City Council — 2026-07-14

He is at a conference for city business. So he will be participating in closed session remotely, again using a just cause

exception. Thank you. Thank you for that Mr. City Attorney. Madam Interim City Clerk could you please call roll?

Yes sir. Council Member Articumedo?

Here.

At this time, we will recess to closed session.

Madam

Interim City Clerk if you could please recess us Yes, but with all council members present the council will recess into closed session on four items as listed on the regular and special meeting agendas.

Okay perfect thank you we will now recess to closed session

Music playing Oh. Music playing. Oh. Music playing. Hi. Music playing. Music playing. Music playing Music playing.

Certainly, Mr Mayor. And for the record there was a concurrent special meeting that has a closed session agenda and the regular agenda closed session agenda. So the council met in closed session with let the record reflect that Councilwoman de Boyle met in closed session. And again, that council member out there. We don't know what uses just cause exemption and he participated remotely. So with all five members of the city council being present City Councilman closed session.

The first item on special concurrent joint meeting. City staff made a presentation, city council provided direction, no final reportable action was taken. With respect to the regular agenda item number one, two items were discussed, city staff made presentations, city council provided direction, no final reportable action was taken. With respect to items two and three, city staff made presentations. City Council provided direction. No final reportable action was taken. And that concludes the report out of closed session. Thank you.

Okay thank you for your report Mr. City Attorney. I now call to order the July 14th 2026 concurrent joint meetings of the City Council, the City of Commerce, Joint Powers, Financing Authority and the governing body of the successor agency to the Commerce Community Development Commission. Madam Interim City Clerk would you please call roll?

Yes sir Council Member Argumeno.

Here.

Council Member Rebollo. Here. Mayor Pro Tem Garcia. Here. Mayor Lainez.

Here,

Mayor let the record reflect Council Member Altamirano is absent.

Okay thank you for that and we do have a quorum at this time I invite the crowd to

to those that are in sickness and Lord, may You just bless and continue to bless this community in the only way that You know how. We ask this in Your mighty name. Amen.

Thank you for that everyone. We'll now go ahead and move on to appearances and presentations, and the first item is a commendation, a Lifetime Achievement Award for Mrs. Sandy Horn I hope. To me, Ms. Cornejo was my neighbor for many years but I only got the privilege to really get to know her a few years ago and I regret that because she is such a cheerful and easygoing and elegant woman, right? Loved this community and this community loved her back. She was a true matriarch of the city of Palmers and you could tell that she touched a lot of people's lives here in the community and so she'll be dearly missed. My condolences to the Cornejo family But I do want to pass the microphone over to my colleague, Councilman Yuval Ardumendo because I know she served for you for many, many years.

And you had a great relationship with Mrs. Cornejo,

so if you could... Thank you, Mayor. I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you also for putting this item on the agenda. She was very deserving of it. I was truly blessed to have known Ms. Sandy and worked with her and I truly admired her counsel and advice on various issues, many different things that we talked about But above all, she was very proud of her entire family.

And that was first and foremost in mind always. Obviously very, very dedicated to St. Bartholomew's religion and that was something that was really very important to her. So I'm very just proud to have had the opportunity to meet her. With your father on the city council and he is a truly bright individual, very well spoken. And I wish I had had a better relationship but I think it was towards the end of his It's a term on the City Council, but we did get along and I know that after he no longer served, I would go over and visit. And there was times when we had some discussion with him on different things which I enjoyed. In the meetings, I always really looked up to his insight, what he thought, what he had done here in the city, and he did a lot.

It was an honor to have served with you, and to have developed a great relationship with you and the rest of the family. With Sandy Cornell and the rest of the family. And it's a very true blessing for me. Thank you, and thank you again Mayor for putting this item on the agenda. I thought it was very important. I believe we have a commendation? Yeah. Mayor, I'll go ahead and let you read it.

Can we just get the, is it over there?

