. Thank you. If you guys want to say after and answer a few of my questions I would greatly thank you. Elvia montignac followed by now caromed and riley vo johnny welcome. Thank you. I'm here today as a fire victim and I just want to speak in support of the one on trip. That's a that's an agenda item. You have to wait until we speak on that. You know the flame of peace. I just want to talk about the flame of peace and my a part of the that's a fire victim the specifically about the flame of peace object. Yes. Anyway, I just want to speak on that because as we know fire destroyed our community and destroyed a lot of families and we are still in grief and we are still processing that. I am in support of the um the ceremony for the flame of peace because fire is used in duality as destruction. But in in this ceremony we're going to be using this as a flame of peace. So that is a good transition for us and it helps us grieve and it helps us to see fire in a different way in a different light. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Nasser karanth rilly rajani then pastor kirwin manning. Aleikum a peace be on you. My name is nasser khurram. I'm a U.S. Citizen and I thought I'd start saying something slightly different. I visited israel palestine uh right before the OCTOBER seven and I was this was the first time in my life and what I saw over there as us person we were allowed to go to the left to the right and I saw those people that were walking between the cages and stopped. So this is apartheid. I didn't know what that is. My request is to divest in all the companies that are benefiting from this genocide and to have all investments focused on doing the right thing rather than focused on just making money out of the genocide. Thank you. Thank you, riley riley ranjani followed by pastor kerwin manning. Then phyllis griffin will be the last speaker. Hi I'm riley. Um I'm jewish uh iranian american. Um I'm standing before you asking you to divest and consider creating a citywide ethical investment policy on SEPTEMBER 15th of this year, the U.N. Independent international commission of inquiry on the occupied palestinian territory published a report which focused on the events that occurred after OCTOBER 7th of twenty twenty three. Two of the major points from that report the commission concluded that and this is to quote directly the israeli authorities and the israeli secretary forces committed four of the five acts of genocide genocide as defined by the 1948 convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide namely murder infliction of grievous bodily or mental harm, the imposition of deliberate sorry that your time has expired to destroy palestinians in whole or sorry riley I think we will be rilly we want to be respectful of other people's time. Thank you pastor, he added based on the patterns of behavior by israeli government israeli I don't I don't want to hold you out of order please. Pastor curwen manning followed by fellus griffin resubmission . Ok, great and and so fellus griffin is the last speaker and any speaker who would like to submit their comments in writing. If you have been writing to please give them to the sergeant at arms who will then ensure the clerk distributes to all members of the council. Thank MR. Griffin virtually by the way. Yes. Can you hear me? Yes, go ahead. You have one minute. All right bill when you have three seconds is so good to hear about this flame of peace, a flame of unity of solidarity. The task before us is not just procedures for politics. It's about what we choose to do with that flame, what the council and the community chooses to do with that flame will be remembered for centuries if we lift it high and something that becomes a beacon of integrity to the global partners if we let it fade and just flicker and then we risk becoming just a cautionary tale of how complacency we have been and injustices in a time of global and national conflict and division. Peace is not abstract nor is it delusional. Unity is not a simple or ceremony. Solidarity is not optional or only for a few. The young are the pharmacy and the issues that are facing our nation and our city. We stand as one pasadena across our differences and across every time has expired. Thank they give us great thank you. That completes public comment matters not on the agenda. We can move on to the consent the consent calendar and I'll entertain a motion to to approve the consent calendar move by MR. Massouda seconded by MR. Lyon. Are there any objections seen on the consent calendar is approved to you and to the audience? Yeah. Why don't we take the matter out of order and go to item thirteen and adopt an ordinance that should be a fairly quick matter. This is an ordinance that was offered by council member hampton. This is an unqualified ordinance of the city of pasadena exempting qualifying eaton fire rebuilds from construction tax to adopt council member call yes. Councilor hampton. Yes. Councilor jones yes. Councilor ryan yes. Customer madison yes. Councilor massouda yes. Vice erebus yes. Mayor gordo. Yes. Motion is unanimously approved item nine the mayor the fire presentation. Yes. Will move on to