1 MINUTES
Regular Meeting Notice of the
Gardena City Council
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
The Regular Meeting Notice and Agenda of the Gardena City Council of the City of Gardena, California, was called to order at 7: 10 PM on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, in the Council Chamber at City Hall 1700 West 162nd Street, Gardena, California.
1. ROLL CALL
Present: Mayor Pro Tem Rodney G. Tanaka; Council Member Mark E Henderson; Council Member Paulette C. Francis; and Council Member Wanda Love; Other City Officials present: City Manager Clint Osorio; City Attorney Carmen Vasquez ; City Clerk Mina Semenza; and Deputy City Clerk Becky Romero. It was noted for the record that Mayor Tasha Cerda was running late and on her way.
PUBLIC COMMENT ON CLOSED SESSION
2. CLOSED SESSION
2.A CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL -ANTICIPATED LITIGATION Initiation of litigation pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (d) of Section 54956.9
(Two [2] Matters)
For the record, Assistant City Attorney Lisa Kranitz, Community Development Director Greg Tsujiuchi, and Community Development Manager Amanda Acuna, were all present for this item.
CITY ATTORNEY REPORT OUT OF CLOSED SESSION
Mayor Cerda reconvened the meeting to the Regular Open Session at 7:55p.m., and the City Clerk noted the return of all Council Members, who were present at the meeting. When City Attorney Vasquez was asked if there was any reportable action from Closed Session, she reported that with regarding to Item 2.A, Council authorized the initiation of litigation against the County of Los Angeles and all necessary parties regarding the County’s approval of a housing project at 15101 Crenshaw Blvd. as well as a proposed project at 15335 Crenshaw Blvd; the vote was unanimous 5-0.
3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Steven Mariscal, who is 10 years old and in the 5 th grade at 153rd Elementary School, led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. He was chosen to lead us in the p ledge because he gets really good grades, and he scored high on the SBAC State test. His hobbies include drawing and painting. He introduced his family, and appropriate photos were taken.
4. INVOCATION
Joyce Watanabe of Baha’i Faith led the Invocation.
Docusign Envelope ID: 740E1565-237E-460A-8066-6D34AA30735C 2 5. PRESENTATIONS
5.A Gardena Military Veteran Recognition to Felipe Perez, who served in the U.S. Army. He was chosen at the recommendation of Mayor Tasha Cerda – Mayor Cerda read Veteran Felipe Perez’s bio, Mayor Pro Tem Tanaka presented him with a Veteran coin, and appropriate photos were taken.
5.B Legislative Update – was presented by Senator Steven Bradford.
5.C Certificates of Commendation presented to the members of the First Citizens Leadership Academy – was presented by City Manager Osorio and the Certificates were accepted by the Candidates.
5.D Public Works Department Recognition for the 2024 Beacon Spotlight Award - was accepted by Public Works Director Allan Rigg ; he also recognized Hong Lee.
5.E Boards & Commissions Presentation - Youth Commission – Staff Liaison Jackie Arcos was present, and Members of the Youth Commission made their presentation.
5.F Gardena Events Video Presentation
6. PROCLAMATIONS
6.A "Gardena Red Ribbon Week," October 23, 2024, through October 31, 2024 – was accepted by GDAPP member, Rosa Hernandez, and Gardena Juvenile Justice Program Officer Sterling Kim.
