City Council — 2026-08-25

We did not receive any public comment cards for this portion of the meeting Mr. Mayor. Do we

have

any virtually that we need to be aware of? Thank you, Mr. Mayor let me check on that now. And we have no virtual hands raised as well.

Okay, perfect. Okay so at this point we will go ahead and recess to closed session. Mr. City Clerk could you please recess us to closed session?

Certainly Mr. Mayor. So we have five items listed in the closed session agenda beginning with item number one pursuant to government code 54956.8 the city council will confer with its real property negotiator Ernie Hernandez with respect to real estate property negotiations With WalshTel Commerce LLC concerning proposed price and other terms relating thereto comprised of 6233-6241 Telegraph Road and 6329 Washington Blvd. APN number 6336-010-030, 031, 032, 033, 034, 035, 6, 3, 6, that's 0, 1, 0, dash 9 to 2 and 9 to 7. Listed as number 2 on the closed session agenda we have With respect to real estate negotiations concerning proposed price and other terms relating there to 6300 Telegraph Road, Commerce, California 90040 APN number 6336-008033.

And listed as number three, we have pursuant to Government Code 54956.8, the City Council will confer with its real property negotiator Ernie Hernandez with respect to real estate negotiations concerning proposed price and other terms relating there to 2143 South Atlantic Boulevard, Commons California 90040 The city council will confirm with this real property negotiator Ernie Hernandez with respect to real estate negotiations concerning proposed price And other terms relating there to 421 Meat Bus Street, Santa Barbara California 93103 APN number 017-313-612. And finally listed as number 5 on the procession agenda we have conference with legal counsel existing litigation pursuant to government code 54956.9 D1. We have one case listed Lila Leon versus Eduardo Sarmiento case number 26 Great,

thank you for that Mr. City Clerk at this time the city council will recess to close session. Thank you.

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

Good evening everyone, the council will now reconvene from closed session. Attorney Tapia could you please provide your report?

Certainly Mr. Mayor, let the record reflect that Council Member Roya joined the City Council in closed session to discuss items 2, 4 and 5. She was not present for item number 1 and item number 3 was not discussed. So with City Council meeting closed session discussed item number one, city staff made a presentation, City Council provided feedback, no final reportable action was taken Item number two was not discussed. Let me clear the record. Council Member Boyle joined us for items three, four and five. Item number two was not discussed. She was not present for item number one.

So item number two was not discussed. Item number three, city staff made a presentation. City Council provided feedback. No final reportable action was taken. Item number four, city staff made a presentation. City Council provided feedback. No final reportable action was taken. Item number five, city staff made a presentation to update the City Council with the status of this existing litigation. And that concludes my report out of session. Thank you.

Great, thank you for that Mr. City Attorney. I now call to order the August 25th 2026 concurrent joint meetings of the City Council of the City of Commerce Joint Powers Financing Authority and the governing body of the successor agency to the Commerce Community Development Commission.

Thank you Mr. Mayor, Council Member Atamirano? Here. Council Member Argumido?

Here.

Council Member Rebollo?

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Garcia?

Here

And Mayor Lainez?

Here

You have quorum Mr. Mayor

which will be presented by our Community Development Director Jessica Serrano. Good evening.

Thank you. Good evening Mayor Lainez, Mayor Pro Tem Garcia, and members of the City Council. It's my pleasure to invite the City Council and members of our business community to our upcoming Commerce Advantage Small Business Expo. Next slide. The Small Business Expo will be held on Wednesday, September 2nd between 5pm and 7pm at the Commerce Senior Center. This is a free event open to small emerging and established businesses to provide business resources Agencies support financial guidance, a networking mixer with light refreshments and raffle prizes. The event will kick off additional upcoming initiatives to support small businesses such as a Lunch & Learn series of workshops in September and October that are organized by our library department.