the presentation of the fire department on the ten year operational and organizational plan this matter I'm going to make a suggestion that we allow the plan to be presented and then hold questions and we can bring the matter back for discussion. We do have six speaker cards on this item to mayor. Also there was one letter advocating for the city's fire department to coordinate with cal fire statewide and provide comments on the matter and provide the comment on the matter and that letter was distributed the council posted online and is part of the record for this item. I think we need the fire chief . So this is just the presentation. It's a presentation and then if you want information, further information might be an opportunity to give that direction and then we'll come back through public safety with some of the answers to some of those questions and present at council is that an agreeable to everyone? I'm agreeable with that. I mean you said it will come back to public safety, right? Once we if there are if there's direction or request for further information than we can allow the department to come back with that information through public safety and ultimately the council I know this is not a recommendation, right? That is right. There's no staff recommendations. I know this is not our typical order of of things but maybe we should let the public comment or speak first. Oh yeah. Yeah. If there are comments that our police chief would like to respond to some of the public comments sorry our fire chief would like to respond to some of the public comments he could respond here now if that's amenable to the council. Sure. I think it's a good suggestion. Why don't we with public comment coming anywhere near and that bull fire by jackie english then carlos have hubba lara then yadi and jim mcdermott and then wrapping widjojo so how long do you want to do two minutes. All right thank you. I'll ring a bell when you have thirty seconds left you have two minutes. Go ahead. Thank you. Council members and fellow residents along with my fellow west pasadena residents association board members. My comments will be talking about mitigation of fire fuel in the arroyo seco. As we all know, it's not a matter of if but when the perfect conditions of heat and wind ignite the foliage in the arroyo to have brush abatement twice a year is not enough. That schedule needs to be revised to at least quarterly and your proposed mitigation effort. You also mentioned remove non-native species that create fire risks of all the numerous non natives in the arroyo that compete with native plants for nutrients, none is more dangerous than the eucalyptus introduced to northern california in the fifties. It was not until the start of the twentieth century that the clean air painters introduced eucalyptus trees into the arroyo simply because they found the trees picturesque and excellent subjects of the art. But the mere fact that eucalyptus is not a native species is not the primary reason that these trees must be removed from the arroyo. The primary and urgent reason is that these trees pose a far higher fire risk than native plants in australia. In australia where eucalyptus is native they are called gasoline trees eucalyptus trees tend to explode in fireballs at very high temperatures and they do not need fire to ignite these trees will also drop flammable leaves per acre that native trees and embers that these leaves stay longer and fly further than embers from other vegetation. A eucalyptus tree also constantly sheds spark. This is why brush abatement is nearly twice a year is not enough. The bark is also fire hazard bark on the ground catches fire readily and the loose strips tend to carry fire up to the canopy casting embers outward in time has expired. Thank you. Thank you for listening to jackie english followed by carlos valera. Two minutes I'll ring in about three seconds right here in pasadena. The risk of urban wildfires has grown more acute in recent years. The changing climate extended dry periods and increased proximity of urban development to wildfire prone areas have made it fire threat more acute . Our largest and most beloved urban park, the arroyo seco probably is the largest contiguous area in the state of california rated a very high fire zone. It comprises like a third of the city of pasadena is red fire zone. We have we export we support investment in modern equipment, advanced training for personnel, increased monitoring and strategic placement of fire stations to ensure rapid response times we support increased use of aerial firefighting resources, thermal monitoring technologies and enhanced coordination with regional agencies for mutual aid. however, as robust as these department improvements are, the reality is that the effectiveness of our urban fire protection must also depend on the urban fire defenses that are actually built into our neighborhoods. To that end, the long term development plan would include partnering with neighborhoods to build into the hardscape and landscape urban fire defense. We believe the success of the long term development plan depends on the promotion of fire wise community. A nationally