Thank you Councilman. And so, I have the honor of reading a commendation for Sandra G. Cornejo. This is a Lifetime Achievement Recognition Award presented in loving memory of her from the City Council of the City of Commerce. In recognition of a lifetime of exceptional service, dedicated leadership and lasting commitment to the city of commerce. For decades, Sandra Cornejo affectionately known as Sandy, dedicated herself to strengthening the city of commerce As chairperson and long-time member of the Parks and Recreation Commission, and through her service on both the Library and Senior Citizens Commission she devoted countless hours to improving the quality of life for residents.

Through her leadership with the Rosewood Park Women's Club, the Pageant Steering Committee, Rosewood Park School PTA, and St. Marcellina's Church she helped foster the sense of belonging that generations of commerce families cherish. Sandy believed that serving others was among life's greatest callings. As a Girl Scout leader, catechism teacher, mentor and community volunteer she generously gave her time to youth programs arts and recreation education and community initiatives always leading with humility kindness and the vision to improve commons Whether mentoring children, supporting families or welcoming new generations into the city she made every person feel valued and every act of service meaningful.

Alongside her husband former council member Robert J. Cornejo Sandy proudly served as a former first lady of commerce and helped shape the city's history through its incorporation and years of civic involvement Her lifelong dedication to public service gained her recognition as one of the 50th Assembly District's 2011 Women of Distinction, reflecting the respect and admiration she earned throughout the community.

While Sandy gave so much of herself to the city, her greatest joy was always her family. A devoted wife A loving mother of four, proud grandmother of four and beloved great-grandmother of four. She lived each day with generosity, faith

and

unconditional love.

Above all, Sandy will be remembered

for her grace

and

open heart Her legacy lives on through the life she touched, the friendships she nurtured and the stronger more connected community she helped build. Her generous spirit and everlasting love for the City of Commerce will continue to inspire future generations. The City of Commerce proudly honors Sandra G. Cornejo for a lifetime of remarkable service and celebrates a legacy that will forever remain woven in the heart and history of our city.

Presented this 14th day of July 2026, signed by myself the mayor as well as all members of the Commerce City Council. Thank you.

Mayor, again I just want to thank you for allowing us to put the item in the agenda. And I know that it's something that she wanted to do in the past, to name something in his honor. And I think it would be fitting for us to name the Senior Senator of the dining area and their honor, the Honorable Robert J. Connelly.

I wholeheartedly agree, right? The Cornejo family is a legacy here in the City of Commerce. Ms. Sandy is a commerce icon. I didn't have the honor of knowing Robert but I know the impact that they've made here in the community and so to me I wholeheartedly fully support the dedication of the dining room on this other side. And I would like to invite the Cornejo family to come up and take a picture so I can give you the commendation. But before I do that, Mr. Cornejo, do we have some comments?

Thank you Mr. Mayor, City Council. We really appreciate on behalf of the Cornejo family we appreciate the wonderful accolades that you have presented to my mom Sandy Cornejo. We all remember well some of us remember many of us in the audience lots of friends and family here when my parents moved into the city of commerce well it wasn't city of commerce in 1957 But they had the opportunity to get together with quite a few people in the community, industrial leaders and others and be part. They were very, very young at the time but they got to be mentored by many people to help make the City of Commerce the City of Commerce.

I recall the meetings that were held at Rosa Parks School I might have been that high, I'm not sure. And we had the community there and they talk about free buses, they talk about incorporation, they talk about running your own parks and they talked about casinos. And halfway through the meeting people would just leave like those people are crazy what kind of ideas are those? But we see all those wonderful ideas today as a result of the work of all the council members including yourselves that go on and on over the years. And I know my mom would really appreciate all the honors that you are giving this evening, and on behalf of our family, I want to thank you very much for recognizing her and for also taking the opportunity to recognize her by naming part of the City of Commerce Senior Center on her behalf.

Thank you so much, and we'll come up to accept that award. Thank you.

Thank you. One, two, three.

One, two, three.

Thank

you again to the Cornejo family. And it's an honor to have the Senior Center dining room dedicated to Sandy and Robert Cornejo. Okay, now we'll go ahead and

Director, Malcolm Martez. Good evening Honorable Mayor Lainez, Mayor Pro Tem, Council Members. We celebrate Parks Make Life Better and parks make life better with people like Sandy Cornejo She is our chairperson of the Parks and Rec Commission, and we will be honoring her at our next commission meeting by placing a beautiful flower arrangement on her area. Sandy was a lot of things to so many of us, and if there's one thing that Sandy was, she was a lot of fun.