7. APPOINTMENTS - None
8. CONSENT CALENDAR
8.A Waiver of Reading in Full of All Ordinances Listed on this Agenda and that they be Read by Title Only
CONTACT: CITY CLERK
8.B Approve Minutes:
Regular Meeting of the City Council, October 8, 2024
CONTACT: CITY CLERK
8.C Approval of Warrants/Payroll Register, October 22, 2024 CONTACT: ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
October 22, 2024: Wire Transfer : 12816-12818; 12820- 12831; Prepay: 177963- 177969; Check Numbers: 177970 - 178127 for a total Warrants issued in the amount of $3,209,445.27; Total Payroll Issued for October 18, 2024: $2,448,124.88
8.D Monthly Investment Portfolio, September 2024
CONTACT: ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
Docusign Envelope ID: 740E1565-237E-460A-8066-6D34AA30735C 3 8.E Personnel Report P-2024-16 10-22-24
CONTACT: ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
8.F RESOLUTION NO. 6682, Adopting the City of Gardena's 2024 Final Local Hazard Mitigation Plan
CONTACT: PUBLIC WORKS
It was moved by Council Member Francis, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Tanaka, and carried by the following roll call vote to Approve the Consent Calendar, with the exception of 8.F:
Ayes: Council Members Francis and Mayor Pro Tem Tanaka, Council Members Henderson and Love, and Mayor Cerda
Noes: None
Absent: None
9. EXCLUDED CONSENT CALENDAR
8.F PUBLIC WORKS - RESOLUTION NO. 6682, Adopting the City of Gardena's 2024 Final Local Hazard Mitigation Plan – Item was pulled by Council Member Francis
Questions and comments were made by Council Member Francis. Public Works Director Allan Rigg answered all questions.
It was moved by Mayor Cerda, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Tanaka, and carried by the following roll call vote to Approve Item 8.F:
Ayes: Mayor Cerda, Mayor Pro Tem Tanaka, Council Members Henderson, Francis, and Love
Noes: None
Absent: None
10. PLANNING & ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMISSION ACTION SHEET
10.A OCTOBER 15, 2024 MEETING - Meeting Cancelled
11. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
1) Maya Thomas – parent of a 4th grader at Amestoy Elementary - came to speak regarding the lack of crossing guards at their school; it’s becoming a safety concern; 2) Ca rla Rogue – parent at Amestoy Elementary - talked about implementing a valet service; and signage to be put up on the Berendo side of the school; 3) Na omi Hamms – spoke that they were trained by LAUSD Police on how to run a valet service; were told by the Principal that we would have to go through the City; 4) D an Yesmin – resident; and small business owner; expressing a growing concern over permitted RV parking in our City;
5) A ndrea Simenthal – Community Library Manager of Mayme Dear Library – came to give updates about events happening at Mayme Dear and Masao W. Satow libraries; and
Docusign Envelope ID: 740E1565-237E-460A-8066-6D34AA30735C 4 6) Glenn Mitchell, Community Service Director for the Gardena / Carson Rotary Club and a 51-year resident of Gardena – came to speak regarding Operation Gobble – one of our major donors was shut down by the State for missing money; no one has food to donate – they are looking for money running about $5,000 short; and is asking anyone at home who is watching, and our community to make a small donation.
12. DEPARTMENTAL ITEMS - ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES – No Items
13. DEPARTMENTAL ITEMS - COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT – No Items
14. DEPARTMENTAL ITEMS - ELECTED & CITY MANAGER'S OFFICES – No Items
15. DEPARTMENTAL ITEMS – POLICE – No Items
16. DEPARTMENTAL ITEMS - PUBLIC WORKS – No Items
17. DEPARTMENTAL ITEMS - RECREATION & HUMAN SERVICES – No Items
18. DEPARTMENTAL ITEMS – TRANSPORTATION – No Items
19. COUNCIL ITEMS – No Items
20. COUNCIL DIRECTIVES
Mayor Tasha Cerda
Subject: To update our Youth Commission Ordinance
Purpose – To reduce the membership from 10 to 7 members; and allow them to reduce the number of non-council appointees from 5 to 2 members
Reason – It will help the Youth Commission make quorum; Benefit – It will help our Youth Commission move forward with their Agenda.
Mayor Pro Tem Tanaka seconded it.
21. CITY MANAGER REMARKS RE: DIRECTIVES / COUNCIL ITEMS
1) City Manager Osorio stated that he has nothing to report on previous directives but wanted to invite everyone to have cake for Chief Mike Saffell’s birthday.