Next slide. The city is thankful to over 20 partner agencies, city county departments and exhibitors who will be in attendance to support our local businesses at this exciting event. You'll be proud to see that city staff from across various departments are coming together and coordinating efforts to make this event a success. Next slide. We also placed flyers here at the council chambers, as well as that at the dais for you to take a look.

To register for the event please scan the QR code or visit the website on the slide. Also for more information we have a dedicated web page. This concludes my presentation and I'm available for any questions.

Director Serrano, thank you for the presentation. Does the City Council have any comments or

questions?

Council Member Boyle?

Jessica did we deliver these to like the different businesses in the community or is it geared towards

smaller

small businesses?

We did send a direct mail of the flyer to, it was approximately 1,500 businesses. Perfect. And we geared it towards those that have 99 or less employees.

Nice okay

thank you.

Great thank you for that Councilwoman great question any other questions from City Council? Director Serrano, thank you for your work in putting this together. I know it was you and the team, it was a really big effort but I think the Small Business Expo is going to be great. I think one of the missions that we have as City Council is really trying to uplift our community right? And that's residential but also our business community and I know there's been a lot of negative economic factors that maybe have harmed some of our local businesses I'm a big believer in informational capital, right? So being able to connect our community with resources. We have the Small Business Association. We have LA County Economic Development Corporation and various other resources that we're going to have there just connecting that business community with those resources.

I think it's going to be really, really beneficial. So I think it's great so for those watching and listening if you could attend for a second around 5 p.m to 7 p. m. It's going to be a great event. Thank you. Of course. Okay, great. So that concludes appearances and presentations. We will now go ahead and move on to public comments. Mr. City Clerk do we have any public comments?

Yes we did receive one speaker card Mr. Mayor I'll hand that off to you now.

Okay, thank you for that Mr. City Clerk. I just want to remind people that public comment is where members of the public who wish to address the city council on any matter not in the agenda are able to come up to the podium and speak as long as they have submitted a speaker slip. And please note that we do have a three minute time limit and the speaker card I received is Mr. Frank Martinez could join us at the podium please.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to present the data center facts that concern residents based on medium-sized data centers. Jobs. Do you know data centers can be run remotely even from another state? These centers can be around with a very small crew. Job opportunities for commerce residents are slim to none. Services. Water. These centers to cool off Their servers need about 110 million gallons of water per year.

Once the water is used, it evaporates. There's no way to recycle it. That amount of water can be used in 1,000 commerce households for that same period of time. Power. Data centers can use up to 26 million kilowatt hours per year, enough power to supply 1,500 100 households, noise pollution. The lifespan of a data center could be up to 30 years, 15 when the center is updated with new technology.

From the minute the data center starts operations every minute of every day of every week of every month of every year From their massive AC units, I remind you we live in a perpetual drought. Now the federal government is planning to cut water to California in 2027 and Edison is telling us not to use too much power between 4 and 9 p.m every day to avoid blackouts.

In conclusion, I say no to data centers in the City of Commerce If anybody is present here today pushing this project, I will let you know. I'm no activist. I am a resident that cares and loves the City of Commerce. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for your comments, Mr. Martinez. I appreciate you coming up to the podium. I do not have any more speaker cards with Mr. City Clerk. Is there anyone virtually that would like to submit a public comment?

Thank you for that, Mr Mayor. Anyone who is joining us via Zoom, you can scroll down to the bottom of your screen and raise a raised hand feature to be recognized. If you are joining us by phone, you can dial star six to raise your virtual hand. This will be an opportunity to provide your public comment. I see no raised hands, Mr Mayor.

Okay, great. Thank you for that. Mr. City Clerk. Mr Mayor? We will... Mr. City Attorney? Yeah

just to clarify for the record because I heard the Public Seeker mention a project that just to clarify that there is no project on the agenda and the item on the agenda tonight related to the data centers is a report that's mandated by the state law that because we adopted a moratorium the council did at its last meeting And so this report that's on the agenda and consent is a requirement under state law that we show the public what we're doing to consider the uses of potential impacts on the community. And potentially, the City Council could extend the moratorium an additional 10 months and 15 days. But just

Okay, great. Thank you for that Mr. City Attorney for clarifying. At this time I will now close public comment and I will move on to the consent calendar. On consent we have items two through seven does the city council wish to pull any items?