recognized program fire wise communities foster a culture of awareness and shared responsibility where residents collaborate with local fire officials to assess vulnerabilities and plan evacuation out. The fire was community in pasadena was started in JUNE of this year. We now have eight more fire wise interested neighborhood communities but residents can't do this alone and I want to thank carina wakefield fire inspector with the passing of the fire department who has worked enthusiastically to help us. I also want to thank jestingly your time has expired. Ok, thank you. Oliviera in any welcome any written comments to be submitted and then yadi and then jim mcdermott dermot and then ruffy bajaj in good evening council members. I'm carlos habanera from the west pasadena. Residents association. Well we haven't yet taken an official position. The wpro arroyo committee wants to highlight two critical issues for your consideration evacuation preparedness and fire station solar microgrid funding. First, evacuation preparedness many neighborhoods in the arroyo have limited access and dead end streets creating serious challenges during a wildfire evacuation. We urge the city to ensure adequate resources for efficient evacuations, especially for vulnerable residents and to enhance coordination of alert systems. Public education on evacuation routes and emergency readiness should also be a priority. Second fire station solar micro grids in a disaster fire stations must stay operational and solar micro grids can power these facilities when the grid fails, we recommend pursuing federal and state funding for solar micro grids which are aligned with pasadena's climate goals and offer a cleaner, more reliable alternative to diesel generators. Investing in these areas will not only protect our residents but also build a more resilient pasadena in the face of increasing fire risks. Thank you and the pasadena fire department's continued commitment to public safety. Thank you yadi. And then jim mcdermott, epa duchesne. Hi. I'm here to support, you know, increasing the resources for the fire department as you're aware I'm adding fire survivor and I was an advocate early on of having a task force where the community members did today could come and bring ideas that is like they did to see what can be improved upon and future fires and large scale emergencies in my other time and talking. Ok, so I'll just say I actually spent a lot of time talking to a lot of firefighters this year and part of it was because of legislation having to do with the wildfires and they were really awesome being helpful about writing opinion on a firefighting helicopters and regulating a pilot on that. So I'm really thankful for that and I also took that opportunity to ask them as a fire survivor what would you what do you recommend that I use my platform to ask for and what they said is fight complacency and so from the fires until now if you saw that I was a really strong supporter and looking back at what happened and what can be improved upon, it's partially and advocating for more resources for our firefighters which means more resources for the community to be resilient in future disasters. And I'm really glad to see that there is going to be at least another fire station and lasting I'll say is you know, I was really dismayed to hear that our first responders had to go to local hardware stores to get people out and I hope that we don't run into that issue again in the future. Thank you. Jim mcdermott followed by roffey bitchen. Oh thank you. My wife and I live on our royal boulevard and we ask the council to consider the following one support the chief's plan to prepare the department to meet the challenges raised by the eaton canyon fire to maintain conditions in the arroyo and other high danger areas so that fire does start it will be contained and extinguished quickly post eaton canyon firefighting preparations must be complemented by aggressive fire prevention measures and three we applaud the city council's recent action approving a five year brush clearance contract for the arroyo and the chiefs plan includes additional funding for the next fiscal years. However, does the city need a long term dedicated revenue stream to address brush clearance not only for the arroyo but for other high danger zones like eaton canyon and parts of hastings ranch? If so, what should be the vehicle either part of the financing for the chiefs long term plan or through a separate financing vehicle such as a dedicated assessment district? We ask you to study this long term funding question as part of your consider creation of the chief's draft plan. Thank you. Roffey of welcome I roffey budget CHAIRMAN PRESIDENT for pasadena firefighters association. I want to begin by thanking city manager marquez mayor gordon olive council. I also want to thank the community. They've been amazing with their support and very proud to be part of this city and serve the city and your support means everything to us. So just let you know that we live in your communities. We are part of your community. Some of us spend more time here in the city in the stations than we do at home. I want to just say