Speaker 0: Great. Thank you very much. We'll be moving on to the rest of the agenda. Next is the consent actually of hearing number one.
Speaker 3: I am.
Speaker 1: Item one is a hearing, a report from Health and Human Services recommendation to authorize city manager to vote in favor of the proposed mosquito and Vector Control Program Benefit Assessment District measure for the parcel owned by the city and submit them to the city clerk and receive in supporting documentation into the record. Conclude the public hearing to consider the establishment of the VCP Benefit Assessment District. Closed the balloting at the conclusions of the public input. Directs the City Clerk to tabulate the ballots and report the result during the July 16 City Council meeting citywide. I also wanted to make an announcement that for those that do need a replacement ballot, please see the table out in the lobby and the ballot must be turned in at the end of this hearing. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you. There's a motion and a second, Mr. Modica.
Speaker 11: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We will have a staff report on this from Kelly Collopy, our director of Health and Human Services. And Nelson Kerr, our manager of Environmental Health.
Speaker 5: Excuse me, Mayor. I believe an oath is required for this item.
Speaker 1: Those wishing to give testimony, please raise your right hand. You in each of you do solemnly state that the testimony you may give in the court now and pending before this body shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God.
Speaker 4: I do. Okay. Mr. Kerr. Okay. Thank you. Mayor and City Council. I have with me today Mr. John Bliss, who is president of the engineering firm MCI. This is the company we are working with on the vector control benefit assessment item. We also have Maria Davi also with Sky here with the City of Clark to assist with any procedures related to the balloting. And she is as stated in the main lobby. So if there's any issues or needing for replacement ballots or corrections or any questions related to the balloting, folks should go upstairs and see Maria Davi and our city clerk. Okay. This item is a continuation of the Vector Control Benefit Assessment item originally brought to council in October of 2018 at the most recent council meeting. On May.
Speaker 8: 7th, the City Council provided approval to.
Speaker 4: Proceed with the mailing of benefit assessment ballots to property owners within the boundaries of the proposed service area. Ballots were mailed on May 17th at the rate of $8.21 per single family equivalent per year. At the May 7th meeting. The city council will also.
Speaker 8: Establish today's date for the.
Speaker 4: Public hearing, which concludes the state mandated 45 day balloting period. The proposed mosquito vector and Disease Control Assessment will provide new or enhanced services to control mosquitoes and other vectors in the Vector Control Program Service Area.
Speaker 8: This enhanced level of service.
Speaker 4: Would provide year round control of invasive mosquitoes and other vectors using environmentally sound methods and would monitor vector borne diseases such as West Nile Virus, Zika, typhus and other emerging vector borne diseases that impact public health.
Speaker 8: If approved, the proposed.
Speaker 4: Mosquito Vector and Disease.
Speaker 8: Control Assessment will be included on the September October.
Speaker 4: 2019 annual.
Speaker 8: Property tax bill for parcel.
Speaker 4: Owners in the proposed service area. A key provision of today's public hearing is to conclude this 45 day balloting period, as required by state.
Speaker 8: Law, and for the city clerk's office to accept.
Speaker 4: Any additional ballots that have not been cast yet. The balloting period officially closes at the conclusion of the public comment portion of this hearing. Following the close of the public hearing, the mayor will direct the city clerk to tabulate the ballots. The ballot counting location and hours are currently.
Speaker 8: Posted at City.
Speaker 4: Hall and at the main health department and are also available online at the city clerk's website and the City Health Department Main Page website. On July 16th, 2019, as part of the regular council meeting, the official results of the balloting will be announced. This will allow sufficient time for the city clerk to tabulate the ballots received. Also at the July 16th meeting, the city council may consider.
Speaker 8: Provided a majority. Protest does not exist.
Speaker 4: A resolution to levy the assessments for fiscal year 1920. If a if the benefit assessment does not pass, no action will be required. Finally, I wish to thank all the staff at ASI, the city clerk's office, and the Bureau of Environmental Health Staff, for all the work on this project. And this concludes my report.
Speaker 10: Finally, is there any public comment on this? Plissken like.