There's no comments or questions. I will move to approve the consent calendar

Aye.

Any opposed? Any abstentions? Motion passes. Thank you. So now we will go ahead and move on to scheduled matters item number eight which is a presentation from the Sheriff's Department of Safety in the City of Commerce. And I think we have a new guest in the building tonight.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. Natalie Hernandez, Senior Management Analyst to the Admin Department. Tonight I would like to introduce you to the City of Commerce's newest LASD liaison and SAO Sergeant Yang. We also have another new face to the city, our SAO team deputy, Deputy Chopin. She's in the back so she's also new to the team as well but we look forward to having Sergeant Yang serve in this role. So Sergeant Yang if you would like to say a few words and introduce yourself?

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Pro Tem Mayor and the council members and the community of commerce. My name is Sergeant Joseph Yang. I'm with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. I just want to say it's truly an honor to be here and to have the opportunity to serve the community of commerce I know that we've had a good and strong partnership within the city, in the department. And I know that in our efforts we can make this partnership stronger so that we can better serve our communities.

Again, I just want to thank you for your continued support. Thank you for your time.

Great Sergeant, thank you for coming on down and very nice to meet you. We're really excited. You came well-referred and well regarded by some of our staff members who had an opportunity to speak with you and just make sure that you would be a good fit here for the City of Commerce so I'm very excited or what you'll bring to our community. I know each of us will meet with you individually over the next coming weeks just to talk about some of the things and some of the concerns that we're seeing, some of the goals that we have Ultimately, we just want to help here and safer community for Commerce families. And the one thing that I'm really excited about is that you do have experience with sworn and non-sworn personnel. So as you know here in the City of Commerce, we have a public safety department right?

We have public safety officers and so how could we make sure that the partnership and collaboration between the Sheriff's Department and our Public Safety team is tight And collaborative and just achieving results, right? That's the biggest thing for me. And I'll speak on behalf of my colleagues, but I think it's the goal for them as well. So just really looking forward to what you'll bring in the future. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Great. Thank you. Does the City Council have any comments or questions?

Just welcome. Welcome to the team and we look forward to working with you, thank you. Thank

you I'm excited too. I think that we probably each will individually sit down and just kind of discuss our goals and our expectations Become a part of such a unique and wonderful little city. And I'm looking forward to hearing what your goals are, your goals for our community, for the team. So yeah, look forward to seeing

that. Thank you. Congratulations Sergeant Yang. Looking forward to working with you and just welcome to the first day on your job. Excited to be here.

Welcome aboard.

Thank you.

Sergeant Yang again welcome aboard thank you so much and looking forward have a great night. Okay. So now we'll go ahead and

Thank you Mayor, members of the City Council. This item is a consideration to adopt a resolution establishing the Commerce Advantage Business Grants Program. Next slide. To provide some background, small businesses are the backbone of commerce. But often they are vulnerable to financial challenges and on June 24th 2026 the City Council created the Food and Brewery District Fund which currently has approximately 1.4 million dollars available for business incentives As part of this proposed program, this is proposed to be the funding source for this grant program.

The program goals include strengthening the local economy, small business retention and expansion, encouraging startup businesses and job retention and creation. Next slide. The program, the grants has a two-part type of grant. One is geared towards existing commerce businesses. The way the draft guidelines are set are that the grant amount is up to $50,000 subject to repayment if the business closes within three years of grant issuance With the funding that's available, there would be approximately 15 businesses that would receive this type of grant as determined by City Council.