22. COUNCIL REMARKS
1) MAYOR PRO TEM TANAKA - Since the last meeting, he attended the Mark Thompson retirement celebration, congratulations on your 30- plus years of service to our Police Department. He attended the Police Department's fentanyl education presentation.
Officer Marisol and the narcotics team did a great job presenting to our public; C hannel 7 was there. He attended the COG’s Transportation meeting and the COG’s Steering Committee meeting on the same day to talk about the Inglewood transit budget. He attended the League of California Cities annual conference; this yearly conference is always a great time to meet with fellow Mayors and Council members and others from the State. He fulfilled his Ethics and Sexual Harassment training requirements. During
Docusign Envelope ID: 740E1565-237E-460A-8066-6D34AA30735C 5 the conference, he attended the LA Division luncheon, the opening G eneral Session with keynote speaker, Celeste Headlee, on “How to have Conversations that Matter” was a great topic; he attended the Jones and Mayer’s dinner reception at the Reef, thank you very much to them for that. He visited the Expo venue where they had all kinds of vendors displaying their items, from handicapped playground equipment, attorneys, law firms, to porta potties. He attended the General Session with speaker Dr. Christopher Thornberg who spoke on the financial economic outlook for California and the nation; that was an eye-opener. He attended the Mayor's and Council Members' business meetings. There was a class that was called City Successes and Responding to Homelessness, it was a nice presentation, and it highlighted the City of Torrance, Redondo, and Santa Monica, and how they're attacking their homeless issues. The resolution that we voted on was voted favorably on the last day however, there was no quorum, they wer e 10 members short, but they voted anyways, and the recommendation was referred back to the board for approval so, that went back to them. The Closing Session was really an entertaining moment with the keynote speaker, her name is Captain Sandy Yawn, and s he's on the program Below Deck; her message was pretty good, it's called “How to be Calm in the Storm.” He attended the COG’s study session regarding the Inglewood transit connector project again, which is coming up this Thursday. He attended Matt Hassoldt's promotion to Lieutenant congratulations to him, he's worked really hard to get to where he's at.
2) C OUNCIL MEMBER LOVE – Since the last council meeting, she has attended the League of California Cities annual conference she won't go into all of the details, of all the classes, the training, sessions, and exhibit halls. She attended the full three- day conference, and she was able to talk to a lot of good vendors out there, there are a few of them that she has reached out to City Department H eads to talk about and hopefully implement some of the things at the City. She also attended Assemblymember Muratsuchi’s town hall where the development projects that are coming up on Crenshaw were a huge topic; there were a lot of good discussions.
3) C OUNCIL MEMBER FRANCIS – Since our last meeting, she attended the Dylan Andrews basketball clinic, a Halloween craft night for the therapeutic recreation program.
She also attended a Beautification Commission meeting, the Home of the Month photo op and Harvest Festival. She just wants to say t hank you to Senator Bradford for the number of years he served as our Council Member, Assembly Member, and State Senator. She just wants to mention that he mentioned $400 million, but she remembers at least $10 million that he’s brought to the City of Gardena just recently. She also wants to say congratulations to the first graduating class of the Leadership Academy, you're all community leaders now, so people can come to you looking for direction, which you can provide them, and is part of your job now as a result of your training. She said congratulations to Public Works for your award which was excellent. Also, there's an election coming up on November 5
th; many have said it's the most consequential election of our history and the history of the United States and perhaps that's true, but she believes that every election is important ; and it's very important that we vote no matter who you decide to vote for, the young people, the City of Gardena has provided 2 polling places where they're voting centers now ; when she first began voting they were called polling places. There are two places you can go vote, one is at Rowley Park , you can also drop off your ballot in the ballot drop-off box, and she personally likes going in person to vote, but it's very important if you don't do anything else on November 5 th make sure
you vote. Make sure that you take somebody with you, take our young people with you,
Docusign Envelope ID: 740E1565-237E-460A-8066-6D34AA30735C 6 if you have young folks at home, grandkids take them because people don't just grow up getting involved, it starts at a young age and because of the adults in their lives to help them become involved so make sure you vote November 5th. You can start voting the week of, there's another voting center at Rush Gymnasium and it's starting Saturday, October 26th to November 4th from 10 am to 7 pm, then of course on Election Day and again if you don't want to vote in person you can always drop your ballot off in one of the ballot boxes so if you don't do anything else on November 5th make sure you vote, take somebody with you there's a lot of people that went through a lot just to make sure women and also other folks have the opportunity to vote.