Speaker 4: Larry. Good. I saw this on the agenda earlier when it was published a couple of days ago. And I thought that excellent program. There's nothing I can add to it. I was up in L.A. most of the day until about noontime, came back. And in my mailbox, I received something that I think might have a bearing on this. It was from the attorney general of the United States. It was following up on the earlier communications rally relative to the epidemic, the epidemic of corruption. That the Ninth Circuit Court has held that has enveloped much of California. As well, particularly in Long Beach. And areas of Sacramento we've already discussed. Two of those are going to be I mean, who's covered for that and who's in queue to go to prison? There's no question that's going to happen. It'll be in about two and a half to three years. But then looking at this, it occurred to me. That we can get federal funding. To help launch these Community Day Hospital as well as others to get inside of the minds of the people like the mayor. The other Crim Leigh completes the other criminal complicit councilperson that preceded the good Councilwoman Price. As well as other people. You spent a half an hour among all of you discussing in the need for of ensuring we have community hospital. This is a classic opportunity in classic case of providing. I mean, we've got the guinea pigs there. Yes. They're going to prison. But I think we can use that. We can get the federal money to get inside of and find out what the mindset is, why people think they can continually conduct themselves in what, again, the U.S. Ninth Circuit has found is criminal conduct, no ifs, ands, no buts. I see this measure here. As I said, it wasn't until I had seen that I would receive this, at least this, and put the two of these together. So I think it's it's it's a positive thing to do. And I'm going to communicate and gain back up to the U.S. attorney that here's an excellent opportunity that had not occurred before. And I'd like that at least to me and like them to consider it. And we'll get some more federal money. Thank you.
Speaker 10: Thank you, Mr. Video. Is that the end of the public speaking? No. No. I know I'm behind you. Are you the last one? Because we'll close it. If anyone else want to speak with you, please. Goodbye in here, because we're closing to now. Thank you. Okay, you can go and speak.
Speaker 4: My name's Dave Weisbrot. I'm a resident and I live right at Fourth and Wisconsin. And when I saw the notice of the assessment for the vector control, I said, hallelujah, because we have an issue there and it has to do with infrastructure. So I was very interested to hear the earlier conversation about infrastructure. The AIDS mosquito loves stagnant water. All mosquitoes love stagnant water, and there is always stagnant water in the gutter at Fourth and Wisconsin. I know that Eddie's Market Eddie there has complained previously about the fact that there are no storm drains within a quarter mile in either direction of fourth and Wisconsin. Fourth and Wisconsin gets flooded when there's even a moderately large rain to the point where he has to put up sandbags around his front door, because when the cars go through the intersection, the water washes up. But even today, an 80 degree day when I was coming here, there was stagnant water sitting in that good. And the eighties mosquito can lay its eggs on the border of a water body. And even if that water body dries up, those eggs are viable for months. And as soon as the water comes back, they can hatch. Last year I had over 40 bites of AIDS mosquitoes, and I will spare you the details, but my lower legs are just now healing. The scars are just now healing from all that I went through with those people using DEET, using other horrible insect repellents. I think the city needs to do a survey of intersections in particular where stagnant water is a problem and install storm drains. I took a little survey when I was coming here. I'm I was on my motorcycle. I went down to Ralph's and I came back. Ralph's at or Isabella or Isabella. Gladys Temple. Molino, Wisconsin. Carroll Park. East. No storm drains. There's a storm drain down at Luna Peril. That's it. So we really do need to look at the storm drainage. And I noticed that Mr. Modica presentation talked about stormwater management, and I think that needs to be a part of it. That's my comment. Thank you.
Speaker 10: Thank you. Next week.
Speaker 7: Good evening, Vice Mayor and City Council. My name is Teresa marino. I live in the second district. I'm a retiree from the city of Long Beach Department of Health. And this is a Department of Health major issue. I have been a resident of Long Beach over 40 years and I have been a property owner for more than 20 years. I'm in support of this. In fact, I wish I had one of those. I voted because I voted on June 5th for this. The effects of West Nile virus are very, very known to me. I have two friends who died of West Nile virus. Vector control is very important. The county does it in other areas, but we have our own public health jurisdiction and we need to have our own public health vector control assessment group. Many people are going to complain, Well, I'm a property owner and that's going to raise my tax my my property taxes in zone A, where I live, I am going to be paying $8.21. I also have rental income, so I will be paying an additional $8.21. But when you think about that, I spent more on that fighting those eight eighties mosquitoes last year just on cortisone alone. Or you remind people, my God, if you go out and buy yourself a double macchiato espresso with caramel and and whipped cream on it, you're going to find that you've spent your. 871 Well, more than that. So I don't think that people should use that as an excuse. Climate. Climate change is causing us to have these horrible AIDS, mosquitoes and other vectors that are coming in as a result of climate change. We need to control these. They will. Right now, the eighties mosquito is not carrying West Nile or Zika or dengue fever or other, but it's only a matter of time. So I urge folks who haven't voted if they can grab that and vote and support us, we need to do that. Climate change is here and those mosquitoes are going to stay. I have on my street on the on third near between Redondo and in Coronado. I get out and I sweep my street every day. I can do that as a retiree, but it more than that, it's important to keep the mosquito and the rodent population down. Thank you so.
