The Irvine City Council met on Oct. 12, with the agenda primarily covering funding proposals and COVID-19 related updates.
The first public hearing to be addressed was in regards to the approval of a bond issuance by the California Enterprise Development Authority.
“The bond proceeds will be used to refinance the cost of the acquisition, construction and improvement of New Horizon School located at 10 Marconi in Irvine,” management analyst Gemma Calilong said.
Councilmember Anthony Kuo and Vice Mayor Tammy Kim expressed their support for the item and thanked the New Horizon chair for his organization’s presence in the community. The roll call vote carried 4-0 with Councilmember Mike Carroll. A brief COVID-19 update followed.
“While the city worked with Orange County United Way to administer round one of the program, the city has joined the state of California COVID-19 Rent Relief Program for round two,” management analyst Andrew Douglass said. “The state is administering nearly $2.5 billion in federal funding for the program.”
Based upon the unforeseen expenses that resulted from AB-832, which prohibits the eviction of tenants for failure to pay rent due to COVID-19 related hardships, staff recommended that councilmembers and City Interim Manager Marianna Marysheva propose an amendment that would modify the allowable administration fee from 5% to 8%.
According to Deputy City Manager Melissa Haley Branch, the city of Irvine had 136 new positive COVID-19 cases from Oct. 5 through Oct. 12, an increase of 25 more cases from last week’s report of 111. City Attorney Jeff Melching presented a proposal for the consideration of lifting the City of Irvine Local Emergency Declaration.
Kuo suggested that the proposal be brought back in two weeks due to the lack of decline in COVID-19 cases.
“At that point, if they’ve declined … then to reverse the order, take the vote on the urgency ordinances, all four of them … and then take a vote on lifting the state of emergency,” Kuo said.
As the proposal went without a motion, neighborhood services administrator Keri Bullock proceeded with a One Irvine Neighborhood Program update. Bullock proposed $5 million to the American Rescue Plan Act funding to support Neighborhood Capital improvement projects, which would be spread across several years in several neighborhoods.
“I think this is a very attractive program. I am familiar with those neighborhoods,” Councilmember Larry Agran said. “Some of the neighborhoods are on the upswing, and it seems to me that this program could make a big difference in accelerating that.”
Additionally, Agran suggested implementing infrastructure to build a sense of neighborhood.
Following the proposal was a public comment from Alan Meyerson, Irvine resident, regarding the Rule of Two, the limiting of an individual council member’s ability to set the agenda and expressed disappointment in the lack of response to his attempts to contact councilmembers.
“You’re basically censoring the thousands of people that voted for [Agran] in the city,” Meyerson said. “I would encourage you to agendize discussion on the Rule of Two, so we will have a clear understanding of what it’s there for.”
Meyerson also expressed his disapproval of Mayor Farrah Khan’s choice to address public comments at the end of meetings rather than sooner.
The next city council meeting will be held on Oct. 26 and can be viewed on the City of Irvine’s video library.
Veronica Garza is a City News Intern for the fall 2021 quarter. She can be reached at garzavc@uci.edu.