Regular Council Meeting

and if you'd like to be a guest on our email us at community cooking at torrance, C.A. Love and check us out online at youtube.Com slash torrance cable and like us on facebook at community cooking tv . >> hello I'm I'm detective morton and I work the fraud forgery desk at the el segundo police. I'm here today to give you guys some tips on how not to fall victim to a popular amazon scam that's going around right now. The scam involves getting an email disguised to look like it's amazon. The email is confirming an order you did make and a telephone number is provided for you to call if the order was made by mistake when the number is called the person on the other line will act like they are a representative from amazon and will request your card information and in some cases have you purchase gift cards and give them the gift card information. Some tips for you to do is to first check your amazon and credit card account to see if the purchase is there. If you do not see the charge delete the email if there is a charge contact amazon directly as you normally would and don't respond to the email or call the number provided. >> do not provide your credit card or personal information and do purchase gift cards and provide the information amazon will never request this information from you. >> I hope these tips help keep safe . I just know we're going to call this to in order and we're going to roll call and then we got the invocation led by father alexis smith, MADAM Clerk at councilmember baldino here, councilmember here councilmember first stop here, mayor pro tem pimentel here and mayor boyle thank you, MADAM Clerk. All right. So father alexis smith will be joining us for the invocation led councilmember baldino I'm sorry followed with the pledge of allegiance. I'll please COUNCILMAN, if you'd like to change positions I'd be happy to sign. All right. Let us pray or have anything we comforter in the spirit of truth PRESIDENT Of positive giver of all all things trent we thank you for this glory this summer days and for the gifts of our city which you have entrusted to our care GOD in our hearts with the fragrance of your love right in our eyes with the light of your guidance, the light, our ears, the melody of your word shelter us all in the stronghold of your province able to recognize presence in our midst this evening grant to the members city council and to all who provide them with input the spirit of your wisdom and light in the members of our city council always act in accordance with your will make the decisions be for the greater good the well-being of all who work in our city together. MAY we continue to provide a unique place in which to learn and to work and to raise our families MAY all be led closer to you and to one another and to your blessings you promise MAY we never forget those members our community or less fortunate than are we imagine? We are creatures of high of the united states of america unto the other which and is one nation under GOD indivisible and justice. Thank you father alexi. Thank you, COUNCILMAN. You know I've got two great presentations and same in up we're going to recognize a stellar member of the community really a pillar of the community brenda neumann for her 15 years of dedication and dedicated service to the planning commission right up here on the dias so many years and thank you for being here. Brennan I know you you got your fan club with you here as well is that yes and so I just want to say for an outstanding 50 years of service on the planning commission your unwavering dedication, leadership and commitment to our community have played an essential role in shaping our growth and development. Thank you for your vision hard work and years of guidance. Your contributions will leave a lasting so let's give it up again for entertainment . You know the drill and we'd love to hear from please. Thank you. I tell you 15 years has gone by very quickly and it's been a it's been a really, really special time I don't know what else to say except that it's a great city and I think you guys are doing a terrific job. I've seen that there's been a lot of available postings for the communities commissions and boards and I would invite anybody who's not an opportunity to get involved because it's very a very interesting and a very special time. So I thank you guys very, very much. That's it. I'm okay this I feel I know that. Yes, I I was certainly okay. Yes. Right ready? All right. Thank you very much from. Bravo. Yeah, not very happy . All right. Thank you again to brandon newman next and then turn over to councilmember my county councilmember lance drew for recognition of the arts going to high schools winter garden team lance. All right. And the continuing theme of champions coming out of el segundo school in 2024 are they here? All right, there we go. All right. Congratulations to that. They're going to high schools garden team on winning first place at the winter garden international regional championships 24 competing against 31 other high school teams from across and southern california is no small feat and your hard work, dedication and incredible talent truly shine. Wishing you continued success and more victories in the future and I'm going to announce the members of the team and I think we a certificate for them right so now see you can come up here that'd be great. Holguin cadman is stephanie cruz here. All right. Riley fisher, aria isabella gonzalez , ayla luna. You were expecting me to get that one right, but they phonetically spelled me here so . Oh, see who put whimsy on here ? I would have gone shiela. Sorry, sheila. Julian here. This rose lipski anastasia parker actually read elizabeth smith. Amy walters and coach alison lions and program director joey leone eye coach and director if you'd like to say a few words. That's it. Absolutely. If you want to get the microphone be cool. Hello city council. Thank you so much for your support. This is a really hardworking team of freshmen all the way through seniors. They work up to 21 hours a week practicing. we compete all across southern california with hopes to take the team to nationals this coming year and supporting our city. So thank you so much for your support and we look forward to bringing some more proud success our way. Thank you. Any family members friends loved on the flight map and grab a photo? I just get to to your show and everybody moving so thank you so all right so I think now is the time and place for public communications the we're going to limit this 5 minutes per person which is the norm minutes total and MADAM Clerk coming to we have to know 12. Okay. So to actually in consideration of that we do 3 minutes each still over the 30 minutes we all thank you. Okay with that city attorney kate 3 minutes each interview you the first public comment or please we will it's going to be on your gold scene and after on here will be genesis packet . Hi everyone my name is anya goldstein I'm an over ten year resident of el segundo, member of the sweat equity alliance, an organization of concerned citizens to make our town a more welcoming place to live, work and play. I'm here to speak today about councilmember per stokes rogue instruction to turn off the city's pride lights her lies to cover up her behavior and her total silence on the issue in the months since. For those who missed it, councilmember first stuck on her own and without authority to