CITY COUNCIL MEETING

of every resident. Bless the families of La Mirada, watch over our children, our seniors, our educators, our first responders Our military personnel, healthcare workers and all those who work each day to strengthen our city. Protect those who keep our neighborhood safe and those who serve quietly behind the scenes. Lord help us to remember that while we may come from different backgrounds, we preserve, we share a common purpose To build a community where people are treated with dignity, opportunities are created, businesses flourish and neighborhoods that care for one another.

Let every decision this evening be guided by your mutual respect, thoughtful consideration and genuine desire to serve the common good. May your peace rest upon this council and upon every resident of La Mirada. Continue to bless the city with unity, compassion, wisdom and hope for generations to come. We ask these things in your holy and precious name, amen.

Right hand over your heart, ready begin.

States of America, and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for

all.

Thank you, you may be seated. Mr. Mayor thank you so much for inviting Meals on Wheels to lead. We appreciate it. Thank you, glad to have you. Thank you for your service. And before I do the roll call I just want to recognize some people who are here tonight And let me start with Christopher Kent, Assemblywoman Blanca Pacheco's office. We have Daniel Andalon from Senator Bob Archuleta's office.

He's parking. Should we wait? Nah, it's okay. Jonathan Cordova, Congresswoman Linda Sanchez's office. Kyvan Sulik, Supervisor Janice Han's office. We have Natalie Tong from Senator Rubio's office. We have Hal Malkins, former City Council member and mayor. We have Steve Jones, former mayor and city council member. Danny just walked in so it's kind of late. Parking his car. We have Dr. Robert Cancio, president of Norwalk Mother Unified School District We have Ms. Espy Free, board member of Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District.

We have Ms. Norma Emescua, board member of Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District. We have Zurich Lewis from Cerritos College, vice president of Board of Trustees We have Yarisma Rocha, Rio Hondo College VPO, Vice President Board of Trustees. Crystal Orozco, Rio Hondo College Clerk, Board of Trustees. Dr. Dawn Moya-Miller, Rio Hondo College Superintendent slash President And okay, if I didn't call your name can you please stand and get recognized?

This is Mark Copeland from Norwalk-La Mirada Unified District Board Trustee. Yes sorry about that Mark. They told me you were in the parking lot, so I didn't recognize you. But thank you. Now roll call please.

Mr. Mayor it's a proclamation for Parks and Recreation Month. It would be appropriate to read the proclamation and present it to our Community Services Director Oliver Osuna

Great let me just read this proclamation to you. Whereas parks and rec programs maintain a quality of life, ensure the health of citizens and contribute to the well-being of the community. Whereas parks and rec programs promote economic prosperity through increased property values, expansion of the local tax base, tourism, business attraction and retention and crime reduction.

Whereas the City of La Mirada provides high-quality recreation programs, beautiful parks, safe playgrounds and historic natural and cultural resources for the community. Thousands of La Mirada children, adults and seniors benefit from a wide range of services, facilities and programs including swimming lessons, day camps, rec classes, workshops and special events provided by the City of La Mirada.

And the City of La Mirada encourages all residents to take part in recreation activities at local parks and city facilities, including the Activity Center, Community Gymnasium, Resource Center and Splash La Mirada Regional Aquatic Center. Therefore I, Ed Ings, Mayor of the City of La Mirada on behalf of the City Council do hereby proclaim July 2026 as Parks and Recreation Month in the City of La Mirada.

I just want to

say thank you to the Mayor and the City Council for continuing to support your Community Services Recreation Department. And to all the members of community who are here today or watching online, we have many great facilities, recreation facilities, recreation parks for you to come out and enjoy. We have high-quality Thank you very much.

They do such a great job, they really do. You know I just show up tell jokes and laugh and I get all the credit but you know what without them none of this would happen so thank you for what you guys do. Next we have public comment anyone wishing to address council please step forward to the podium state your name Okay, seeing none. Anyone remotely waiting to speak? No one on speaker so that's done. Next we have 7.1 through 7 point

13. Move stacks to action.

Second. We have a second. Any discussion or questions for staff? Hearing none, roll call please.