that chief augustine honestly has created a blueprint for the success of this department and the future of this department. If we follow his blueprint and our department is going to be in really, really good hands going on into the future, we definitely need a lot more resources. Our stations that need to be rebuilt just being one of the members that lives out at the stations and seeing what our facilities look like and what they could be, I'm very hopeful that chief's vision and plan we could put it in place and definitely get those resources some of our apparatus being housed at some of our stations instead of sitting out in the elements, you know, to protect investment that this community's made and you have made and really appreciate all the support. We are a world-class department and we'll continue being that world class apartment in partnership with eight or nine and the chief and our deputy chiefs and everyone here in council. yes, the resources that are that are needed and I've seen it grow. I've been here almost four years and I've seen a need for our resources from adding ambulances to even adding a station just with our call volume going up every year. So I'm here to support chief and his vision and his plan and look forward to continuing being a destination department and also a training center that is very, very necessary for the future of our departments. We are such a young department and just want to make sure that we continue that that true partnership and support with the community council mayor and city manager as well. Thank you. Thank. And on behalf of the council and all residents of pasadena and beyond including our neighbors in altadena, thank you for your service and the service of all eight or nine members by the way, for the community eight or nine is the firefighter putting his firefighter association. That's the number. So please pass on our best regards and our great things now it's a true honor to serve this community and everyone in it there are wonderful people. We love them and we want to continue that great partnership . Thank you. That completes public comment on this item. Ok, chief, we couldn't have had a better introduction so but truly I mean raffi's right. You've set a tone that's important. The department created a lot of confidence and not just within the department but in the community and certainly among this council. Thank you very much. And I echo rafi's comments. It is a privilege to work and serve our community. So good evening. Many members of city council chat augustine with pasadena fire presenting with me tonight I have an entire team I have bjork's director kokopelli cien public works principal engineer heyden melbourne and from fire I have stephanie chang and deputy chief himself and anthony james a few months back during my budget presentation I discussed long term fire department needs at that time I received direction to come back and provide an update on a more detailed plan with cost estimates tonight my team and I are here to provide an update of what a more fire ready pasadena could look like in doing our research we found that your pasadena fire department has had the same daily fire suppression staffing for decades during that time nine one one emergency calls for service have seen a five to ten fold increase. The last two standards of coverage documents have recommended increasing staffing to address increasing risks, increasing response times and increasing emergency call volume. Unfortunately our aging fire stations do not allow your pasadena fire department to add any additional resources and this is due to a lack of space. Some of our fire stations still do not meet seismic standards and could be severely damaged in an earthquake. More importantly the risk to pasadena our ever changing from fires to mudslides to major earthquakes as well as our ever increasing volume of special events. This plan will ensure that your pasadena fire department has the personnel, the training and the tools to provide the highest possible level of service to our community both for today and the next 25 to 50 years to come. So my vision for a long term plan revoves around providing the highe level of service to our counity. It al considers the er increasin special events at the rose bowl and the need to sure both our fa and our residents stayafe. This plan address the changing demographics we are and will cntinue toe an agin population. The need for emergency servic will continue to increase. This plan will ensure our community h the services they deserve I their time of need. It also addresses urban develoent. As you are awe there is not manyacant lots in t city of pasena. Theoverwhelming majorit of ourrowth will infl and commeial expansion procts. Ny of the infill projects will beertical growth and the pjects demand much more resoues when they're o fire . this pn also assists wi imroved response tim. Ase are all are in an emergen every second tru counts this plan als addresses thehanging environment landscap and great wdfire risk locally,egionally and across a sta as rk, change andincrease, it is vital that your pasaden fire department is equipped wh the tos, the training andhe staffing to mitigatehose risks. Finally, it'sincredibly important provide contexto thi presentation. As I meioned already, t goal is t ensure we ae a more prepar pasadena formany years to com in order to g a good startg point. We he attempted toost the first 10 years o this plan that doesnot mean that the funding a that this long rm planshould end at the 10 year rk. Rath we should consttly be oking for new a innovative innovative ways to ensurehat asadena is as prared as possible for t next dister. In all honey its incredibly hardto forecast pa 10 years as an example we know that w ne additional fundingor the st ten year for ye round brush cleance and we just heard th loud and clear fm o public commt. 