So tonight's presentation, we celebrate Sandy, we honor her with this presentation. Our presentation this evening will be made by Jaylene Ramirez, one of our hardworking YES workers followed by Tevin Gama who's also one of our hard working YES workers.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. My name is Jaylene. Parks and Recreation has been a big part of my life. I've had the opportunity to participate in Unplugged Performing Arts, serve on the Youth Advisory Committee, work as a YES employee, and recently represent our community on the City of Commerce Cultural Excursion. Through these experiences, I've made lifelong friendships, developed leadership skills and discovered new opportunities that have helped me grow. Parks and Recreation truly creates experiences that make life better for people of all ages. And since our community has been caught up in World Cup excitement this summer you'll notice that this year's Parks Make Life Better video has a fun ring to it. I hope you enjoy!

Summer is here and the game is on. As the world turns its eyes towards Los Angeles,

and the excitement of international competition... Here in the City of Commerce we know something important.

Champions don't start in stadiums, they start in parks!

Aunt Richard?

Every swim, every game begins with opportunity.

Our fields become training grounds. Our pools build confidence. Our gyms create teamwork and our recreation programs help young

athletes discover not only sports but themselves

But

Parks and Recreation is more than sports. It's seniors finding friendships, children discovering imagination,

families creating memories, neighbors becoming community and safe places where everyone belongs.

Behind every class, every event, every splash, every celebration

is a team committed to serving others because parks make

life better isn't just a slogan. It's our promise. As the world celebrates the game, the City of Commerce will continue doing what we do best

Feeling the fun, happy people feel the game.

Good evening Mayor and City Council. My name is Tevin, and I'm proud to say that I grew up in the city of Commerce at Parks and Recreation Department. I started in the preschool program where I learned through play made my first friends and even learned my shapes and colors as I got older I played recreation baseball and basketball and today I've come full circle as a YES employee through this city's summer youth employment program July is parks make life better month the month of fourth the 4th of July celebration It's just one of the many ways our department brings our community together. It is my pleasure to introduce a video highlighting this year's Independence Day celebration.

Hi everyone,

welcome to our Forces of I celebration! Have a wonderful event! Woo!

Beautiful history here in the U.S., and in particular, here in the City of Commerce with the rest of the community. Everybody's having a great time already after the fireworks, and they're still having a blast out there. It's just awesome to be here with the rest of our community enjoying and celebrating with everybody else.

As you can tell, everybody enjoys this event. So happy 250th birthday America!

I remember as a kid, we used to come out here and they had all the carnivals. And I'm just happy that we keep the tradition and we're here just to serve you guys, to continue to bring things like this. Fireworks last night were amazing. Today we have the laser show party which was a big hit last year so I'm excited about it. I have all the grandkids with us who are going to be dancing up there. So I hope you all have a great time! See you next year!

The City really wants to focus on giving our families an opportunity and experience to enjoy and celebrate our country's independence. We are independent because of the hard work, bravery and courage of our service members, our veterans. Happy Independence Day Commerce! Happy 250th America! And I hope everybody had a great time.

Thank you for those presentations, Director Marquez, Jalene and Taven. Great job. Of course, we're going to declare July 2026 as Parks Make Life Better Month. The truth is I feel like the Parks and Recreation Department and the programs that we have is really a strength of the city right? And I know many people's only interactions with our city is through our parks programs and events. And so I think the department does a phenomenal job just giving the community those great experiences and that was programming and As Jaylene and Taven said, it also is really strong and really foundational. It really contributes to your development as people so we're seeing the results here tonight. And Jaylene I know we know each other and I've seen you do great work with the Unplugged program.

So I'm a big fan of Parks and Rec of course. I know we've also been really aggressive with the programming this season, right? You know with the Independent State Festival, the concerts at the park, the movies at the park, the World Cup watch parties and everything else in between. So on behalf of the City Council just thank you for everything that the Parks and Recreation Department does. I know it's a team effort and it's a very strong team so thank you. And with that said, I have a proclamation to read.