do so instructed city staff to stop illuminating the water tower for for pride after receiving a request from an anti lgbtq class resident in town after an uproar on social she implied that water tower lighting decisions were made by city as a whole but that in any event the city had always to relight the water tower for pride after flag day. It turns out both of those statements were lies we later learned not from an admission but from a public records act request that councilmember first made the decision on own apparently on an anti lgbtq plus when and that her original instruction to staff was to end the pride lighting on flag day not to resume it after she hasn't said a peep about this since her blatantly false statements came to light nor have her fellow council members sought an explanation or an apology at least not publicly in a way that would show our community that they care and are to integrity and transparency. This community a right to expect better I hope today we hear an apology councilmember pathetic and I hope that we hear calls for one from her fellow council members but when we let's all remember that it took an uproar on social media a public act request and multiple residents coming to multiple city council meetings to get there. we deserve better . Normally we don't condone a positive you MADAM Clerk janice's packet and after her will be capped grudgingly. Hello my name is genesis puckett. I am an singapore resident. Today I'm here to comment on the situation that happened with councilmember carroll in relation to the lighting of the water tower in honor of lgbtq pride month. As I'm sure you know after being led honor of pride month the water tower lights were suddenly changed for red, white and on JUNE 14th. A community member addressed this in a local facebook page asking why it wouldn't change so early for independence day. Carol so I did see the lights were only changing for flag day and to celebrate PRESIDENT Biden's way of what elliot was always to change it back to rainbow for the rest of the month. We know now from a public records request that carol in fact instructed director sassoon to keep the lights red, white and blue through JULY 5th. Know many people listening don't understand why the water tower lights are such a big deal. It's because it's all we've got. Aside from presenting a proclamation JUNE city council meeting there is no outward show of support from the city to community. And while I'm appreciative of the proclamation the first pride proclamation for el segundo was issued in 2021 which is 22 years after the federal government the first pride month. We are severely behind and this community deserves better. There are no city sponsored pride events. So yes the water tower lights are cut short. We care for those who don't care about the lgbtq community or just don't care about the water tower. I'm not here to change your mind. What you should care about is the ease of which like openly and boldly to the community. There's also been no apology towards taking accountability if this lie was typed so easily how many others have there been? What disturbs me more is that the order came to change the lights to red, white and blue came 2 hours after community member emailed city council requesting the change. For anyone doesn't know the community member in question is responsible for majority of the most hateful lgbtq rhetoric on the community facebook pages including the recently discontinued unfiltered page in which she was nearly the only person posted but she continued to post her vitriol several times a day. This person has also launched several unprovoked online toxic attacks against my husband and children while hiding behind an account with no photos of herself. So the idea that this person has so much influence and not directed belong to city council is absolutely terrifying. I'm here to ask for an for an apology and for accountability. We need to see that line to constituents is unacceptable no matter the cause. The community is waiting. Thank. Thank you, MADAM Clerk. I can't hide. I'm sorry. And up next will be susan. Good evening, council members. I'm kat gladney. Been our resident the condo for about seven years. I'm here to address sudden change of watertown alliance from pride month rainbow to patriotic red, white and blue in the middle of JUNE. Councilmember prosek publicly stated on facebook that the lights would return to rainbow for the rest of the month after flag day and PRESIDENT Biden's visit. Yet behind you had already instructed director sassoon to keep the american flag colors up until JULY 5th. This was not just a simple oversight it a deliberate act of deception. You misled the public making us believe that the rainbow lights would return when you had no intention of doing so. I would like to know why you chose to end the rainbow display early especially while pride month was still in full swing. Were you afraid of potential backlash more conservative residents or those opposed to lgbtq plus visibility? The community deserves an honest explanation. Frankly, we deserve an apology for the dishonesty and the disregard of of pride. Thank you. Next, MADAM Susan bolling. Hi, I'm susan bolling. Otherwise known as the original poster it was my post on 15th of JUNE about the lights and obviously everybody here knows what happened. This is not about a flag anymore. It's not about the lights on the water tower. This is about an elected official lying to her constituents. There is more than 150 people that responded to my post favorably. We had a had a handful of residents that do the things that they do and make negative if not homophobic comments it. But the vast majority of the responses were were positive and the council member posted. I'm sorry if I mispronounced your name. It's really a question it's condescending. We can see the paper trail and gone through freedom of information act. We can see how it moved a particular resident who's made it had a history of negative comments getting your attention and within an hour you requesting that the lights be changed for the entire month and then unbeknownst to me a day later I'm asking can we get them turned on for pride? And instead we get this mishegoss of all year. Held them up for five day and then because PRESIDENT Biden his plane was parked at L.A.X. I don't know of a time that the council has ever done that. So what we need is transparency but we also deserve just a straight up apology. It would have been so much easier to say okay, hey, we didn't realize this is so important to you. We're reminded let's go. We'll be back on tomorrow rather than the very condescending several paragraph response that that if this community isn't really all supportive and in for it we really can't do it and it's a lot of trouble when you knew that the day before you had told them to light it for the whole month so at a minimum an apology and I asked the whole council to just look at this and I just want that just by way of example I was more than 50 years old before I had the right to legally marry. That right came less than ten years ago. A 65 year old woman I've seen some things I've been gay my entire life. It's important to your, your constituents that if you're going to light the water tower or give a there are people here that really value not just old people like me who've had to fight really hard for it but young people that lights the way that shows a confidence that