8.1 Mr City Manager Thank you Mr. Mayor members of the city council this is resolution number 2621 approving participation in the Los Angeles Urban County Community Development Block Grant, or CDBG program and authorizing the city manager to sign a cooperation agreement with the county. The participating city cooperation agreement between the city and the County Development Authority outlines legal provisions and requirements for the city to participate in the urban county CDBG program also provides for automatic renewal of the city's participation in successive three-year periods. So the City and County Development Authority agree to implement the community development and housing assistance activities, specifically urban renewal including but not limited to improvement or development of housing for persons of low-to-moderate income and other community or urban renewal activities authorized under the federal CDBG program.

Current programs that are offered by the city, and again these are programs that have been offered for many years include the Home Improvement Assistance Program and Senior Services Programs. The term of the agreement will begin on July 1st of 2027 this just gives the county agency plenty of time to ensure that all their agreements are in place And which is also the beginning date of the first year of the new urban county qualification period, and it will end three years later on June 30th of 2030. So with that, it's recommended the City Council adopt resolution number 2621 approving the County of Los Angeles participating city cooperation agreement between the city and LA County's Development Authority for the period of July 1st, 27 through June 30th, 2030.

And authorize the city manager to execute the contracts and subsequent amendments with the L.A. County Development Authority on behalf of the city.

Thank you for that report. Any questions?

Mr.

so thank you so much. And with that being said I would like to present you with a certificate of congressional recognition on behalf of Congresswoman Sanchez.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Daniel Andalon and I'm here on behalf of Senator Bob Archuleta and I did prepare a couple of jokes but Dr. Ed Eng already took them off so I'm going to proceed with recognizing your hard work and dedication You're one of the first people I met when I joined the Senator's team and came to work here in the lovely city of La Mirada. Thank you for your hospitality, for your leadership and for your willingness to serve this community and give back to a city that has given you so much. So on behalf of Senator Bob Archuleta, I'd like to present you with a Certificate of Recognition from the State Senate On behalf of the 30th Senate District of the State of California, it is my sincere appreciation and congratulations to you Dr.

Ed Eng for your exemplary service as Mayor of the City of La Mirada and we wish you continued success in all of your future endeavors.

Hello everyone, on behalf of Assemblywoman Blanca Pacheco we'd like to extend our sincere gratitude to you Mr. Edding for your dedicated service to the city throughout your time as mayor you've worked to move La Mirada forward and we appreciate your commitment leadership and willingness to serve thank you so much

Well, good evening everyone. It's a pleasure being here representing your County Supervisor Janice Hahn and first I just want to congratulate our new mayor Mayor Pro Tem Councilmember Lewis and Vasquez Bean on your re-election and for having such a fierce campaign so fierce that no one wanted to run against you So congratulations, and Mayor Ng for your one year as mayor. But it's not your first time being mayor so I know for you it's like riding a bike. And if you listen to the state of the city, if you talk to the mayor, you know Mayor Ng He's a man that you can talk to, approachable but that gets things done. And I know working for the supervisor many times have reached out to you regarding different issues and we've been able to work together on those issues and if you know Ed he's had many iterations in his past but the best one is working for the County of Los Angeles.

So on behalf of the County of Los Angeles Supervisor Hahn I also here want to acknowledge you congratulate you on your service as mayor of this great city congratulations

Mr. Mayor, thank you for your friendship over the years and thank you for your truly dedicated service to our city and the tenacity that you brought to this office, to the mayorship and the dedication that you've had to education as well in many aspects in all of the titles, all of the capacities that you have so You are truly unique as mayor, and I encourage everyone to read his book to find out more about why that is. And I really appreciate the next years of service that you'll continue to give to us on behalf of Cerritos Community College. Thank you for your commitment to our city.

Mayor, on behalf of the Rio Hondo Community College District wanted to give you a tremendous thanks from all of the students, the faculty staff and administration. I got to meet you not so long ago at the Norwalk La Mirada Leadership Academy for the Unified School District and it was a pleasure to talk to you and we are very thankful as a college for the partnership we have with the city of La Mirada. We're also thankful for your years of service to La Mirada and its residents, and we honor your passion, your civic integrity, and wish you the very best as you move to another role on the City Council and as you continue your future endeavors. Thank you.