4) MAYOR CERDA – Since the last council meeting, she attended the Carson Gardena Dominguez Rotary Club, and a lot of good stuff coming out of there as they get ready for Operation Gobble. We will continue working with them to make it happen because it's been successful every year that they've been doing it, so we want to see that continue moving forward. She also attended the retirement ceremony for Lieutenant Mark Thompson, retiring after 30 years. She also attended the third anniversary of one of our businesses, The Toss Up, which is a salad restaurant she loves telling everybody when we first opened that up it's like our first healthy restaurant that opened up and they had been doing fabulous from the day they open until now, so she is really excited that they're still going strong. She also attended a portion of the Fentanyl Education series that was going on. She attended the installation of Officers for the Gardena Valley Lions Club at El Pollo Inka. She also attended the Curry brand T ough Crowd Youth Basketball Clinic, Dylan Andrews is such a nice young man, just the way he likes to give back, and she was just so impressed with Under Armour, they gave out all this free stuff for the kids there were T -shirts, shorts, tennis shoes and it was a ton of tennis shoes, kids were getting more than one pair of tennis shoes and these weren't cheap shoes they were really nice. It wasn't just the basketball clinic for the youth, but it was also for the coaches and teaching them the proper way to motivate young people on and being good coaches.
She also attended the CCGA meeting that's the one where we deal with the card rooms.
She also attended the Jones and Mayer dinner that was held during the League of Cities Conference; she only had the opportunity to attend 2 days of that because she had meetings, and she was working, but a lot of good information came out of that conference. She won't repeat everything that Mayor Pro Tem mentioned because we went to some of the same sessions together , but what she is most impressed with was Code Enforcement because she is really big on Code Enforcement , and just hearing some new terms and different things that they were discussing there and she was happy to know that a lot of our staff were there as well , so it's not like we have to come back and report and tell them they were right there to hear it themselves and so we can kind of research some things and go a little bit further with but again a lot of great things for new Council Members and Veteran Council Members like me to learn because as much as we all think we know , things are constantly changing and we could always all learn something new, so it was really good. While she was at the Conference, she attended a City Selection meeting and believe it or not this is the third time we've tried to have our City Selection meeting, but we were two cities short of making quorum so we're going to have to try to meet a fourth time. She attended the Peruvian Inka Lions Potluck that was held at Arthur Johnson Park where they had not only a potluck, but a costume party and they went on and on about how great our staff was and just helping them get the park and just how nice our park was and they just had a wonderful time so she was happy to be able to spend the day with them. Then this past Sunday she brought greetings to a
Docusign Envelope ID: 740E1565-237E-460A-8066-6D34AA30735C 7 church that was actually outside of Gardena Morningstar Missionary Church from the City of Gardena as they celebrated their Woman's Day event at church. Then later on that day, herself along with Gardena PD and LA County Fire Department , did what she always likes to call our City drive by and we celebrated the birthday of one of our residents who turned 90 years old; she was so happy when you came down the streets with light’s and siren’s, all residents came out because they're wondering what's going on; Sunday was her actual birthday, and she was just in tears and she was just thankful.
If you follow me on social media you can watch the whole video as it happened that was great to attend and she just wanted to thank everybody for being out there and our first responders, who came over and gave her a hug, gave her a couple of gifts, and pose d for a picture so she was just happy for days. The last thing she attended was the promotion ceremony for now Lieutenant Matt Hassoldt and so another exciting day one of our long-time Gardena employees had the opportunity to promote up.