I think was in your hearts when you gave the. And I'm asking you to rise to that again. You thank you as my friend and gunnery name is brendan gormley making comment regarding item 16 under consent. Today I thanks the city council for listening to me today and for recognizing our western state championship girls u14 all-star team back in MAY. It was a lot. Everyone was really excited to be here. I'm here as a representative the usa. I'm the regional commissioner as some of you know a couple of you are familiar with nyc. So as a nonprofit hundred percent volunteer organization from the reps coaches. One of the directors we'll take time out of our busy schedules to build recreational soccer experience for the residents of el segundo. In fact we have right now nearly current registered players 719 of those are also going to residence so much like other sports in town. We are looking for a public way to honor our players with a parade down main street on opening day. I asked the members of city council to waive percent of the fees associated with this parade and allow our players of that moment to be honored and recognized and that's it. Thank you so much for. Thank you. It's a great time. The broader good evening to the city council and the mayor. My name is lisa patrick and I live at 817 mccarthy court. I've been for about 35 years and children here and in the time that I've been in el segundo I have always felt it was a great town and a safe place. But recently within the last of years there's been a series of bad that have taken place on mccarthy court and I think that you should be notified of them. There have been several hit and and run crashes. My neighbor romina this doctor was here and david my other on mccarthy court to support me. So on AUGUST seventh some individuals came in their vehicle down mccarthy court from the stop sign at walmart in mccarthy and didn't quite make it around the corner and I have some pictures that I can show you and they smashed and destroyed romanus car. This is not the first time that this has happened and in addition to that because about to imperial avenue there's a lot of people that come into the city through there and there have been a couple hit and run some there before and I've contacted the city just recently about adding speed bumps, signage and more lighting there that it can be safer. But I took a walk down the street. I was shocked at how many people had had their cars into with the catalytic converter stolen and that type of thing. I just wanted to share this with you and I just was very sad because the kids and I know this because I submitted to the police that destroyed romano's car backed up one person got out of the car and ran away and the other person in seat went out to another man and escaped and as far as I know I don't have any feedback from the police that that these people have been held accountable for their reckless and endangering behaviors. So I just would like your support. I know that when citizens come forward I know there's a lot of things going on in town and there's a lot of traffic concerns. There's a lot of things that happen in the street but there's only two meetings a year to address citizen concerns and I would hope that you would be mindful of and especially with school starting that we would maybe accelerate that. Thank you for your time and give broader adriana I do not want to mess up your last name adriana adriana it's horrible. It's if you need that last name. My name is and I grew up in el segundo. I'm proud to have been a cougar, a bulldog and an eagle. Playing four years of varsity softball and captaining team my senior year helped me develop life skills and values still use as a director of a large work team. Of my core values as a team leader is accountability which I come seeking from you today council members cusack's were one that's clear and I don't feel the need to expand on that yet there has been no acknowledgment or apology of behavior I assume I assume or at least I would hope that she's grossly embarrassed but embarrassment doesn't supersede accountability. what is actually more concerning to me though is the from the rest of council with the blunder here so publicly obvious. It's truly saddens me that not one but all would try to sweep it under the rug which it seems to be doing. One of the values of this council is and I quote ethics we are accountable and responsible for our actions transparent our processes and follow professional standards while taking calculated to provide solutions. Well, not only was carol's not very calculated but transparency had to be sought through a public records act by a community member and there's still no accountability on another council value is I quote collaboration. We work as one team on behalf of our community. So it's fair to say carol dropped the ball and none of you have picked it up and that is the only reason that I am here today. Whether anyone likes it or not, the entire month of JUNE has been proclaimed lgbt plus lgbtq plus pride month and our city our state and country agree. I'm asking for this to not only abide by your values but to also commit to the proclamation and said proud to support all of of this community. I'm proud to be a member of the lgbtq community and I want to continue to be proud to be from el segundo. I appreciate your time and I appreciate your service. Thank you. shaun o'brien . Good evening council. My name name is shaun o'brien and I'm a resident of el segundo. As a new appointee to the city's diversity equity and inclusion committee I'm grateful to the efforts the city to make el segundo minority residents feel welcomed and celebrated. Being a member of the lgbtq plus community one such effort that I applaud in particular is the annual tradition of lighting the water tower and rainbow lights during pride month. Like many others I was upset to learn about the lack of transparency around why the rainbow lights were shut off this past JUNE and councilmember percy nix false statements on the el segundo parents network. The residents of el segundo deserve an apology from council member nick an explanation as to why she purposely misled her constituents. These statements were proven to be incorrect and her actions go against the principles of integrity and honesty which I know are values that are extremely important to all members of our community. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Mark feldman . Good evening. My name is mark feldman. I'm an attorney for construction. This is regarding item number eight on your consent agenda. My one of the attorneys in my office is passing out some handouts. We're just going to go over a couple of pages very quickly. El segundo has a competitive bidding requirement for construction projects and typically rejects bids that are not filled out correctly. And why do you do this? I gave you a copy of a case called konica business versus regions. All you have to do is look at page and it tells you why you do what you do. The purpose of governmental entity is to to open the contracts process to public bidding as to eliminate favoritism fraud and corruption. The importance of maintaining in government and the ease which with policy goals the underlying the requirement for open competitive bidding surreptitiously undercut mandates strict compliance with bidding requirements. So I'm not saying that the city has done anything corrupt or that you're there's favoritism on the part of the city. But what I'm saying is the case law tells us we have to avoid even the appearance of fraud, favoritism or corruption and that's why we're here today. If you look page ten of the handout you will see addendum one to this bid. Addendum one replaced certain sections of the bid and it said at the bottom as evidence that the bidder has read this addendum. The must acknowledge same in the space provided below and submit this addendum with the proposal failure to provide such acknowledgment render the proposal non-responsive. So there's the word must in there and felt in there and I saw some high school students earlier which was nice to see. So it would be nice if the city council let those students know that must so are mandatory and that they're not things that can be waived if you look at the very next page page 11 you will see some of the revised documents and they say revised top and you gave each bidder these documents they had to acknowledge that they received it. They were revised, they were different than what was in the original bid documents. And then if you look at pages 29 through 52 I'm not going to make you look at it right now but I've given you the entire bid from lcr that provided a bid and guess what you will find nowhere that bid addendum number one it was mandatory that they sign this form submitted with their bid and they did and it was that they knew that they used the revised document gave them and they didn't do that. There's also a bond that's referenced on page 38 of what I gave you along with the bid. It says that it's supposed to signed you're supposed to put your name your title. I think it was okay. We filled out a second speaker card for this representative. Can I use his time as well? That's right. No. okay. City attorney says no. So a different city attorney. Okay thank you for your time. Thank you. Next, MADAM Clerk, I just imagine. Hello is magic touch as a down from dash construction company ? It's an honor to be here. I have worked for of el segundo, one of the best cities that I ever known as a contractor working in the city be so prompt and so delicate of the work which was paved like about a year ago as a going up principle with the elevator widening street. We had a bit here last year or two years ago that none the items was the first item was the bidder put more than 5% in the modernization part the bid. There was a company called hardin harbor instead of $50,000 max they with $75,000 and although we were 60,000 the man on that bid see took the bid from them after being awarded the right thing took it out and b from their job. And I think I'm sure that you know, I've heard that was very happy with the work. So then they are bidding on a project we are we should be very, very to go with all the requirements of the bid and if if there's a contractor that don't really pay attention to the requirements of the bid and spending time you know, getting all those numbers is straight and we see that you know that, contract is getting alluded although they are not complaining and the bid is a really disappointing for me as a contractor and everybody else that they are bidding in this project for any city. I mean we are business we are doing this from 2005 will be the time that that we did not sign and acknowledge the addendum and they took away the job from us because it was a requirement it word of mouth and shut and all that but you know in pay attention like like in the time so maybe in here I want to sincerely request the city piece and I didn't want to make it open and you know reject the bid from the letter bidder which they did not comply with the bid the bid I'm sorry I cannot select 20 seconds from time to time. Yes. So exactly. So I'm I'm asking the city council another honorable city council to say to reject the bid and awarded to the to the contract so that completed with the bid items. Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. Thank diane sambo's from. Oh, I'm sorry from from. Good evening council members. Would you mind first of all I want to say to everyone last time I was here I'm going to say the first time I was here it was almost like. I'm from the city of inglewood and the big debate discussion was tulips or daffodils or some day and I'm sitting there going this has got to be staged because of course gordon had been working with those of us concerned about the airport going seriously. these are issues. I mean come on, I'm from inglewood. If you think traffic in the city of el segundo come sit on prairie and century a day. But that's not why I'm here. I'm here the centennial adobe is the first time of the south bay built 1834. It was a land to ignacio machado AUGUST 8th we will be celebrate I'm sorry SEPTEMBER eighth. You didn't MISS It. We will be celebrating our hispanic heritage complete with mariachis folkloric handmade tortillas, weavers spinners and lace makers because we believe that history is terribly and it's important because we all have to know how we got here, don't we? To be able to pledge to a flag. Sometimes we don't do that very often anymore. And I want to thank you for for that because it is that flag that represents opportunity to come and openly discuss all the many many things that you take on and have the responsibility for voting on. We have a veterans room dedicated to those who have fought to give that right to all of us. And of course there's a woman. Yes. The opportunity to say we haven't always had right. But thank goodness there were suffragettes that gave privilege and I hope that as men look at women you do think that some of us do deserve a little bit more credit than we are often given for thinking thoroughly through many of the issues before us but because history is important we also believe it should be fun. So please I implore to please come visit. We are open every sunday from 2 to 4 for a generic tour but eighth will be our festival and you will be privileged to have tours all the festivities and of course the at the party so the public welcome. It is free of charge. Thank you. Okay. Unfortunately some of our party folks we only allow one without having to search. And so next up would be john paul costco . Good evening everybody. My name is john paul costco. I'm here to talk about dash construction companies big protest item number eight. I believe in the agenda. We would just like to request that the city be consistent with the competitive bidding process and ask that you reject the bid of lcr the current lowest bidder. As MR. Feldman had mentioned earlier, they didn't submit a mandatory form. That is something that you cannot waive legally. Lcr also used to the documents it doesn't even mention the staff report and I believe you still have the forms in front of you but the case law that MR. Feldman cited earlier states that you know, the city council must avoid even the appearance of favoritism as to any contractors. And so we actually also requested that, you know, matter be removed from the agenda so that we can work through it with legal counsel. But that wasn't granted. So again, we ask that you reject the bid of lcr and award the project to dash construction. Thank you so much. Thank you. That concludes my speakers cards. All right. That concludes public comments. Thank you very much from the public for those who spoke. MR. George, I would like to address some of the comments I yes, mayor for the air so to speak. That's item 16 on your agenda