Mayor Ng, on behalf of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and Norwalk Station want to thank you for your dedicated support throughout the years. In recognition for your dedication and support to the men and women in Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department while serving as mayor and city council member, your commitment to making public safety a priority gave us the ability to make La Mirada a safer community. Your contributions greatly enhanced the partnership between the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department and the City of La Mirada. Thank you sir.

Well I can't recognize him without having his best asset, his best partner in life. Kathy come on up because it's going to be a year of all those two. You are truly the miracle in this life and you are a miracle here being with us here today. So we thank you for supporting this man. We know it's been a tough road with this gentleman, but I thank you for your fearless leadership and your decisiveness and your willingness to always listen to others to make very sound judgments on things To have the best interest of the city at all times. For those who don't know, Ed's not just a mayor he's also a client in the sense I'll tell a quick story today I was walking through the activity center. I was voting and I came out I had to cut through downstairs and just come on through what I see I see Ed Ng there practicing self-defense with our senior citizens And I told the other gentleman, I said don't let him bully you because he's a mayor.

I said whoop it on him if he's getting excited. So as an individual that truly lives in this city, participates in the city and I think truly represents the city in all facets of it. You know when they first went to districts, the thing they always said, the districts are going to separate us. And we came up with the mantra one team one mission. And Ed truly served the entire city as mayor. They say it's your second time around. It's your second time doing this. But you did it third time. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, third time doing this. So OK, falling off a bike's like falling off a skateboard. He got back on no problem. No helmet this time.

So I'm going to present this to you and I guess I was told to let you open it up and not open it up for you but here you go. A coloring book?

It's like Christmas all over again.

So let me just

start off by saying congratulations to Councilman Lewis and Councilmember Bean. Now I'm the official City Council member who has to run every race. You know, it's your first time and no competition but I have to run every race guys. So as I reflect back my year of mayorship, I just want to say the first thing is I remember in 2015 when I first got elected and I told my wife a couple things. First one was I said this is kind of my vision there are several parts the first one is I want La Mirada to be on the big stage.

I don't believe that you have to be a big city to lead, I want all cities to look at La Mirada as a model of innovation and service. I don't believe that people should know La Mirada as where it is but who we are. That was my first visit part one. Part two was this. I always thought that all the events that we create, that people show up to. People always say that was a good event. No, I want every event to be an experience for our residents. I'm not talking about July 3rd when you show up.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to let you guys know, I appreciate you guys so much. We're 7.8 square miles of a city, but yet we're kind of far apart. So I shop at the same place, I eat at the same restaurants, I go to the same concerts. I want people to know their mayor that there's no barrier. Anyone can come up to me and say how you doing? We can talk about anything not just city politics but anybody so I hope that I was able to do I'm the mayor for all the people and you don't have to be a commissioner or be involved with City Hall to have access to the mayor. Anybody has access, anybody.

Finally, I just want to make La Mirada's government very simple. A lot of people say government is a bureaucracy. I don't believe that. I think government should be very simple. It is what we teach people Thank you very much. You can be yourself. You don't have to be a politician. You can act crazy, you could be judged, you could be vulnerable but that's okay and that's the promise I made to my wife and my son when I first got elected.

And finally, I just want to thank the people who started with me. People sitting with Kathy before I had a title. They know me as Ed and today I'm still adding to them. Nothing's changed. The title might shift it a little bit but thank you for all your encouragement, support and all the trust that you place in me. My dad passed away last year at 103 years old.

No, I'm not trying to be like him no. But my parents really made the sacrifice so that I can have the opportunity today that they didn't have. So, I just want to let my parents know—I know they're listening—I will spend the rest of my life honoring their sacrifice. I will. And finally, the person like Mayor Otero said, the person who's been with me through every peak and valley I just want to say thank you for walking this journey with me.

As you can see, I no longer sit in the center and the title has shifted. But I want to make this commitment to all the residents and all my friends. I will still bring that same level of energy, optimism, and commitment to the city of La Mirada as if this was my very first day. Nothing will change. God bless La Mirada.

Thank you Dr. Ng. And

Thank you Mayor Toro. You know that feeling of pure joy and pride when you're waiting in line for your coffee, and in the small talk with the person standing next to you? Somehow the conversation turns to warmth and connection and common interests. I'm telling this story because I can't tell you how many times out in the neighborhood I hear so many great things about our beautiful city.

