CITY COUNCIL MEETING

by the Arts Colony of La Mirada. Please proceed.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your unconditional love, infinite wisdom and endless grace. We also thank you for this evening and for the men and women who lead and serve La Mirada. Grant your blessing upon every member of La Mirada City Council staff public servants and first responders. We pray every word that's spoken and every decision that's made pleases you and benefits the city of La Mirada And finally, Lord, we thank you for guiding the La Mirada Little League All-Stars to their Junior League World Series championship. For that we could not be prouder of this city and these boys and everyone that made it happen. It's in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

Remain standing. Right hand over your heart. Ready begin.

Thank you.

Thank you. Roll call, please.

With us this evening, we have Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School Board President Dr. Rob Cantio, Vice President Becky Langenwalter, board member Narches Brasov, board member Mark Copeland, Student board member Kaden Kang. And Superintendent Tanya Magana. We also have with us this evening the superintendent of Whittier Union High School District, Dr. Monica Oviedo.

And field deputy Ivan Sulek of Supervisor Hahn's office. And Daniel

Aguilar from Senator Bob Archuleta's office. You can't forget the one and only Ben Webster is way back there, Ben! What a journey, family. What an incredible journey here today. To the parents, thank you. Each parent here, thank you very much for what you've done. Not only did you play an active role in creating this child obviously to be standing before us, one parent there or some grandparents, somebody somewhere took a ball to bat and played with these young men.

And they got the spark in them to love America's game, to take the passion To have the dedication that I know sometimes requires a parent's force of whatnot. We know that to get here, it's not just show up and you throw a ball and you play. There is hitting coach, batting coaches, strength conditioning, so much footwork there goes in, so much skill that goes into this. And it was clearly evident that when these young men went on this journey to take this undefeated season, now they represent this community but represent our country You could tell that they were legit.

They were legit from watching them play, from their footwork, from their stutter step to get their footwork right, to getting their glove in the dirt where it belongs I'm sure you guys learned that and T-ball the dirt the glove belongs in the dirt. I'm sure most of you started fielding with playing with a kitchen mitt of sorts to get your get the ball used to on your hand and here you are today Parents, thank you for traveling with them.

For taking on the expenses with them, for missing work because when we were watching you on TV, you guys were savages. You were there. And I got to say it, the moms you represented, you ladies were representing all of our ESPN To the coaching staff, you young men, your skill set, your dedication to fundamentals was clearly evident. When you saw a double play come through, your mechanics were there. They were just snap, crackle, pop. There was no hesitation where the ball needed to go. Your baseball IQ was pretty stellar so much that the announcers were commenting on it and that's a direct reflection on the coaching Coach, the environment you made for these young men to not only play baseball but develop as young men will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

The journey, the things you taught them that they'll take with them on and off the field will make them better men, better husbands, and maybe better fathers one day because they got to know you and play under your toolage. Thank you for that. Thank you for the environment which you provided for them. So gentlemen, I understand that you guys had a very spirited time in the hotel rooms from time to time.

Little Birdie said that when the parents are trying to enjoy themselves they kept getting called, could coaches please come to the hallway? Please come to the hallway. And rest assured that there is no penal code violations or any of that going on. It's just boys being boys and being loud and being boisterous, and I guarantee you it's those times you guys played with had with each other the tomfoolery to call it what you want. Is something you remember forever? If the time's off to feel your member forever.

Coach created environment for these young men that they only played played America's America sport but they also had time between games to enjoy themselves and just be young Hearing the tale where day before a game, you guys are jumping off cliffs into water. Who does that? You know most coaches have their kids on lockdown going over what you're gonna do in this situation, what are you doing here and they got the pitcher and catcher grilling them on what they're gonna do how they're gonna do it but not this coach. The environment paid off because there was more in baseball about life is about being responsible young men.

Now I gotta tell you boys that last game extra innings

My

wife is sitting right there, we were in San Diego for a concert and I was yelling my head off in the room. She's telling me you need to calm down. I said you don't understand what's going on here. I have Councilman Lewis texting me he didn't have ESPN Plus so I'm gonna play by play So he's telling me, hey when they win this we're going to, I said pump your brakes real quick. I say it's bases loaded, Taipei has got zero outs and it's bases loaded.

Let's get our rosaries out and start

praying.