today so that will be a full staff report on that item for discussion as well as item number eight which is the bid item that the speakers are talking about and that that is on consent number eight on consent so that also the full staff report for your consideration which the city attorney wants to add anything just the staff report covers the issue on the addendum and the bid documents that it would make if you didn't sign you didn't make it subject to being rejected it say shall rejected . There was other language in there so given that the addendum was not substantive staff and I agree believe that it should be awarded to the lowest bidder and that they substantively complied with the the the bid documents. Okay. and then the the SEPTEMBER 18th festival I see you have some fliers and please leave those on the table in the back so people can can gather once they leave. Thank you that. And then regarding the mccarthy court mayor lisa broderick I will meet with the police chief and public works to discuss that item further. And then finally number of speakers on the water tower lighting of the water tower. Staff is currently working on an item back to council staff recommend your consideration to establish a policy on how we light the water tower or not and that would be becoming a next for your consideration new would you also follow up with MS. Broderick and the others that are are here? Mccarthy yes, yes, absolutely. Thank you. All right. That concludes me. Thank you. Thank you so much. So obviously lot of discussion on on the water tower. I know that is is a policy now that we're going to try to put in place that's coming on SEPTEMBER. But I do want to make a brief comment that second was when that happened that was when that council meeting happened and councilmember perisic was not here for that. She was away at a competition. So I'm only speaking for myself here. My colleagues can speak for themselves but my feeling in a situation like this is that I need to allow the person to defend themselves or talk or a decision how they want to address it. So I know there are some call outs why the four of us didn't say anything do anything. We're adults up here. We've all been through a lot of different things. I believe it's important to allow people to address things in their their own way on their own time and we have not had a meeting since that day this is this was it just kind of caught a perfect storm. We went from JULY 2nd and then this is literally the first time we have at a council meeting since then. So I just did want to to mention that as part of the process. So my my feeling is is that an individual should have an opportunity to speak on their own behalf and I didn't want to speak for for them. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Have anything further? Good. Okay. I'm able to your emotions read all and resolutions on the agenda by title only of emotional approve so moved second body in a second thank you all those in favor I I I have zero consent any polls I consent no to having I'd like to pull number ages to fully understand our options on that. Okay any other polls? All right do you have a motion to approve items three or four or five six, seven, nine, ten, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 oh. One quick note I just got up sorry before we do that the speaker MR. Gormley we have a request for 75% waiver and I know he requested 100% waiver. Does that something free discussed? Let me interrupt you recreation and parks director what you call it. Yeah, I think I'm going to pull that one because I just wanted to clarify that. Okay. All right. So there's a pull I'm going to pull 16 and chris pulled eight. Hey. All right. Do you have motion approve all the others? Eight and 16 baldino so moves right. Thank you. Term. Second I was in favor I think zero. Mayor pro tem MR. Mayor pulling item eight the construction contract building earthworks and the general corp. For $2 million an associated professional services agreement with answer advisory for fiscal year 2425 pavement rehabilitation project question to you city attorney is we believe on the staff side that because it's not material we have the ability to waive that and move ahead with the contract clearly there's a disputed item on there. What are our courses of action besides or award of contract? Do we have the ability to extend the time and if people want to resubmit paperwork they can fill out said addendum or is it proceed or award someone else or is that as far as the addendum itself the contract is going to be all inclusive. That's not really an issue. Choices are to award to the lowest bidder. You don't have to waive that irregularity you know you don't have to follow staff's recommendation. But I mean it would be from staff perspective that be pretty hyper technical and I guess dash construction also problem with its bid and there was a math there was $4,000 but again that's an error. So I guess theory if you're going to be really technical you would go potentially the third bidder you're almost $400,000 more at that point in time. So you might want to then just rebid the rebid the project so you do that makes sense. No you for the explanation and whatever your options are we can do the recommendation of staff which is we have the authority to disregard the failure of executing an addendum because substantively it complied with what we were after and remember a public bidding process is we're going to ask contractors to give us under seal their best price for this work. We're going to look at them all the same time and we we're going to give it to the lowest qualified bidder staff has it and consider that despite the fact that this wasn't signed or that addendum, it still substantively complies and that's the contract we would go in. If you're not happy with that then we could cancel all the bids and rewarded again. But now we're doing a second bite at the apple in the marketplace and there's no guarantee we'll get the price that we have right now like no that was the question if the if the option c is to blow the whole price you would blow the hope that you would start over and now you're just a couple of you know staff staff has concerns about doing that and starting over from a perspective of timing yeah it's it slows everybody out and then I mean and allies can address that better than I can but I understand the weather conditions will be the temperature and whatnot of the roadways is better to get going it now rather than delaying this I'm comfortable awarding it to the lowest bidder based upon the representation of staff. Are you moving? No, I'm just telling you my my $0.02 since we're talking about it, buddy and anyone else have thoughts on this and you know, I I we got a briefing. I looked at the staff report. I agree with COUNCILMAN Bald, you know, substance I believe they have met the requirements and we should go forward with recommendation. That would be my my opinion. All right. I will move approval. Be in a second. Okay. I was in favor I high five zero MADAM Clerk. Thank you. All right. Pulled item 16 waiver of special event permit fees 75% barrels going away. So region 92 opening day parade this is the first this is happening right? Is this the first or this is the first time that they've hosted this event? Yeah. And what do we do for the other groups and what's our protocol? I can't remember so in DECEMBER of 2023 I brought policy to all of you that