The type of business operations that are required for a business to qualify include that they be a retail, restaurant or service-oriented business that is physically within the city of Commerce. And that they're operating within the city before January 1st, 2025. They also would need to employ less than 20 full-time equivalent employees at the time of application so it's really geared towards the smaller businesses in town.

They would also need to be in good standing with licenses and so forth Some of the eligible activities would include building improvements, equipment purchases, limited inventory and supplies, accessibility improvements and licensing permit fees among others. Next slide, please. The second component to these grants include startup businesses. And this would be for a grant of up to $25,000 subject to repayment if they close within three years.

With the funding that's available approximately 14 businesses would receive the grant but obviously this is up to City Council it could change The types of operations include retail, restaurant and service oriented businesses. And they would have to have been either in operation on or after January 1st 2025 so it's for the newer businesses after 2025. They would need to employ less than 20 full-time equivalent staff And again, it's for building improvements. You know, limited inventory supplies, accessibility improvements, licensing and permit fees amongst others. And it also has language in there to prioritize those located on Washington or Atlantic.

Next slide. Now the grant approval process includes a preliminary application where staff or city consultants would review the applications for basic requirements or eligibility. Once we determine that they meet the basics, we would ask for full application and additional documentation And to confirm eligibility. Then staff would do a site inspection to determine whether the improvements that they would like to do qualify and whether they can be achieved with the amount of money that's available with the grant.

The applicant would then, staff would help them develop a scope of work that they can then share with consultants or contractors and they would be required to get three estimates so that city staff could review those estimates and pick the appropriate proposal. Once we get through that phase, city staff or the consultant would bring these applications in front of City Council for approval.

And if it's approved by City Council they would need to enter into a grant agreement with the city And as part of the construction phase, they can only begin construction after they have the agreement in place and they have the proper permits. And a final inspection would be conducted to ensure that the work completed meets the standards and the scope that they were approved for.

Last slide. At this time, it is recommended that City Council consider adopting a resolution to establish the Commerce Advantage Business Grants Program. Authorize a budget appropriation of $1.4 million for the program. Authorize the city manager or designee to develop and adopt policies and procedures for distributing the funds for qualified expenses among others.

Authorize the city manager or designee to make any necessary amendments to an existing on-call agreement with Avant Garde, to increase budget scope and term for the implementation and administration of the program. Authorize a city manager or designee to take actions needed to implement the program. And lastly take any additional actions as deemed necessary.

This concludes my presentation I'm available for any questions.

Jessica thank you so much for the presentation does the City Council have any questions?

I do. Councilman Agamelo? Thank you Mayor and thank you for the presentation. A couple of questions, I did have a few minutes to discuss some of them with the City Manager and I believe he was going to get together with him in a moment or so but I'll go with you as well. First question I have is, the program for the business owner or for the tenants? Because in many cases some of them are tenants.

So is it for just the owner

or

the tenant? Today is your opportunity to kind of define and refine the program. It was presented as for the owner, but you pointed out some very good points about a lot of times tenants have as much invested as the owner or more because they're the ones that tailor it to their business. So certainly tonight you can say it's eligible for tenant and owner.

Okay, so I just want us to take a look at that. Take it into consideration because just in talking to one business owner he pointed something out that was interesting to me and I'm sure that all the tenants probably experience the same thing. And they pointed out to me that hey, we've got an owner that doesn't put anything into this. He just collects random, he doesn't really care about it.

And to me, you know, and he says, he figured it was, oh, he'll probably go over there and try to take advantage of this. And then he's going to tell me that he's gonna raise rent on me because he's doing all of this. He's gonna fail to tell me that he applied for his grant, and he's gonna say even. So in essence, the double dip, like the initial money that's provided, and then now he's going to increase the rent and actually make money for us. So I just wanted us to look at that and take it into consideration so we can properly address that. The other question I had was related to Related to, I guess if they take this loan or the monies for this program after a three-year period if they close, right? Is that correct? Before three years. If

they close before three years then they have to pay back the city.