The City of Commerce proclaims July 2026 as Parks Make Life Better Month. Whereas parks, recreation facilities, aquatics programs, community centers and open spaces enhance the health wellness and quality of life of residents of all ages. And whereas the City of Commerce is committed to providing high quality parks, facilities, programs and services that promote healthy, active and connected communities.

And whereas the City of Commerce proudly offers a wide variety of recreational opportunities through its parks, the Veterans Neighborhood Center, Senior Citizen Center, Teen Center, Camp Commerce and the Brenda Villa Aquatic Center. And whereas recreation programs including youth sports, swim lessons, competitive athletics, fitness classes, performing arts, senior services, camps and inclusive programming provides opportunities for learning wellness and community engagement.

And whereas community events such as the Independence Day celebration, concerts in the park, the Spring Festival, the Harvest Festival, the Commerce 5K Turkey Trot, the Community Tree Lighting, Earth Day and the 2026 World Cup Watch Parties in our parks and facilities. And the successful introduction of Petalpalooza added to the All Abilities Color Fun Run bring residents together and strengthen community pride.

And whereas parks and recreation programs create opportunities for residents of all ages and abilities to build friendships, celebrate diversity and create lasting memories. And whereas the California Parks and Recreation Society has designated July as Parks Make Life Better Month to recognize the positive impact parks and recreation have on communities throughout California Now, therefore I, Kevin Laina as Mayor of the City of Commerce on behalf of the City Council do hereby proclaim July 2026 as Parks Make Life Better Month in the City of Commerce and encourage all residents to enjoy our parks participate in recreation programs attend community events and celebrate the many ways parks and recreation enrich our community.

In witness whereof, I appear on to set my hand and cause the seal of the city of commerce to be affixed this 14th day of July 2026. Signed by myself Kevin Lane is the mayor of the city as well all of my colleagues in the City Council. Thank you Okay, so now we'll go ahead and move on to public comment. At this time members of the public who wish to address the City Council on any agenda item or any matter not in the agenda and have submitted a speaker slip I will call your name and please come up to the podium you do have a time limit of three minutes and i do have one speaker slip currently so i would like to call up Lori Meeks to the podium please

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, esteemed Council. I had notes so I got to wing it. I forgot. And it's such a coincidence about parks make life better since I was going to say all this last week but I'm here to tell you how great our city is with these programs, with the Parks and Rec, from our seniors to the little ones. With our senior picnic that we just recently had And our illustrious leader had it combined with the kids camp and the seniors testament to more of our community. Those kids were such great kids, well mannered dancing having fun something that we would like to do again and touching on Because that's what it was, to celebrate the fourth and our 250th birthday in America. It was fantastic!

All this stuff is fantastic. The dancing, the music, the food, the people, our neighbors, our community... We have something so special here. I grew up here but moved away when I came back. I got smart and I came back There is nowhere like here. Nowhere. I've been all over the United States, there's nowhere like here. We have to preserve this and to keep our parks and rec the best as it is because that's the best part when we have guests and non-residents come to these programs and they're in awe. They're in awe and they're like you guys. Yeah, you know a lot of guests but It's nice of you guys could join us. No, it's fantastic and I'm really proud to live here, be a part of this community and for the years to come, I'm in for everything that we have to do.

And I'll sing our praises always. Thanks guys for great, great experience for the 4th and all that. Oh, and our little parade. Wait see this was my notes. Senior picnic, the two-day party. Oh! Crafts corner over there at camp. Oh what? Women's getaway all these things I know I know wait the bells gonna go off. All these things that I really really enjoy and not just me everybody does really so keep up the great work thank you thank you

Thank you Lori for your comments. The next speaker is Leonard Mendoza, if you could please come up to the podium.

Good evening, Commerce City Council. This evening I'm going to be speaking about the term limits that were passed in 2011. I have in front of me the results which was yes on the term limit 72.97 almost 73% of our residents and no it was only 27%. As you can see, there's a big turnout of people that supported the term limits. And the term limit was measure A, limit the length of time a person may serve in the Commerce City Council to three, and the keyword here is consecutive four-year terms.