're changingegulations, a changingnvironment and technology irovements. There MAY very wel be additional priities an options in e future that we hav not even though of. Will be my recommendatio that ts long term plan has ongoing fding without a sunset to ensure we kep our communiti safe for generations to ce. The ial plan would allow for regular updat in frequent intervals to eure that we're hitting the mark ile allowing us the flexibity to pivot en necessary tonsure our community iss prepared as possible. The risk weace in the future will esent their own uque chalnges. Th it is important tt this an allows for sta to be mble to address the challens head on to proct our cmmunity. Is slide shows ou call volume dating ba to 2012 and we have data back seventy years t I thought I wouldhighlight the last since ju over a thirtn years wve had a 33 perce increase in callolume sice 2012 ande expect to have this type o increase for many yea to come and thas a 33 pcent increase deite elinated nearly a thousd lls on which wewere doing fire alarms thatre false alarms, that 33 perce incase would be muchigher. 's also importanto note tht a rosebowl eve in which we MAY treat o hundred patients in a single event still ly counts as a sgle incident call volume increases would be significantly increased ifach patient contacteda special event counted as a separate incide . I provide this slide during the budt presentation outling a general planor short medium andong term gls and we we dened short term as one to two years dium in the twoto five years d th long term five ten yers . Andi was incrediy thankful for your supportin addressing the short term recomndation for adding aecond daily operations battion chief these thr positions are funded eective JANUARY 1st and wl allowfor the response area th personnel supervion and emergency duti to be aligned tochieve optimal spa of contr, ultimately enhcing accountabilitynd serce delivery to o community. And as we move intoour mid-term goals recommend addinga ninth fire enne and aeventh rescue ambulan. It's bn decades since tre's bee any addition toire engine staffing. By adding an additional fire engine the'll be an increas in seice deliver a reductionn response timesnd ineased ability to mitigate our everchanging risks. And as we look at the cst of those depssing companies an stephani will provide mor detail o later slides but the forecast the apratus cost ofust under two million dollars atne point nine million andhe ongoing annual personnelosts of just under three pint two million and adding a seventh rescu ambunce to ensure thatur community has a timely ambulce services they derve in tir time of need. As I mentied earlier, we ae n aging populatio and medical services nds will continue t increa into the futu and the sting forhat seventh rescue ambunce for the apparatus around and fifty thousand dolla and just over one point thr million annual for the personn and next I goingo turn I over to hayden melbrne to talk about fire staion 33 gd be mayorouncil to melbourn princip engineer public wks and for the rerd the chie auguste has discussed ts longerm propos plan includes a romap for eplacing our outded facities asell as construing a new stationo meet fture demands. The privatizatn of al these projes is based on t folling criteria age and cdition of eac facility a mpliance with natial fire otection associatn health and saty, seismic prottion andire safety syste, operatiol adequacy and te abilit to meet modern acceibility requirement. Now beforee get into the actual estimate cost for each stationi want to explainthe bas which was utiled to give ese estimates. Each replacent new station is based on a 15000 thousand square footerb facility in today's dolrs that's approximate twent three int the dollars millio now thats cost includes no only constrution but the plaing desi all permitting environmenta documentation contingencs for unforeseen conditions d the ct for relating and maintaini currentstation operations and clean a temporary falities tht are necessary an developing these aumptions blic works as well as passing a fire metith orange county fire athority to review their recent statn projects, their cos drivers and thei delivery processes. The experience lidated the square footagerogram sndards and the cos raes we are usg for these estimates d they provided valuable lsons learned on t project delive finally to reflect the rlities of when construction actually occur as per our propod schedule we're