So how does that look? How do you collect that money?

We would work with, we would be doing annual inspections to ensure that they're still in operation. And if we find that they've closed then we would go, we would reach out to that business owner or property owner and try to collect. And in discussing this with our finance team, if we need to get a collector to collect the city's money, the city can do that. We have the ability to do that.

Okay. In the case of a owner, you know, potentially you can put a lien on their property or something like that. That's correct. In the case of a tenant, if we move in that direction, that probably would be even more difficult. So again, I just want you to give that some thought and consideration as we move forward I'm going to go ahead and open it up for questions.

But what is that priority consideration looking at? What exactly are we doing to provide that priority?

What we can do is have targeted outreach to those businesses on Atlantic and Washington so that they learn about the program first, that they get more information. We can set up one-on-ones with those businesses. So that's how we can target them Now at the City Council level, as you're reviewing these applications, you can make a determination that you want to prioritize these other applications for those corridors before handing out money to businesses outside of that.

All right, I just want to make sure we properly address them. I'm all for it and I think it's warranted. I think we should concentrate on those areas but I'd like to know exactly how we can be able to do that. I don't want others that may apply or want to take advantage of this program to be, now they're going to feel excluded. And they didn't have an opportunity for resources to enhance or beautify their properties and so on and so forth. So I just wanted to bring that up.

One of the examples that I also had a discussion with our city manager was, in the past we've had discussions about maybe purchasing let's say some of the not so undesirable businesses in our city. Purchasing if we can now take ownership and develop it into something But my thoughts were, not exactly that. It could be a very expensive undertaking on our part. So my thoughts were is maybe we can look at different ways.

And one of the areas I think has come up in the past was... I'll bring it up with some of the motels in our community. My thoughts are is if we... Excuse me. Do the right thing in terms of maybe talking to them and trying to create what I guess people call these boutique motels or hotels. I would think that in Palm Springs if you've seen some of that, Some of them have, you know, they really have turned some of those around. They're really nice and beautiful now. In my opinion, we can do something along those lines where it's more inviting, changing maybe the restrictions on them. I don't know how easily they operate. The ones that we have, I believe that we have hourly rates possibly. I don't know. But, you know, avoiding all that there. Now we have daily and weekly and grades that are a little bit more where they would attract other people.

The first thing you need to do is make them into, turn them into provide a program where we will go with somebody and invest some money into turning them around and getting different type of education. So I was hoping that you'll think about that, give that some consideration. I think it might be something that would be helpful for us making it a little bit more inviting as we try to make these areas a little bit Okay, thank you.

Yes, what I wanted to bring to attention to you guys as well. I didn't just want to lock it into $50,000 only because there are some restaurants. We've all spoken to these restaurants and a lot of them are struggling. And what I would like to see is if we just lock it in for 50,000 dollars that I'm okay with that but if we allow special circumstances for someone on our team an example there's one business that restaurant has been here since I believe the 90s And the health department is having them tear down the entire ceiling.

And not only are they going to tear down the ceiling, with that it's gonna have more work, right? And then they spoke about also bringing in revenue for the city and they've been trying to get a beer and wine license for a very long time. We know those are expensive. So when he gave me some of the pricing, it exceeded $50,000, it was $70,000. So what do we do in circumstances like that? I want to be able to have the opportunity to be flexible when needed.

Thank you for that, Councilman. Any other comments or questions from the City Council?

I was just going to say thank you. We've been waiting for this for such a long time. I think that definitely after COVID some of our mom-and-pop restaurants have been struggling and they're barely surviving It's honestly, they survived by the grace of God because I didn't even think they were going to make it after COVID. So I think that this is something that is truly, truly important and vital to their success going forward so I'm just happy that this is This is here, so thank you guys for working on that. I know we've had this conversation and we've been having this conversation and yeah, so many businesses have knocked on our door and talked about the need for this grant and there are some very particular special situations that I think we should definitely take into consideration I like that we are prioritizing Atlantic and Washington because those that's the quarter that we do want to revitalize.