5) C OUNCIL MEMBER HENDERSON – Since the last meeting, he has attended the League of California Cities which was a wonderful learning opportunity in the City of Long Beach, it was good to see a lot of our staff there and a lot of colleagues around the State.
He got a lot of great notes from that conference. Then he had to leave that conference and go to our South Bay Cities Council of Governments South Bay Fiber Network meeting ,and kind of met also with the CPUC in regards to broadband in our community where he discovered that we got approximately 4000 homes that are either not being served or underserved with broadband, so we got some work to do there and he thinks we'll be able to get something positive out of that with our South Bay Fiber Network and our South Bay Council of Governments all 16 Cities, so stay tuned on that. He attended his ICA Board Meeting as we prepared for his installation as the president a second time on November 14th. So, Madam Mayor I am inviting you to give words and everything.
That's a great opportunity to talk about the Independent Cities Association and our mission of making sure our municipalities 40 cities in the LA C ounty work on issues related to technology, public safety, and just things to improve your community. He also attended the LA Harbor College Foundation dinner, which was a great opportunity to see the president of that Board, my lovely wife, Michelle Henderson, give remarks and talk about the importance of education. He attended the Assembly District 66 town hall we had here at the Nakaoka Community Center hosted by Assemblymember, Al Muratsuchi, that was a spirited meeting with a lot of community members as well as neighboring community members. He also attended the Gardena Carson YMCA fundraising event which was actually a very good event, and he learned a lot about our partnerships with the Gardena Carson YMCA, they want to say thank you to our Council and you Madam Mayor for the continued support. He was kind of in every place everybody else was for the most part, so he won't belabor the p oint. Again, our city is definitely moving in a positive direction our budget is strong, financially we're strong, and our information is available, so we are a transparent City he just wants to remind everybody that.
22. ANNOUNCEMENT(S)
1) National RX Take Back, Saturday, October 26, 2024, from 10:00a.m. to 2:00p.m. at various locations, including the Gardena Police Department; 2) Fiesta Movie Night on Saturday, October 26, 2024, from 6:30-9:30p.m. at the City Hall Complex; the Movie is “Coco”;
3) Too Cute to Spook, Thursday, October 31, 2024, from 5:30-7:30p.m. at Rowley Park; 4) Halloween Scare Zone, Thursday, October 31, 6:00-9:00p.m. at Freeman Park;
Docusign Envelope ID: 740E1565-237E-460A-8066-6D34AA30735C 8 5) Dia De Los Muertos Celebration, Saturday, November 2, 2024, from 5:30-8:30p.m. at City Hall Lawn;
6) 41st Annual Senior Citizen Health Fair, Friday, November 1, 2024, from 9:00a.m. to 12:00p.m. at City Hall Lawn;
7) 55th Annual Veterans Day Service, Monday, November 11, 2024, at 11:00a.m. on our City Hall Lawn;
8) Casino Night, Friday, November 15, 2024, from 5:30-9:30p.m. on the City Hall Lawn; and
9) Helping Hands Toy Drive, from Monday, November 4 through Monday, December 16, 2024. Drop off locations are at the Nakaoka Community Center, Gardena City Hall, Human Services and GTrans.
23. REMEMBRANCES
Mr. Keiichi Omori, 107 years of age, longtime Gardena resident; Ms. Bertha Lee Dennis, 87 years of age, longtime Gardena resident; and Mr. Sal Galindo, 83 years of age, longtime Gardena resident and Gardena Elks Member.
24. ADJOURNMENT
At 9:41p.m. Mayor Cerda adjourned the Gardena City Council Meeting to the Closed Session portion of the City Council Meeting at 7:00p.m. and the Regular City Council Meeting at 7:30p.m. on Tuesday, November 19, 2024.
MINA SEMENZA
City Clerk of the City of Gardena and
APPROVED:
Ex-officio Clerk of the Council
______________________________ By:___________________________ Tasha Cerda, Mayor Becky Romero, Deputy City Clerk
Docusign Envelope ID: 740E1565-237E-460A-8066-6D34AA30735C