And the Hail Mary works for those of you that watched. There were so many opportunities for you gentlemen to crumble. There was so many opportunities to get mad at one another, to take it out on one another and just implode and you didn't maybe you did off screen or camera but on camera I'm telling you bases loaded no outs who pulls that up? You guys do! I have never seen a performance, maybe when Yankees were talking trash to the Dodgers and the Dodgers came back and beat them in their stadium. That was good comeback. You guys fought them off and you fought on and you did not give up. You did not.

Next inning, you know it goes in and everyone's doing the international tiebreaker. Put him in a position to run, put him in a position to run. Then the strategy changed and I think that's when the tempo changed for the game and I think Taipei wasn't ready for that. Nobody was ready for that. When the coaching staff decided to say, where is he at? Swing for the fences.

Amazing because when you got that hit and we put people on base, Taipei didn't know what to do. They got the wind knocked. Their wind was gone at that point. It was no longer just Bon advanced a runner and let's go because even the announcers were saying it's going to be more than one run to win this. Someone has to put more than one run in otherwise we're going to be here all day.

And so I had the opportunity to meet the coaches and I asked them, hey who made that call? I mean seriously who made that because you're throwing it all in. You're putting all your chips in there let's go we need 21 or we're going to get it and I was surprised but pleased to hear that for this team it's a consensus. The coaches get together they put their heads together they say hey what do you think and they vote whoever gets out voted okay you got outvoted but they live with it And what was amazing to hear is that the coaches, you guys said no, let's all do it. There was no deviation. We're going for it. We're going big or go home.

You guys went big and your home when you're here. We are so incredibly proud of you. That out there, once you guys won the demand for parade, this or that calls are coming in. Talking to Matt, parade? I said, I've never put on a parade. Many parades in my life. I've been stuck at a corner stop and don't stop for Lakers and Dodgers all my career. And I've seen it. I've never put one on. Never have them put one on.

But like true to form in this community, I'm telling you the community came together like magnets. Not like breaking apart but magnets attracted to each other. Everybody was volunteering to help what can we do? How can we do this? The help was there again talk to the city manager and say this is divisions where we want to go and our staff had y'all liked that double-decker bus I saw that and was like no, that was legit. That's Dodger level right there.

Of course no champagne and no stuff going on there. I don't think so. Some of the coaches? I don' know. But it was legit. We're proud of you. Your community is proud of you. Gentlemen your nation is proud of you! Let that sink in. You not only represented this amazing town, the state, you represented the country on the world stage. Believe it or not, the world was watching. There are people who follow this internationally. They were watching you battle. They were watching you fight. They were watching a first baseman make an incredible catch that the game before had reached over. Yeah he's like 6'8". Of course he got it.

If you follow the series and the journey of this team, like coach said every player had a role to play at different times. And your role was so crucial from just putting the ball in play get the ball in play. You don't gotta know your role put it in play we can win with singles just put the ball in play people did that and those who swing for the fences one for the fences. The last few innings of that last game sorry outfield you guys were like probably picking daisies in the field because it was all infield battle The last pitcher and catcher, you guys face some significant adversity.

And you'll learn some of it self-imposed right? But there's I don't know if you guys follow Stoics or stoicism but one of this I think with Marcus Aurelius put it in so many words that you can't control what happens to you but you could control how you react to it And you guys acted like professionals who were highly trained and dedicated. You can coach a lot of things in life, but you can't coach heart and tenacity. And parents, you raised some young men here with some heart and tenacity and drive like none other or otherwise we wouldn't be here today.

So thank you again for what you did for representing this community, the state, this country on the world stage. And now I'm going to stop obloviating and we're going to get onto passing out some certificates. I think you have so many certificates here, you're probably going to need a new trophy room to display them all. But we're going to call the boys up one by one.

We have a city photographer who will get pictures of this as well. Coach will make all the photos available to y'all, so you can push them out your family or team moms. You guys can take care of that stuff. And with any further delay let's get this going shall we? Mr. City Manager.

OK first we will call up Lead President Aaron Adler.

Congratulations.

You want to say anything?