we discussed and you all eventually approved and it basically establishes a procedure wherein when someone requests a fee waiver the staff fill out a scorecard and there . There are several criteria listed on that scorecard and and we a total score and based on that score applicant can receive up to a 75% discount on the related fees for city and there were a couple of events five or six that the council did to grandfather in who had full fee waivers some of those being the chamber of commerce christmas I think the one the little league opening day parade there were a few others so at that time you all voted to grandfather those events in at 100% but moving forward the maximum amount according to the policy that created and was subsequently approved 75%. Thank you for that so I I have an I I was going to ask you about the lynly parade. Yes. That's the same very similar parade. It's going to walk down from grand correct through on so if we're going to give them percent should we not be consistent in what we're doing to the boat? I think that's a policy decision. Well, if we have a policy where you fill out a form and you get 75 then to be consistent we should stick with the form right. Even though you grandfathered some in now we have a policy that when when the policy come about a DECEMBER 2023 yeah. So it's still a new policy but I feel like we have a policy we should we should stick with the policy the important question what's the day of the parade so people can go I believe it's the 42nd seven SEPTEMBER seven SEPTEMBER seven. All right. SEPTEMBER seven I'm sorry comes out on SEPTEMBER seven and it's 5%. What is that p it's about $5,000 thousand dollars but 75% waiver is 15,000. And I just for me, you know, we're giving 100% to the little league, it's I think it would be unfair for us to not give the same to the soccer. But then where do you draw the line on true well then I mean you can't just say well because we've been doing it forever we're just going to give it to them for free. I just think if you're going to institute a policy then you institute policy for everybody . I think what you're saying is we did institute a policy with grandfathered the that's correct. Correct. The opening date created by several others. i think there's the chamber there's five or six events that that the council has historically considered covered all the fees for anybody to approve those that list of events the same basic opening parade it's very similar. Correct. It's going to be basically mirroring what they do so ones costing dollars 13I, I just it just sounds it just seems to me a little bit unfair. We've been using this policy. That's correct. So there's other people who have been getting the 75%. Yes. They don't do an opening day parade that mirrors a little league parade. I mean this what do we charge the high school for the parade I don't know. I don't have that often. So it's like we have three parades, right? We have the regular chamber parade with lilly parade and we have the high school parade and now we're adding one more parade and that one they're the only of the three that are going to pay 5000 but it just seems a little unfair or something. I hear what you're saying customers don't but I we set a policy. We set a precedent. I think we should stick with the 75% as much as I'd like to help anyway so as a former long coach myself, it's also not that we want to create deterrence like imagine if everyone was like I want to prohibit zero cost the selection criteria we'd be over the the weekend but I think it's an incredible idea. I think you're going to sign up a couple hundred as a result but I think we should stick with staff's recommendation the policy personally any further comments I like approval it's a 719 participant so we're basically charging every child $7 to work at main street. Is that a bargain or not I mean it sort of sounds bizarre. They come to you so parade pay to do it think the policy was that the city was subsidizing a lot of bands and there was a push from council to get some costs back on what the actual were for providing city services and then we realized that there are some groups that really are a benefit we want to discount those groups and so there's a spreadsheet right you check out we're a nonprofit we're mostly also going to residents this and the more points you get the less you fee goes down that oh no I was here for the first two iterations of the scorecard has changed about it changes every two years depending on who asks for a discount. I mean the full size was subsidized $15,000 of city services for the for nyc. So no any further discussion I'm I'm ready to move approval that item 16 and 75% okay was there was a motion right okay I'll second that I I wasn't for any further discussion no I was in favor I know no three two those in one of those in a while. Thank you count feels good. It feels good contentiously to connecticut democracy right there at lewin shoes. Okay. Thank you, MR. Gormley, for being here. Appreciate no public hearings. We're on to we're going to move up. Thank you, counselor. By the way, we're going to move up 22 library board of trustees presentation. MR. Hartman. All right, get the new city council. It's an honor for be here with you very briefly on the activities of the library board of trustees over the last 18 months. Do you and the slides that I sent available or does the city council members have and I think it might be in our we're not allowed to touch technology. We wouldn't get it right. Okay it's true sure everyone the password like you guys okay fair enough I because the secretary on your agenda right now so should superman like all right well I I'd like to say that you're missing an amazing presentation but it is just five slides so on behalf of the entire library board of trustees please to give a brief answer the current members of the library board of trustees christy, cheryl janice, mother carol erickson and, bonnie yet harvey and myself the the board meets every other month on the first tuesday sorry the second tuesday of the month obviously at the library and the primary functions and things that we do during those meetings we hear from the library manager mark herbert also to a unified school district librarian as well as the friends of the library, a nonprofit organization I think you all know is a big supporter of the library and I'll touch on that in a minute. So the next couple next few slides I see that you don't are going to cover 2023 activities 2024 and then a a few a few final thoughts so significant major things that happened during 2023 was the update to the bylaws. The city council had asked all of the boards go through that process and so that was reviewed by the board and and then approved probably of whatever decision making activity around the update of the library collection development policy. This is the policy that guides the library staff how they are going to get books maintained and I think most importantly for the board was really around the discussions that we've all seen over the last number of years you know people challenging books within our entire society I think less so here again. But it was important for the library and the library to sort of state its position with respect to this and I, I highlight a couple of areas that were noted in the final documentation this final document it allows and points out that any person can reject or not appreciate that some things