Now, this is what's ready in support of the term limits to try to get our residents to vote, which overwhelmingly did vote to support it. Enough is enough. We cannot let the City of Commerce become the next city of Belle or the city of Vernon. Those cities have experienced embarrassing corruption that was allowed to happen by City Council members who were elected over and over again.

And treated their cities like their own piggy banks. When the City Council members are in office for many years, They are giving money by special interest who want them to see them get reelected so that they can take advantage of the city and your taxpayer dollars. These long-term career politicians are bought and paid for. They lose sight of what they really represent, the people of the City of Commerce.

And use their offices for their own personal financial gain These politicians do not have the right to stay in office forever. If a council member cannot get the job done after being in office for 12 years or three terms, then he or she needs to go. He or she does not deserve to make the position their career. This is time to give other Members of our community, a chance to do their civic duty and to make sure that our city is not sold to the highest bidder.

Do not be fooled by those wanting to defeat Measure A. They will say anything to stay in power. Don't let them turn commerce into another ballot or voting. This is what I've been saying for the last couple of months. Thank you for your comments.

That concludes my speaker cards, so we will now close public comment. And we will now move on to the consent calendar. Does anybody on the City Council wish to pull any items from consent? We have items 3 through 11. If there are no questions I'll report the motion to approve the consent calendar. Okay, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Motion passes.

So now we will go ahead and move on to scheduled matters and item number 12 which is a presentation from the Sheriff's Department of Public Safety in the City of Commerce. And we have our Sergeant Ozzie Cortez here too.

Good evening Mayor, fellow council. This presentation is for the crime statistics in June 2025 also followed by some year-to-date from the beginning of the year to this end of fiscal June 30th compared to last year. For June 2026 total reported incidents were 89. Crimes against person were seven. Of those it's zero homicide, zero rape, seven felony assaults Crimes against property, 82.

The breakdown is robbery 2, burglary 5, theft 58, auto theft 16, arson 1. Of most of these crimes or all these crimes are concerning to most residents and city personnel council included and auto theft is a particular concern of many. Although it shows that there is still a significant number, double digit in auto theft for the month of June which was 16 versus 17 in May and 9 in April.

Overall year to date compared to last year The percentage in auto theft is down. It was, it is 105 auto thefts year to date which is still concerning even I agree 105 year today compared to 183 last year, year-to-date exactly this time The difference is a 42% drop in auto theft. A couple of things that were addressed in the last four weeks compared to this presentation in May, is high visibility and waiting on a system called FLOC to also assist law enforcement. Next slide.

This FLOX safety system is a camera, AI powered system. It's used by police departments and city public safety offices nationwide. It captures both video and still images of passing vehicles to track unique suspect vehicle details. The information is stored in a catalog for criminal prosecution and law enforcement use only in terms of investigations. For the residents and the business committee members, if you witness a suspicious person and or vehicle in the immediate vicinity of a camera system trailer, phone call 911 and report this activity.

Indicate to the 911 phone operator that you suspect vandalism and or tampering. This system does record 24-7 and has a cloud storage to pursue any illegal activity against it. But we want to prevent that by having not just the public safety division, the sheriff's team but with the help of the community and the business members to help us keep these trailers that will be mobile throughout the city in good working use.

Next slide, please. I do recognize too that Parks and Recs along with many divisions in the city put a great Independence Day celebration both Friday and Saturday and I want to thank...next slide I want to thank the City of Commerce Public Safety Division and the Sheriff's team for their commitment to service and personal time sacrifice to provide the residents, city personnel, and business community a safe and memorable 250th Fourth of July. The event went without incident. Thank God!

It was a overall success in regards to safety. There was just very minor incidents that were taken care of quickly by both Public Safety Division and the Sheriff's team. In addition, I wanted a special thank you to the family and friends of these uniformed officers who year after year support their duties throughout these significant holidays weekends and events.

Thank you any questions?

Thank you for your presentation, Sergeant Cortez. Does the council have any questions or comments? Councilwoman LaVoie?