Speaker 10: Much. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker.
Speaker 8: This is a another proposal.
Speaker 4: To please.
Speaker 10: State your name.
Speaker 8: I'm Joe Weinstein. Thank you. This is another proposed tax that with regret I had to vote against. I would have liked to have voted for it because I really believe in the importance of effective vector control. But I had to vote against it because. Well, here for a couple of reasons. First of all, the proponents responsible for creating this assessment election hid themselves. They never said who they were and what action they took on what date to give us this election. This is suspicious. I do not want to have to deal with people who are ashamed or want to disguise their actions. I learned only from the agenda papers for the day that those people were you on May 7th. So the presentation flouted our basic rights to simply transparency, accountability. You know, why are we having to do this? An even more important reason. There's no guarantee that a yes vote will result in more funding for vector control than what a no vote. And the reason is, as I outlined in a previous message today, is that there's a history of diverting funds, you know, dedicating new funds to a purpose and. Yes, yes, matching that allocation correctly, but thereby using that as a device method, an excuse to divert old funds to other purposes, such as unneeded new city halls, a fancy swimming pool in the middle of what will be tidal waters to cost 40 to 60 or 100 million when Torrance built a swimming pool of the same kind for 15 million. Extravagances like that. So we simply can't trust that the money will, in fact result in a net increase for vector control. And finally, you know, a. A tax on just property owners is doubly unfair. Now, of course, property owners benefit from the public health benefit because quality of life is improved and anything that improves quality of life and public health in the city is a boost to property values. But unfortunately, the engineering report misrepresented this as a benefit only to property values rather than all residents. This is fallacious logic, and in fact, a tax just on property owners is especially illogical and doubly unfair because property owners have special vector control responsibilities beyond those of other residents.
Speaker 4: With or without.
Speaker 8: A public vector control program. As a.
Speaker 4: Property owner, you are morally.
Speaker 8: And legally liable and responsible to prevent occurrence on your property of avoidable nuisances and threats to public health, including stagnant water and mosquito breeding. So imposing. Thank you for your time is just on us. It makes no more sense than putting a special tax for public ambulances just on doctors and nurses.
Speaker 10: Thank you. Thank you very much. Now we'll take behind the guises.
Speaker 3: Spears.
Speaker 7: No comments. No comments. Thank you.
Speaker 10: No good. In closing, I call for.
Speaker 5: Mr. Vice Mayor.
Speaker 6: On this item.
Speaker 7: The item requires two votes.
Speaker 5: The first is on the recommendation to authorize the city manager or designee to vote in favor of the district. And the second item is to receive the supporting documentation into the record, conclude the public hearing and consider the establishment of the district. So we'll need to do it in that sequence.
Speaker 10: Fine. Thank you very much. So could you please first vote? Please cast your vote.
Speaker 1: Council member Wananga. Motion carries.
Speaker 5: And at this point, if the city manager has the ballots that they cast, we can provide them to the city clerk.
Speaker 10: Bankrate.com.
Speaker 5: So now we can take our second.
Speaker 10: Please cast your second vote.
Speaker 1: Motion carries.
Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to vote in favor of the proposed Mosquito and Vector Control Program (VCP) benefit assessment district measure, on behalf of the City for the parcels owned by the City that are subject to the assessment, sign ballots, and submit them to the City Clerk prior to the conclusion of the July 2, 2019 public hearing; and

Receive supporting documentation into the record, conclude the public hearing to consider the establishment of the VCP benefit assessment district; close the balloting at the conclusion of the public input portion of the public hearing; direct the City Clerk to tabulate the ballots and report the results of the tabulation to the Mayor and City Council during the July 16, 2019 City Council meeting.  (Citywide)