I would like to see a little more if we can, a little above 50,000 if we can but this is a great start and I'm really excited for this and I know the businesses have been truly waiting so thank you again.

Great thank you for that Councilwoman any other questions or comments from City Council?

Can I just follow up on the additional monies? I think we should. We should, I think, bring it back as an exceptional item or an item that we can take into consideration based on what is planned to be... Sorry?

No, I'm sorry. Tell

me this one. You're too cool. Now, based on these circumstances, I would say let's look at the plans. And I know that there is some folks out there who would like to do something but we want what you're recommending here. But let's take a look at it. Let's look at what their plans are and look at, once again, you're going to have good estimates of different individuals in your community and their unique interests and baseline. But I think it's something that I think should come before the city council to consider

And, and I think that's a good point. But what I will say is that ultimately the City Council is an exciting body right as far as where these grants are disbursed. So I think that's good to include

Mr. City Manager. Approve the standard guidelines and uses right for this program up to $50,000. And I think anything beyond that won't be would have to come to City Council with whatever special circumstances. Ultimately any of these grants amount or not grants because they're essentially loans that don't have to be paid back to meet certain criteria. They have to meet a form of regards to, you know how the city long term benefits from this improvement to their business.

To justify the amount right but certainly with the guidelines provided rain and then obviously customer metal suggested the tenant not we have to look at that. And we would like to roll it out as early as two weeks for now at the Small Business Expo. But for sure anything beyond the $50,000 that's a number that set tonight can be brought back with individual special circumstances for the City Council to consider.

Would that be announced at the

Between now and two weeks we will establish the basic guidelines that we'll provide to City Council in advance, but essentially all of that will be unknowns.

Sorry I forgot to ask my question. As it relates to the business owner versus the tenant. Okay. Could it be where the loan is specific to like, let's say one of our restaurants doesn't own the business but he's a tenant to that building? Now, the loan would go to the business owner anyway as opposed The business owner, who is the tenant. So the loan would go to the business instead of the property owner?

I think that's what we're... That's what's being suggested.

Is that what... I wasn't really

catching it. Ultimately the City Council discretion to set the program guidelines right and if the goal is so for example We met with I think five or six restaurant owners or tenants. I think most of them were tenants And they had specific needs right I think what we've been talking about is potentially making a reimbursable program rate. And so these are the types of things that qualify, and we reimburse that whether it's the owner or the tenant, right? The expense happened that qualifies under our program as long as it benefits the business regardless of ownership, I think is what was being proposed tonight.

Again, our goal is to have businesses thrive in our city and for them to do better and consequently for the city to do better. I think if that's the goal we can find the guidelines that accomplish that goal.

And my second question to us is... I know it's from the Food and Brewery District Fund so are we saying that, and maybe I missed it, these grants are only for like Food and brewery type businesses, or it's going to be open to anybody. So here is where my brain is going and my struggle is that we can have a warehouse owner come and apply for a business grant, right? And then we have a struggling mom-and-pop restaurant that is actually providing a service which was like the food, right? A gathering place for the community But then we have this warehouse who provides really nothing, no revenue for the city, right? Because we make pennies on their licenses.

So and I guess that's what I'm trying to understand can we narrow it down

to

restaurants and those type of

businesses? Yeah so I think and Jessica you can keep me honest here. But the focus of this program is really to attract a certain type, certain types of businesses right where we're talking about retail restaurants and cafes related businesses. What I will also add to that is ultimately the City Council's an exciting body on who receives these grants from us right? So if there's a business right that comes in applying for something and you just don't feel like they're a good candidate For the

funds

as a city council, you know, could say no. Right? I mean ultimately that's how this program is designed but Jessica did you just confirm

Yes, Mayor you're accurate in your statements and we did state that the business types that qualify include a retail restaurant or service related business. And we also included types of businesses that are prohibited which include passive businesses including rental properties and businesses where the owner does not actively operate or occupy the improved property We could. Where

are you reading it

from? This is on the draft guidelines and it's on page 7. It's one of the attachments to the staff report.