Thank you to the coaching staff, thank you to this group. Amazing group of young players. Quite a journey right parents? We started in Norwalk then we played in La Mirada then we played in Mission Viejo and we played in Bend Oregon which was a great town if you're going to go to Bend Oregon it's very nice there Then Michigan obviously was just crazy. It was muggy, it was lightning rainy. Thanks for all the parents that made that trip. That's what makes our league special is the parents and the players but especially the parents and I see them all here most of them made that trip.

Thank you so much and that means a lot to me. So thank you coaches and thank you team moms. Team moms that ruled the roost and our board members as well. Our board members worked hard from day one to get this season going so I appreciate it. Next

up is Manager Ray Haraghi.

That's me.

All right, I got you. Just really quickly one more time, I do want to thank our city and our community for coming around together this was it was emotional. For me all the stuff you know being online and being everywhere and telling everybody overly confident is just how I live but for our city in our community I'm so thankful to each and every one of you guys are city staff that came out here and they had a big part in this as well right?

You know our high school, Mr. Webster and Jimmy Zirna allowing us to go put practice on the field you know that it's the best facility in the country in my opinion I guess coach said right so I might be a little biased but I think it's true. Our district 29 people over here Shirley and Gary We got to be with a lot of districts. We have the best people running our district, so we are very thankful for you guys and even though you don't let me play music at the games I still love you. And then for my president and his first lady over here, Erin and Monica, there's nothing that we could do without you guys. So thank you guys for all the sacrifices that you guys make. I mean, I couldn't imagine doing what you guys do. I'm on the board and they'll tell you I rarely show up to stuff.

And then, you know, we have some unsung heroes. We have Terra who's our player agent. I don't know where Terra is at. We got Mike who sacrifices everything. He's there all the time and Michael Gonzalez also. The sacrifices of what he came out. We wouldn't be here without Without that group of people. So for our city, we're just very lucky. We're very proud to be from here. Everybody that knows me, if you see me when I wear a hat it's always Ellen. It's different colors. Everyone is like where do you get all these? And I've been coaching here for 14 years right?

I just wear a different one every time so for everybody, for you guys, all of you guys thank you guys. We really really appreciate it. We love you guys and thank you for supporting us because man I'm about to start crying let's go!

Next up, Coach Ernie Jaime.

First of

all, I want to thank, like Ray said, he pretty much covered it all. He's kind of shy sometimes as you can tell. But he pretty much covered everything. I want to thank first my wife, my son Alonzo. He was a game changer for a while so... Also all of my parents they went to Oregon and they're a family. We have a lot of talent here and I'm just excited to be part of it.

The coach said at Ferrari, we just say don't crash. Take it and don't do nothing dumb and you're going to be good. So overall boys super proud of you guys. And again city thank you guys and let's go!

Next up is Coach Anthony Ortega

I don't know about speech, but thank you to the parents. It was rough on us. It was hot wherever we went. It was hot. We went to Oregon, it's hot. Came back here, hot. Michigan, it was cloudy and ugly, hot, so hot. Thanks for everyone for the ride. This is, I'd love to represent the city like Ray said, you know whatever you wear is LM. We, certain people were born here raised here we love this town and it's our home and thank you for everybody this is a fun trip and we'll see these boys here in a couple more years with the high school championship.

Next is coach Ricky Rios He's not here.

Ricky's out recruiting more students to be played. He's currently in Tennessee

looking for some talent, he'll

be

back. Next are our team administrators. We'll begin with Heidi Jauregui.

Thank you to the parents and I mean we're a family, right? We talk about it on group chats and we're always coordinating like where are we going to be. How are we going to cheer on the boys even for this parade. Where are you going to be at the end or in front so Boys, I mean they're a handful. But we all came together picking up the uniforms and upper laundry at the end of the night or whatever it was. The kids didn't get fed. Nico was making sure that everybody was fed. Everybody was taken care of. Nobody had any injuries so we were all in it as a team. So this La Mirada community is just the best and we're a family.

Just for awareness, what's going to happen at the end, we're going to be here. You're going to come around and stand behind us and take a picture. The city will take pictures of that. I know some of you out there want your iPhones. That's cool. Get your iPhones out. But we're going to take that picture right back here just so you guys get your certificates. Eventually, we'll come up

with it. Next is Monica Salas.

Hold on. ESPN had her front center all the time.

I just

want

to

thank everybody that's involved, our whole team,

our league. We are a big family and I love you guys. Thank you!