doing the escalation o five and half percent perear to the midpot of each construion facility that w that eh of the estimates is based on the actual realties ofwhat we're askingor. So theirst station istation hirty three locate at 515 north lakes the oldest station I the city was buil inineteen for six almost 80 yrs old so the bilding is in poor contion and does not meetfpa standards for firefightehealth, wellness and safety. It lacks fire spriners and a seismic proction and while I does have auxilry power and exhaust sysm, the overall facility grossly outdated gen his age and safety ises andhe inability to spport mern operation on station thirty thre has been prioritized aboveall other stations for fir replacement in this progr with the constrtion proposed to bin in twty tnty nine, the estimated repcement cost would be approxitely three and a half million and a you can seeon this slide and subseque slides to follow, there ar numerous benets from e proposed long rm infraructure plan. Iwould turn back er to the chie to inthe long term five to ten ye portion of our plan I recommend addg a third ladder tuck and an eighth rescuembulance. The last two standds of coverage documentshave recmended adding a thi ladr truck by adding this critical resrce we will ensure our communityhas improved fire rsponse, timely access to crical equipment like the jaws ofife and be betterrepared to addressire and medicalneeds. The approxima cost of that third ladd truck is just under six pint four million but thepparatus being 5 million and th ongoing rsonnel costs ofust under ree point nine mllion nnually by addingnother rescue ambance we ll coinue to ensure ou communi has the medical resourceseeded wn they call nine one one a with the escalare estimat the apparatus will cst six hundred and twenty thoand dollars and the ongoing rsonnel costs will just under o point six million. So bac to forore stations station thirt seven is the second prioty. A replament constructed i ninetee fifty seven is arly 70 ars old ands rated in poor conditionor assessments. It houses an engine a rescue ambulanceith the daily staf of six t the facility on haswo bays and do not current accsibility andards. The station is no sprinklered . It lac seismic protectns and ds not have an etractor o clean protectiv equipmen stion thirty seven I priorited for replacementfor irty three becae of its age, its ndition and inability to me modern operational safety reqrements with the constction proposed to begin in 213ne the esmated cost intisarwould be thirty four mlion dollars. Now a new stati which I waed to discuss is in dition to theirutdated stations that want to replace I needs the city nds to expand it fire service footprt to keep up wi growthopulation increases, highe density housing d more large scale eventshich are driving higher ca volumes and placingdded demands on respons times to addre these gaps, news stations oposed for construction ginning in 2003 with an esmatedost of thty seven point eit dollar million nowlease note th the exact locati for the station has n yet been determined. Chief augustine will discuss potentia candidate sites d follong slides and the assessment also ds not clude the procuremnt of an land. This is srictly just for the cotruction of the building self. Ief augustin oh I sorry ologize. So I justanted to give ick recap of what I discussed with those thr stations in today's doars there are twenty threeoint three dollars ch but wit the estimated inflati cost at five and a half prcent per year, station trty three wou be a complete tea a reacement with an estimated cost thirty a a half million llars station thiy sevenithonstruction in twty thirty one I wld be approximately thir four million dollars d a new stati with between 200 and twenty thir five wod cost approxately thirty seven point eightillion without the purchasef any la I'd like t highlight three potentialreas of pasadena that coul be ide for adding a nih full time fire station eachf these areas are identifie based on improvg our orall response time ineasing and projecd increa of nine one onealls or service and prected growth and infillrojects ithin the city ofasadena ultimately t build out of a new fire stationill be pendent on theability for us to locate la three potential areas that hav been identifd with te north side ofhe city nearast washington blevard etween lake andnorth hill. Th secondption potential option I the southern partf theity aong those roadblocks between south arro and el molino and third is near the rosebowl. Eh of these sites examined the inciden call volu and identified areas wre future growth is expected withigher density and talle buildings. Ne I'll turnt over t stephanie sothis slidehows a priminary projection f costs r each of te resourcesou just heard aout from chief augustine a hayden. D this is these ae the timates from fisc year twty twenty seven tough to enty to thirty fe with each of these additnal resources there are ongng personnel capital costshat also increase over ti. So forxample if we addn additnal engine or a tck this wuld include adding twelve pitions across the agency opetional shifts which means si additional firefighters, threengineers and three captai