in the library but that does not give that person the right to tell someone else that they allowed to have that and that was a very important point to the board and the second very important point was it talks about parental responsibility in making sure that parents are involved in the the things that their children are seeing or checking out of the library that's the job of the library staff. So those things were put in and . This was the first update in 27 years of the of this policy. So kind of a generational change also reflected changes to the internet being around and electronic book policy 2020 for things and so this brings us up to JULY so. We still have more and more meetings of course this year but updated of conduct in particular to address some issues that the library were having with patrons that were being difficult. And so the library director and team worked and looked at other library pilot policies from other libraries in southern california and in particular leveraged a policy that long beach library used effectively that those changes were made and in fact that new policy was used twice now I think in coordination with the city attorney and, maybe the police to actually address bad behavior from two two patrons who at least for now are not allowed to show up in the library the operating hours were changed at the library during the week monday or monday through thursday. Previously the library closed at at nine due to low utilization. The recommendation let's change that to 8 P.M. That was approved but importantly those hours that are quote unquote saved there are being used by library staff to continue other programing activities. And then final final thoughts hopefully you all remember that in 2023 the the library celebrated its 75th anniversary and that was a big celebration as it should. Other notable things that have happened in this time period there's a new catalog system that the library implemented called that was a major undertaking. Anyone that's involved with it is shifting from one major database system to the next not trivial feat but that went very smoothly. And I'd also like to point out that the several library infrastructure have been completed. I think you're aware of them but just for the record mark work to get a grant from the state of california that address both the moisture issues on the south wall hvac system and upgrade to the elevators and then in the friends of the library showing the partnership with the library the the aquarium downstairs in the kids area was started to have a small leak and so no city funds were used in the replacement of that. The as mark reported all of the fish went on vacation for a little bit and then when the aquarium was was updated came back from vacation and so that that was a great project I want to say on behalf of the board of trustees mark herbert and the rest of the library staff are true professionals in what they do. They care about the library, they care about the city and we believe they should be commended for their efforts and and there's also just a really robust set of activities that happen at the library and if if citizens of el segundo haven't had a chance to you know go discover that just show up at the library look at the fliers it it was really great programing so with that if there's any questions I'll take that and otherwise thank you for your time. Any questions for MR. Hoffman thanks for your report. Your powerpoint is agenda so don't feel like we missed out on your staff okay oh we can we can look at them all we want they're great slides. Great. Thank you so much for your time on the and commission. We appreciate that. Yeah thank you. Thank you thank you sir I do want to thank you eric you know and you know it takes a lot to volunteer to be part of something and I just want to thank you for everything you do for our community and to you know, help the library move to the next future and then for the report and it's important that, you know, we are always looking to toward the to ensure that we are servicing our residents as much as possible. I appreciate that everything you guys are doing and please keep us abreast of any technology anything that you see a change, a trend in libraries that we need to be looking toward. We are always open and willing to to adopt you know, things for the library. But thank you very much. Great. Thank you. This is a receiving cloud with consensus. I believe so, yes. Great. Thank you. All right, MR. Miller here I am 23 which is the recreation park commission update another time volunteer thank you for being here. You're welcome. Good evening, honorable mayor and city council. My name is bob mora and I am the the recreation and parks commission chair here this evening to share some of the accomplishments of the recreation and parks commission for the past year. Before I begin to acknowledge myself my colleague, my colleagues include vice chair kelly watson, commissioner lubes commissioner julie stoll nick and our newest commissioner mark corbett nolan I would also like to thank excuse me and acknowledge recreation parks and library staff that we work with including department director ali mancini, recreation manager lanier palmer and parks super intended christopher hansen who was here and and of course all of the 125 staff that work every day make our parks and recreation program the best in southern california. In the past year we've worked on several important projects and I would like to highlight a few of them for the council tonight. This past year the commission introduced a new permitting process for individual instructors who utilize parks and facilities to conduct business. This helps capture additional revenue to maintain the parks from the additional wear and tear that results from this use . This permitting process also helps prevent overuse green spaces that are designed to be enjoyed by the community for passive recreational use. The also reviewed and amended the city's youth sports field allocation policy which will come before council for review in SEPTEMBER. This policy establishes a use structure for user groups that helps ensure the public spaces are being utilized in alignment the city's priorities. The commission is also played an active role in the beginning phases of the recreation park renovation project reviewing initial designs concepts that will move forward to council SEPTEMBER 17th. This project will bring much needed upgrades to our beloved recreation park that serves all residents in el segundo from infants to adults, older adults like me. These projects are just a few of the more significant ones that the commission has weighed in on this year and and there are many others. With staff is our privilege. It is our privilege to ensure that del segundo has the cleanest and safest parks and the most robust programs for our community. The community can also learn more about all the happenings the latest happenings within the department by following our social media page on instagram at ea's rec and parks our and on our department web page at segundo rec park's dawg. As a reminder the recreation and parks commission meeting commission meets monthly on the third wednesday of each month at 6 P.M. Here in the council chambers and the public is encouraged to attend. Thank you for giving me this time to speak and thank you for allowing me to volunteer for the many years that I've been on the commission. Thank you very