Thank you for that presentation Sarge. I have two. I would like to see and I think...I don't recall if it has already happened but I would like to see the numbers On a map compared to like the different cities, the different areas in the city. Most recently we've seen an increase or I received numbers, a number of phone calls about the increase of like catalytic converter And I would like to see like, are these being reported? Are you guys aware of it again because we know that when.

We see the rise in these numbers, that's when we saturate those areas. So obviously like I always say make sure you're reporting it and making sure you're reporting it but I want to see if it's being reported or what you guys are doing in response to seeing these hot spots of crime so if you can give us a report By area, so we could see like where the auto thefts are happening.

Where the burglaries are happening of course, we're in a business city. So we're going to see the influx in the business areas but I still would like to see what what are the areas and if it's a matter of like. I would like to see what the deficiencies are. That's the truth, honest. I want to see where the spikes are and where are the deficiencies. Second, people have sent me this article but I had already seen it where Downey PD is using They use drones to catch folks that were doing illegal fireworks. And I know we've talked about using drones in your department.

Um, I don't recall what the excuse was for you guys not to be able to use drones. I don'r remember what that is. But I'm no longer asking. Hoping and telling that I would like for you to reach out to Downey, figure out what they did. Bring that back to us and see what we can do on our end to make it happen because that is something that I want to see next year by 4th of July. Because we have these fines and this ordinance, and it's like not even being implemented. So it's almost useless to sit here and say we're going to fine you $1,000 but we're really not enforcing it because then the response is well there's no way of proving that someone is doing fireworks by the time we get there they're not there so I read on this, on this article right that it was very effective in Downey.

So if they could do it there we could do it here so if you can please make sure to get that information reported back and see what we need to do on our end of so that next year that is something them.

Thank you Mayor. Sarge, thank you for your report and I'm very impressed with the percentage that you've highlighted. A

42% drop in hybrid power. Yeah, that's great. The majority of that is from what area? Is it the Citadel Outlets or is it at the Commerce Shopping Center? So this

statistic when I pull it, it is for the entire Reporting District of Commerce. I can further that report in regards to the specific areas as you indicate. Okay,

yeah if you could I mean usually we get a high percentage and it's usually related to those two areas. Those are problematic areas and so i just want to know where some of these things are occurring? And I believe she was making the same request I think so hopefully we get that information but I want to commend you. That's something to be proud of to be able to drop it by that percentage 40%.

But I'm concerned about two particular incidents that we recently had. One was at our Bandini Library. We had an individual that caused some damage to me, Wilby and he was identified and agreed with there is no arrest warrant. He was, I don't think we did anything like that. I'd like to know why we, you know, why that happened? We've identified him. The damage is there of the damages related to the facility and, you know, we should pick them up on some... There's definitely damage there so I'm not following why he wasn't apprehended and arrested for the damage in the hospital facility.

Number two, there was an incident. I believe it was about four days ago and it was posted on our comments page. And there was a resident here in the Rosewood Park area who came out in the middle of a theft to their vehicle, a wood truck. We had tools in the back and we basically ended up stealing some items but they came out, her wife came out and took pictures We were able to get the video and we got the plates, the whole deal.

And I was trying to get an update as to what actually happened. They had all the information. The husband had actually chased the vehicle and he was able to chase them. A wheel came off because of the vehicle that's going on. It was on a lot of one wheel, still moving forward. And the thing is that there's so much information there for them to pick these individuals up and individually. Evidently this vehicle was not reported as stolen.

I know it's dangerous for our residents to I'm going to start with you, Mr. Chairman. It seems to me a little bit kind of late for all this time to laugh and make a decision on whether to go up against somebody or not. These people are willing, and I know you've come here before and said hey, these are the things we need to do, call it in, report what was made, everything. They're doing all the right things and maybe even going above and beyond that. And yet, we're getting no results. So they're pretty frustrated and very upset and I don't blame them for it. I think they've gone above and beyond to try to do the right things and they're expecting some sort of results with this. So I'm hoping that you don't have to answer now because I know that you may or may not have the information now, but I need to get that information to each of us.