Okay now for the players first is Ryan Barberena Next is Adam Brewer.

Next is Nathan Dowland.

Next is Lucas Gaeta.

Next is Noel Jaime.

Next is Noah Haraghi.

Thank you.

Next is Blake Leal. Next is Jayden Lopez.

Six thirty.

Jeremiah

Ortega. Ryan Rios.

And last but not least, Jayden

Valdez.

Okay.

Can someone at

the end hold this

or they'll get their faces.

It doesn't happen without you, everyone knows that.

Absolutely. Don't hide your pretty faces. Everybody look in the middle right quick.

One, two, three.

Okay, attendees here. We're gonna change this meeting a bit. We're gonna do our council

comments.

If you want to stick around, you can. If you want to hear our comments, you can. It'll be quick if you want to step outside and enjoy the agua frescas and everything that's out there. We're going to get our feelings but we're going to go on with our comments. So I'll give you a couple minutes if you're gonna do your thing. Oh, hey, players. Stick around for five minutes. My bad, I'm

sorry. Just

five minutes. The mayor screwed up. You were doing

it. I know, and then I screwed it up.

Okay, we're gonna get on with our comments. We're gonna change up a little bit. We're gonna go to item number nine council comments. I'll start to my far right. Councilman Lewis please go ahead. Thank

you Mr. Mayor. I want to congratulate you all for the win of the World Series. We haven't seen that in a long time and this is going to be remembered for a very very long time so everybody but the players let's give them a round of applause. It was very, very exciting. I'd like to say I watched it but as the mayor was saying, I kept texting the mayor saying what's happening now? What's happening now? But I'm sitting in the middle of a store and he said they're on third, they're on fourth, there's this double play and I'm like oh my god this is great! I'm going crazy just going in circles in the middle of the store But my hat's off to you. It's going to be a long till hopefully next year we see you guys back again, but it's been a long time since it's happened and it's great for the city and as the mayor said, you know, the world was watching and you guys came through so our hats off to you and once again thank you for everything you have done for the City of La Mirada.

You have made us look great. La Mirada Strong! So thank you I appreciate it.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You know, you're going to carry something with you the rest of your life. You guys are champions. Whatever you do and wherever you go, you will always be champions. So this isn't the end. This is the beginning. So take all of this and be a champion in everything you do from here on out because you've been positioned to be champions. Take it to the next level, and the next level, and the next level. And the thing that you take with you is what your coaches gave you, teamwork. You never succeed without being part of a team.

That team has to work together. It rose together. It stays together. And your coaches gave you that. Remember that, you're gonna be a part of a team when you leave here, when you go college, whatever you do, teamwork, be a part of that team and bring that championship mentality into that team and you will always succeed. God bless you guys and thank you for making La Mirada proud.

Thank you Mayor Pro Tem Dr. Drews I'll go to my extreme left Councilwoman Beane.

Thank You Mayor Otero Part of our requirements as elected officials is to share with you all, for transparency's sake, the places that we've traveled and the events that we represent in the City of La Mirada. So last week I want to share with you that a team of La Mirada attended the monthly contract cities board meeting and that team included city staff and city manager myself and Commissioner Alan Peters she was Among the few honored guests who completed the City Officials Academy hosted by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, so congratulations to Ellen Peters.

Every year that meeting has a theme for the meeting and like the Mayor Pro Tem was talking about, the theme of that meeting was team. So it was really wonderful, and I was so grateful that the entire La Mirada team wore La Mirada jerseys. And I want to point too, and they all know that I've done this many times, to that side wall there, and you can see the city's vision and mission statement in the city values.

And on that wall, the value that I wanna point out that's listed there and framed is teamwork. La Mirada Little League, you not only exemplified teamwork in your outstanding victory this season. You all demonstrated the greatest dedication to faith tradition and unity that we have seen in a long time. You are La Mirada, and as the Mayor Pro Tempore said, you are champions for life.