People love Splash and Buccaneer Bay, and our classes, and our senior activities. And my heart is filled with pride every time I hear those affirmations and appreciations in the coffee shop lines and in the grocery store aisles. So Director Osuna and community services staff, congratulations! You are this stellar team who designs and executes such innovative, inclusive, and thoughtful programming.

And what absolutely positive reviews of the 3rd of July event. And all the Concerts Under The Stars, everyone that I've attended this summer, they have all been amazing. Thank you. Councilmember Lewis, congratulations. I am honored to serve another four years alongside you and thank you so much for all the great pep talks. Congratulations to Anthony and Steve. I'm excited for the teamwork to come this year Dr. Ng, congratulations on a wonderful year of service to La Mirada as an outstanding mayor, the singing mayor, the accidental mayor, the dragonfly, the change maker, influencer and friend.

Thank you for your strength and your leadership. You are La Mirada. A last little story for you all. My husband and I watched a sci-fi movie the other day where the main character, a school teacher who was wooed to go up into space in a pivotal scene said to the astronaut, I don't have the brave gene that you do. The astronaut quickly responded it's not a gene.

You just find someone to be brave for. So in that same line of thinking, I'd like to share what a beautiful brave night I had last month at La Mirada United Methodist Church for their annual Pride event. There was so much food, fun and fellowship and I am so grateful and truly blessed to have been in a space with such beautifully souled humans. And as a proud ally, I'm excited for next year and to see the event grow.

I am committed to work to ensure that everyone in this great city feels safe and thrives. To the residents of La Mirada, my neighbors in District Two, my fellow electeds, my political colleagues and friends, my dear family, my amazing parents, my supportive faculty friends online. My gracious mentor, mis hermanas, mis primos, and the brave men in my life who support me unconditionally, my husband and my sons.

Thank you. Each time I am challenged, I pull from your strength. Strength that I don't always realize I have in me, yet you all show me how it's faith and strength and love that keep this woman going. You all are my inspiration, every single one of you, and I am so grateful. It's gonna be a great four years with four great colleagues and amazing staff and a brilliant city manager in this wonderful city of La Mirada. Thank you for coming tonight and for logging in online Know that you are all loved and cherished.

Go and be rainbows in someone else's clouds, as you have all been in mine. Good night.

Thank you, Councilwoman Bee.

Thank you Mr. Mayor, well I want to start out with saying thank you to mayor ex-mayor Ed Eng. You think being mayor is just to look good in a suit but there's more to it. Ed has spent this This whole last year putting together programs, debating on certain issues that we had to bring up in council, bringing up innovative programs. So looking good in a suit is just one part of it but it's definitely been a memorable year I'm very fortunate to have you as mayor. We've had a lot of things go on and the memories certainly go back to this guy is multifaceted, which most of you probably already know he can sing as you heard at the spring beautification. He sings. I think it was Sinatra that you had a great song. He's a martial artist, and he was also the accidental mayor, which I think most of But I think there's going to be a sequel coming to it.

But being the accidental mayor in his first term in 2015, he tells you how he kind of stumbled in off the rain to come in and get a free cup of coffee and ended up being the Mayor of La Mirada. And he has actually affected this city so much that you can't believe it. Again, with the programs and his personality and everything else that goes along with it. So I want to congratulate you on your past year as the accidental mayor. And on his first term, this is his third term. I got him a bobblehead with his face on it from being mayor. So as we all know he's also known as the dragonfly so I'm gonna have to buy him a dragonfly and memorize that as Mr. Mayor Dragonfly but it's again been a memorable year to have you as the mayor. You've done such a great job and we thank you for your service to the city of La Mirada.

So thank you Dr. Ng. And to Anthony, and congrats on being mayor. I know we're gonna have a great year with you. This is your second term as mayor so I think we definitely have 365 days to watch you work hard just like Dr. Ng worked. So we know that's going to happen and looking forward to collaboration with you on many issues going forward in the city of La Mirada. So again congratulations.