much sir and it's good to see that two events today associated with mexico. Are you sick of seeing already know as amazing and by the way, just real quick on saturday I just happened to be in the rec park with my wife. The kite day was amazing. Was so cool to see everyone out there flying kites. The park was engaged and activity was awesome. Yeah. Any questions, mota? No, just thank you for your service, sir. I appreciate it. And thank you, bob, for everything you've done. Know you've been a for our parks for many, many years and and it really it really shows. And you know, things about living in el segundo I've always the the our parks and recs enable to have a country club appeal without having to pay for the country club and stewardship and like from people like you and your leadership of making sure our parks continue to stay a top notch order is really appreciated so thank you very much and I know I know we've had we haven't done the best of jobs of making sure our capital improvement dollars going to keep our parks but we're dedicated to to that we've put a reserve in place to make that happen. The plunge kick off today and then we're doing the parks and recs the phase one of parks and rec in the very near future commit the next council meeting for approval. So I just you know. Host we will be making it happen and I know that myself and I'm sure the rest of the council's dedicated to ensure that our capital improvement money's going to make our parks and rec the jewel of our town again. Good. Thank you. Thank you so much I think deserves to be found so appreciated appreciate it by all right thank you very much that let's see we're going on to item 17 back in order on the agenda revised classification specifications and resolution establishing basic salary ranges for recreation leader senior recreation leader and recreation specialist and elimination assistant classification director h I rebecca reddick. MR. Mayor, if I could I'm going to recuse myself as. I have a child who is a part time parks employee so having having I get to have to do oh yeah I never for years okay so I'll get started so earlier this year I did a very comprehensive review of the ah part time position so this was the next piece I did a comprehensive review of the recreation which currently has four classifications in it rec assistant rec leader senior and rec specialist and with this review I have realigned the qualifications for job and I'm also recommending that we eliminate the the rec assistant the record system was meant to be the entry level into the series. This has not been used for the last two years we've been using rec leader so this brings part time series down to three classifications from four. I'm also recommending that we we move from six salary steps to five salary steps these time seasonal positions the amount of tenure in the lower positions is less than the the journey level on the advanced three level positions. So there's really no reason to have six steps because if you had six steps that means the person would be over here for at least five years and that's not the case. The recommendation is to realign the salaries steps. Currently the salary steps for the ranges are all over the place and typically when you move from one position in a series the next position you get a 5% increase. The salary steps were not so this now aligns them and stair steps them so for a recreation leader the middle step step c now step a for the next classification and then you stair step at c is a and then is a and I also did a salary survey for the rec series realigning these and and restructuring the salaries places us within the mean of our survey agencies it also more importantly fits within the city of austin and does establish classification structure the costs the fiscal impact for this assuming that we are able to fill all of our budgeted hours for this would be 144,000 for this fiscal year I do have also the salaries it's important to note for these positions have not been adjusted since DECEMBER of 2020 so it's been almost four years . I do have significant changes to the job descriptions are included in the staff report with the breadline and the clean versions. I'm available if you have any other questions since. Our lives provision minimum wage has gone up twice I believe right? Minimum wage has gone up twice. So essentially the leader position the salary structure as it is now we can't use the first stop. We can't use the second step because they're below minimum wage so step 16 1654 and so that's essentially step and so that is where I incurred the rec later because that's what what we're paying now for the entry into the into the series and that is in line with minimum wage okay any questions or it's actually because if you look at fafsa if you have 50 or more employees or 20 I think now and that's we're competing if you think about kids that want to work in rec like me when I worked in in rec was thrown out at the bargain or person that I should say my other job was mcdonald's for 335 an hour and I think the city was right there. So it's it's not just that we're competing. It's not just for the minimum wages in our sector if you will. It's also what we're competing out there with people that we can get fast food at 20 bucks minimum. Right. And that was also a significant reason why the lifeguard classification rangers were established the way they were because we were competing with the $20 an hour minimum wage. So now the lifeguard classifications reduced to one stop and they start at $21. So minimum wage but then it also puts us for the higher concentrations in line with our surrounding agencies for competing talent and our rec positions don't require as many certifications the lifeguard positions do so these are paid slightly less but with a particular no no no. This is just we have a couple things because one is motion to prove and then attorney read the title counsel motion to adopt. So first would someone like I'm on approval to revise the classification specifications for the recreation leader senior recreation and recreation specialist positions we have a second second I was in favor I thought up the city journal the title next month the resolution establishing basic ranges for part time job classifications ready for adoption I'm of second second I was a favor I I30 and okay we need one more eliminate the recreation assistant class the classification I'll move approval the second I will second the elimination thank you. All those in favor okay thank you very much. I don't go anywhere though because I will bring back councilmember baldino and COUNCILMAN Actually no longer have jobs and item 618 first reading of an ordinance ls municipal code chapter one through six personnel merit system to remove the senior civil engineer and a list of positions exempt from the civil service system and a revised classification specification for senior civil engineer MRS. Reddick. Thank you. So we have been slowly our manager level positions in our class application structure here to an equal status. The manager level is typically the level that's right below the department head. So in the engineering the senior civil engineer that position was created in NOVEMBER of 2014 and when that position created the intent behind it from the staff report they designated that as at will so that they can provide flexibility if there was a fluctuate in the funding for cip capital improvement. So if