Great teammates rally around each other and work through challenges even when they are painful and emotional ones, even when the path is hard because great leaders, and that's all of you young inspirational leaders, great leaders know that through the challenges waiting on the other side is the championship. Boys, parents, coaches you have made a city proud. You have made La Mirada proud and we couldn't be more grateful to you for sharing the victory your story with us Mrs. Ong, writer you are loved and cherished and he's right here with us thank you and good night

Thank you Councilman Bean. Dr. Eaton? Thank you Mr. Mayor I've been mayor three times, never ridden in a parade before Yeah, so now I know what it takes. But you know when I think of champion of the World Series? You know what that means? You're the best of the best. You really are. You're the best of the best and your family is proud of you. The whole entire city is proud of you and more importantly everyone up here says something pretty similar remember La Mirada and remember what got you there teamwork trust And the people, your coaches, everybody that got you here. Don't ever forget what they did for you in your life. Honestly to get to a World Series and winning the whole thing requires something different. I call it the X Factor. It's something almost the ability to endure pain more than other people, and also that focus.

That focus of barking everything out and just seeing the ball coming. I don't play baseball, just so you know. I've never swung a bat before. I always get nervous because it's like a rock coming at you. So I never played. But to get to where you have been winning the World Series is just amazing. But I just want to let you know the journey has just began You're world champions now, but it's how you carry yourself as a champion that really matters. So be a champion, inspire people and help others live to new heights. Congratulations!

I think I've spoken enough for today, so my comments will be limited to nothing tonight. Thank you very much. So that being said, we're going to move around this agenda.

Public comment, yeah.

You got it, okay. Are we ready for item 6.1?

Item 6.1, Mr. City Manager. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and members of the City Council. Joseph Hong applied to serve on the senior council and was interviewed by Senior Council Chair Mary Hall and Senior Council Member Mary Doss. A resident of the Somerset Glen senior apartment community, Mr Hong expressed a strong interest in serving his community. He moved to La Mirada in 2025 after living abroad in Singapore and Korea, where he worked as a project developer before retiring. His background includes volunteering for a hot lunch delivery program in Seoul, Korea, and providing translation assistance both locally and abroad. He is eager to help connect senior community members with information and services to enhance their quality of life. So with that it's recommended the City Council appoint Joseph Hong to the Senior Council for a term ending in June of 2027.

Administrative managers, for the record we will appoint

them today but you're taking those at a later date. Is that correct? That's correct. Okay so item 6.1 any comments or questions on the dais? So moved. We got a first and I get a second please. Second. I got a first and we got two seconds so we'll take one of them and roll call please.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor, members of the City Council and the wonderful La Mirada community. My name is Octavio Durand. I'm Director of Market Development for EDCO and a proud 40-year resident of La Mirada. I am joined here tonight by our La Mirada Field Representative Candy Soto As your exclusive waste hauler, EDCO is proud to be a family owned and operated company. For us being a true community partner is at the heart of everything we do.

We were absolutely thrilled to join today's celebration to include having an EDCO truck join these champions under historic parade from Beringer Park to City Hall. To keep the celebration going throughout the city two residential trash trucks will be running for the next month featuring large side stickers congratulating our world champions. What these young athletes achieved is truly historic, capping off an undefeated postseason with an epic 10th inning 6-3 victory over Asia Pacific to bring home the World Series title.

That title has brought immense pride to the La Mirada community. The league president isn't here but to the team manager, team administrators, coaching staff thank you for your incredible leadership On behalf of the entire Etico family, Candy and I are proud to present a check for $1,000 to help support the continued success of La Mirada Little League. Wow. Thank you.

For you guys that don't know, me and Octavio, we actually served on the La Mirada Soccer Association board together for years. So to get this check from him and EDCO, awesome. I didn't know it was going to come from him. So man, we're buddies from way back. So thank you so much. We appreciate it, man. Thank you.

Good evening, La Mirada City Council. My name is Raymond Fernandez and everybody knows Octavio. We are a part of the Board of Directors for the La Mirada Rotary Club and we are inviting you all and folks here on camera or in viewership to September 3rd at Gondolas, La Mirada Rotary Club is inviting you all or whomever can make it to attend an event where we will be presenting another $1,000 check to the La Mirada Interact Club An extension of Rotary for all that they do.

So if you have any questions, please contact myself or the La Mirada Rotary Club and then we'll give you all the details but it will be on Thursday September 3rd 530 to 8 p.m.. Thank you very much

Anyone else? Public comment. Anyone online? No hands are raised. OK, then public comment is now officially closed. Move on to Consent Calendar 8.1 through 8.8. Move

the staff section.

Second. First and second. Roll call please.