Steve, congratulations on Mayor Pro Tem. I think this is your fourth time as Mayor Pro Tem so Steve is the senior member of the council and his leadership shows he provides so much to the city on leadership and other issues. So it's great to see you in line again to come up through as Mayor Pro Tem and as mayor again. So once again congratulations. Council Member Beane, congratulations on your re-election and it's going to be great to work with you for the next four years. So we have four years and I want to thank the residents of La Mirada for what they have done for this city and having their faith and confidence in me as one of the council members so we will not disappoint. We will work hard for you as we usually do If you ever have any issue that you need, my door is open.

My phone is on my website and my email and certainly all of you know you can find me on social media. And I know Ed Eng has a lot of free time so if you want to poke him on social media as well it's edeng at, I won't give that out on him but again thank you and I wanna say my last thank you which I think she's outside the door. I see her peeking through the door there.

Come inside. This is my wife of 36 years. Today is our anniversary. As much time as we have to put into this, and my son of course is back there too. He's Cerritos College trustee, Zurich Lewis but my wife of 36 years she has I wanted to thank you personally for all the time that you've allowed me to put into the city and putting up with me for 36 years because without your support I wouldn't be sitting up here and I want to again say thank you and happy anniversary honey so that was my report. Thank you very much

Thank you Councilman Lewis and happy anniversary.

Dr. Nguyen, do you have anything else to add? Just congratulations Councilman Lewis, council member Bean, congratulations and best wishes for a new year. Congratulations Steve and I just want to say actually this suit is one of what I wore when I first got elected 10 years ago. I'm happy to report that I still fit the suit Number one. And number two, I still look good in the suit.

At least my wife tells me that. So that's on my report. Thank you.

Thank you Dr. Ng. Mayor Pro Tem, Dr. DeRuse.

Be redundant, but Michelle congratulations and John congratulations. Pleasure working with both of you. Before I go into some other things we have two former mayors sitting out there that were acknowledged earlier Hal Malcolm and Steve Jones. And you know, you're all here and thank you all for being here because you're the fabric, you're the community, you are what makes La Mirada, La Mirada. And, you know, Hal and Steve were part of those people that are on the wall there that we just stand on their shoulders. They lit the way, they carved the path out, they set the standard. And I remember when I first met them, it was kind of scary because they were kind of like These guys were going to make sure you did it right, and they were gonna let you know because there was a lot at stake.

And what's at stake is community. And the community is all of us. And if we don't row together, if we don't work together, community evaporates just like that. And so Hal, Steve thank you for all that you did. You guys did a super job and for all of those and we just stand on their shoulders and try to continue what they have done, the hard work that they put into this community that we call and love and call La Mirada.

Excuse me. July 3rd event, we were all in attendance with that. Just real quick staff wonderful job super I mean it's an all day sucker right you know and uh you guys always do such a wonderful job and again it's just nice to see 20 000 people come together and have a good time and everybody leave and have a good time you know that's just again that doesn't happen in every community it takes a lot of hard work to achieve that so staff thank you for that Also a little side note, it's you know one of those oxymorons. It's bittersweet. Today is the last meeting for Mark Stoll our Public Works Director and I would be remiss if i didn't say a little bit about Mark. Mark came in at a time when public works was kind of in a turmoil up and down and you came in and stabilized stuff and without fanfare.

I'll never forget my lovely wife Mary was right there. Wave your hand, yeah. And we were driving down the street and I said there's a new public works director and she says which one is he? There was a bunch of construction stuff going on. I said he's the guy in the suit yelling at everybody but he really Brought everything together and when you see our streets and everything that goes along with Public Works, Mark was the one who really did that. Jeff spearheads all this and things like that but the nuts and bolts of thank you for all that hard work, that stability. You set a high standard hopefully that continues but I just want to personally thank you in front of everybody here and thank you for more than 10 years right?

Is it that long? Yeah. And but thank you for a super job and we're much better because you came our way. And also, Mayor Ng. Congratulations on your third year. Third year is a charm, I watched you grow. I remember the first time I saw you and I heard you talk and they said this guy's got something. I don't know what it is but he's got something. And so we know what that is now. You love community at the end of the day. You love your community and you sacrifice for your community, and that's what it takes. It's not about individuals. It's about community. We don't sacrifice for ourselves. We sacrifice for our community, bringing everybody together. And so you've done a wonderful job of doing that in, uh, you know, you embrace that position of mayor made it your own.