We need to know what's going on. We need to know what the game plan is and specifically related to some of the issues that we just mentioned In the past, we've asked for decoys. I would like to see decoys deployed here in the city. I want people to think, hey this is a potential car that I can steal or I can break into but it's a decoy and once we catch individuals and they get out, I assure you people are not going to be second guessing, hey is that a decoy? Or is that the real car?

So I'd like to see more of you here in our city. What do we need to do? We've talked about it, and I believe I had this discussion with you in the past. And I want to make sure we do something here in the city. We need to deter these types of crimes there on the Upswing, I believe we've got a couple of individuals whether they're coming from outside the city or it's somebody within the city. We need to get to the bottom of it and try to get this thing addressed. There's a lot of people being affected by this every time somebody uses a catalytic converter. It's costing them $2,000 maybe more depending on the vehicle.

For them to be able to get it replaced, not to mention lots of time and work and so on. It's a big impact to a lot of these families here in Oklahoma. You don't have to respond now, but I do want some responses to this because we need to put a good plan together to drive it. And some of it could be the drones that I mentioned before that we should be doing. We should be planning to deploy drones within our city. We should be able to do that. It's very easy. They're out being used for many other things throughout the world.

And we certainly can utilize them here, and we shouldn't. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments Councilman and yes, you've talked about the drones I think. We were both at a conference and we saw the session that Beverly Hills convened right? I think that was the first time we had heard about it. Sergeant, thank you for your presentation. I think my first question is does the Sheriff's Department have that capability to deploy drones? I know when we had spoken to the sergeant at the time it was something that was starting to be piloted and just never really heard where that went.

I'll have the city manager maybe also address that specific topic because there was an email sent in regards to the city as a pilot drone city and I believe the city was to meet and to accept that pilot drone system from the Sheriff's Department to the City of Commerce.

For sure. Okay, that's great and then Mr. City Manager I think a worthwhile discussion would also be what privacy policies or policies to protect people's privacy you know we should look at as well right because if we're going to increase our surveillance obviously there is personal property and things that we want to be you know cognizant of and make sure that's protected as well right so That's good news, that's good to hear. I agree with my colleague's comments, right? I think it's good to see that in the data the crime has gone down so that's very encouraging and also thank you for giving us a month from a breakdown which was awesome. So I do appreciate the work that went there but I've heard the same things right? You know just anecdotally from residents you know there's a lot of catalytic converter deaths, there's a lot of car break-ins I want to be sure that your department is working in tandem with our public safety team, to really come up with a strategy to combat this because you know we're generally a safe city but people do not feel safe parking their cars out on the street because we have a repeated amount of break-ins and it's been a recurring payment.

It's something that really needs to be addressed so i know that doesn't solely fall on the Sheriff's Department right? But My expectation is that you will work with our public safety teams to come up with a strategy to really help mitigate this because it's a problem. The other thing I'll bring up is now that we're talking about drones and technology, we've had the automated license plate readers and couple of years ago the City Council approved Under the pretense that this was going to help reduce crime. And so, we would get reports showing how many arrests have been made as a result of the ALPRs and that's something that I would like if you're able to do it by the next meeting, if not let's do it in the first meeting in May but I want to make sure that these resources that we're paying for are actually building some benefit right?

And they are leading to prosecutions and arrests If we could take a look at that as well, I think that's data point that would be good for us to have. But you know, I do appreciate the work that you and the team are doing. You know, I know it's not an easy job right? And I certainly appreciate the presence that you have in the community. I do notice the patrols, I can see you at our Parks and Recreation events or city events. So just know that doesn't go unnoticed and I appreciate your effort. Appreciate you, thank you for your presentation and have a great night.

Okay, so I messed up. Right? So we did this whole Parks Make Life Better proclamation and I read a whole thing but I never did a presentation and I see Anthony put on the sport coat you know Alan's out here with his press shirt so if the Parks and Recreation team could do me the honor of coming up and taking a picture with us with the proclamation I'd really appreciate that let's give him a round of applause please for whoever's left

This

meeting is adjourned.

Thank you for joining us today.