Just let me add what we could do based on the comments made by the City Council is when we open this, we set up a set window. Right? And then those applications will come before the City Council with recommendations from staff and the city council can ultimately approve or disapprove any of the recommendations. Certainly we will become relevant if, which I don't think will happen at least in the first go around. I don't know if the funding is exceeded right? You're going to have to make a decision based on that anyway but I think what we could do to make this part easier at least about the merit of the business and then coincidentally Any other questions from the council?

Jessica, thank you so much. I know this is something that the team has been working on for quite a while. I think ultimately the goal of this program here is to uplift our small business community, right? You know, I think that the identity that the City of Commerce has is very business focused and business-oriented, but as Councilwoman Arroyo said, right? I think the pandemic and just other negative economic factors have really impacted a lot of the small businesses that are here in the community. Specifically in the restaurant and service related space, right? So I think we certainly wanted to offer support to those types of businesses just so they can succeed here in the City of Commerce, right, and you can help them out So I do this as an investment in our community.

And, you know, when we talk about the Washington and the Atlantic corridors, right? We see a lot of underutilized properties. We also see a lot of properties that have police signs there. And I think, you know, that's where the new business track comes in, right? You know, during COVID, I know there were a lot Home-based businesses that materialized, right? You know people that make their own coffee, make their own pastries, make their own food. Right?

People that cut hair, right? That do pedicures, right? There is a lot of budding entrepreneurship here in the City of Commerce and so the purpose of this grant program is to help those get into a legitimized brick and mortar or help legitimize them but it's also why we're having a small business expo because you can't just throw financial capital and expect somebody to be successful, right? We have to connect them with other resources and information and just educational informational path to really thrive. So I, this kind of works hand in hand, right? The Small Business Expo and the business grant program with the Commerce Advantage. So, I think Councilman Arduinello made some really good points, right? I think we certainly want the business Person right or the entrepreneur, the tenant in many cases to be the beneficiary.

Right? This brand. I also think that in some cases, you know. We may want to look at additional ones, right? Like you mentioned. But I also think that it's good to establish a cap, and that's the set. And we can certainly add language for extended circumstances. Ultimately, it will be at the discretion of the City Council. So that's something that we should all keep in mind.

No funds get assigned or distributed unless it's from the City Council. That's just something that I know we're all aware of but I think it's fair to kind of say that again because It's our city and that's what we want to do. Our Washington and Atlantic is just so critical, right? We always talk about wanting to unify it and wanting to generate energy and bring light to our corridors. And I think this is a very effective plan because of that hand-in-hand. So I think there are some changes, right, to kind of like what was mentioned tonight, right? I think we want to make sure that the actual business occupant is the one that's receiving the benefit of these grants, right.

That's explicitly stated right in the guidelines, right? Is that was basically your point, right Councilman? Yes. Correct. Okay. All right so I think we certainly want to include that and then I think the point about just special circumstances you know potentially exceeding threshold based on council discretion. I think it's important for me to put that in there. What I will say though is that I don't think the mission of this grant program is to fully fund projects, right? You know sometimes it may, but sometimes it won't. But it will certainly help people get there similar to the home beautification program that we're asking for.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As written in the staff report with the feedback that was given by the

city

council. So I think Council Member Artemidano beat you to the punch, so he has a second and given that this is going to be a resolution, I think it's for you to do a roll call.

Motion carries.

Okay perfect thank you for that and again thank you to the community development team also uh thank you to the library department because I know you're having a hand in you know kind of furthering the efforts at the small business expo and just helping our business community connect with them through resources so much appreciation That said, I will now