And, uh you know, thank you for that. Always remember, you know all the good things that you've done for the community as well as your friendship. You know and so I certainly appreciate all of that. When I first met Ed he said you can call me boss and I said okay what do you call me boss? So we called each other boss But no, he didn't say that. But we do call each other boss. And but that's just an affectionate term for two guys who just like and love their community. And so Mayor Otero, congratulations. I'm looking forward to your year. I know it's going to be good. You you always set a high standard of integrity, and I certainly appreciate that last time around. You know, you really came out of that shell because I remember when you first came on council.

Who is this guy? You know, and then found out you're a man of principles, integrity. The right thing for the right reason, you know? And I certainly appreciate that. So you set a high standard and I certainly appreciate that. And just looking forward to the coming year. And again to Jeff and staff and everybody thank you guys for all the hard work that you put in really appreciated this year.

Thank you, Dr. Russo. Okay now it's my turn I guess. Congratulations to John and Michelle for a hell of a campaign you guys put on like Ivan said the best campaigns are the ones you don't have to have and so forth but it's true testament to who you are as individuals in that it's just what you do and how you do it and congratulations looking forward to working another four years here up on the dais and being the leadership, the spear Tip of the spear for the City of La Mirada. Ed, once again amazing work good working with you looking forward to working with you this next few years and like I said I couldn't you mean with Kathy it's like peas and carrots I mean you guys everywhere you went Kathy was by your side and it's truly a model and thank you so much for supporting him and vice versa with each other Congratulations to my Mayor Pro Tem, Steve DeRoos.

Looking forward to having you as a partnership for this next year and thanks for everybody being here like you know Dr. Ng made a comment at the beginning that it must be something special but this is so here It's a true testament to what our community is looking from the commissioners who are here, to the family members who are here to support one another, to representatives of our elected officials, to our active community members, to school board members who are here to really demonstrate that La Mirada is not nothing without teamwork. Without everybody working together Everybody here has contributed to the point where there are the threads of the fabric that are woven into this community and to try to rip that thread apart, that fabric apart is impossible because we're so strong together.

Looking on the walls, the people before us who really set the tone like what Steve said is like we're standing on the shoulders of giants who set the tone and set the path. And as long as we stay true to who we are as a city, who we remember at the service first above everything else, we're gonna be just fine. I wanna thank my colleagues for having trust and confidence in me to put me in the position I am today. Thank you very much, I appreciate it.

Gonna dedicate to work hard to serve but also work together as a team for the benefit of our city. I want to thank my family for being here. My wife asked me, are you going to invite anybody? I said no. I said I'm not gonna invite anybody so I guess she took that as she's gonna text people and get people here. And so as I saw people come through, I saw my cousins who we played together when we were children and I have my compadres here, my cousin who literally changed my diapers as a child and now she's seeing me Middle-aged bald man, you know being placed as the mayor. My godfather and my Nino and my aunt are here. And my lifelong friend got from first grade, my sister's friend from first grade, my sister and her husband everyone's here. My two sons are here thank you.

And now to tell you thank you for Being the little mischievous one and sending the text messages out to show their support. I love you, thank you for your continued support. Our daughter Amada is not here she's with the Navy JAG down in Coronado doing an internship with US Navy right now so she couldn't be here with us but to my sons thank you for being here for leaving the house and coming here appreciate your support This year's mayor is going to be different because I'm in 17 days, but who's counting? 17 days. I draw a close of a 30-year career public service as a captain of police for the Los Angeles Police Department and as I turn closed the page on that journey and that 30 years of service, I get to open it up on a brand new page of being mayor and basically being unemployed So it's gonna be fun, it's gonna be real, it's gonna be different.

But I'm looking forward to another year of success for the city, another year of innovation, another year of new things that will truly continue to set us apart from every other city around us. If you look at our city and look who we are and what we are, how we're run, and our values that make us who we are, we truly stand alone amongst other cities. Thank you again for being here. I invite you all to stick around afterwards, I believe we put some city dime and some refreshments and stuff outside. So please when this is over, please enjoy it, please partake.