Correction: 12:10 p.m. Oct. 4 — Updated the meeting date.

La Verne City Council meets at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 5
Where: City Hall Council Chambers, 3660 D St., La Verne
How to attend: In person, via Zoom at LaVerneCA.gov/zoom, or by phone by calling 1-669-900-6833 and enter ID 846 0798 when prompted.

🔗 Oct. 5 City Council Meeting Agenda Packet

🗣️ Public Comment Opportunities

Want your voice on the record before the gavel drops? You can email the City Clerk's Office at cityclerk@LaVerneCA.gov up to noon Oct. 5—these comments become part of the public record and are shared with the council in advance.

Prefer to speak live? Show up in person and fill out a comment card, or raise your hand during the item on Zoom. Every speaker gets three minutes.

Visit LaVerneCA.gov/zoom or call 1-669-900-6833, enter ID: 846 0798; raise your hand to request to comment.

Public comment is allowed:

• During the Public Hearing
• On Discussion Calendar items
• On Consent Calendar items if pulled for separate discussion
• During general public comment for items not on the agenda

💡 Civic Tip: Before the regular meeting opens, the council holds a closed session—a private discussion state law allows only for specific topics, like ongoing labor negotiations, so bargaining strategy doesn't play out in public and undercut the City's position at the table. Monday's closed session is the same conference the council held before its Sept. 21 meeting: the City's negotiating team (the city manager, assistant city manager and city attorney) meeting under Government Code section 54957.6 over contract talks with three employee groups: the La Verne General Unit, the La Verne Firefighters Association, and the La Verne Fire Middle Management Association. Nothing here requires a public vote or comment, and the City typically won't report out unless a final agreement gets ratified.

It's a packed agenda this time, with a public hearing on an update to the City's emergency preparedness plan, a nearly $1.3 million street contract, and a values question tucked into routine business: what, if anything, a veterans group should pay to keep using space at Veterans Hall.

Presentations

Fire Prevention Month. Every October, the City recognizes National Fire Prevention Month to raise awareness around fire safety at home. The La Verne Fire Department will mark the occasion by sharing tips residents can use to help prevent wildfires and protect their homes and families.

Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The council will proclaim October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, encouraging residents to challenge the social norms that allow domestic violence to continue, offer meaningful support to survivors, and recognize those working to prevent and respond to it.

Order of the Alhambrans Recognition. The council will honor the Order of the Alhambrans for more than 20 years of volunteer service to La Verne, including their long-running support of dances for residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The group is also being recognized for donating the City's first Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) board, a tool meant to give nonverbal or speech-limited residents a way to communicate and to promote greater accessibility and inclusion in the community.

✅ Consent Calendar

Items on the Consent Calendar are routine and typically passed as a package unless pulled for individual discussion.

Council minutes and demands. The council will approve minutes from the Sept. 21 meeting and a register of audited demands totaling just over $2.09 million for Sept. 14 through Sept. 27.

A $1.65 million contract to fix up White Avenue. The City solicited bids for and received nine—Vance Corporation came in lowest at $1,272,329, well under the City's own engineer's estimate of $1,450,000. With additional work items and a contingency allowance of up to 15% built in for the unexpected, the total construction contract could reach $1,463,178.35, plus a separate $91,500 professional services contract with RKA Consulting Group. The council is also being asked to pass two resolutions formally declaring the alleyways south of 5th and 6th streets as public streets, which is part of what makes the rehabilitation work possible. None of this draws on the City's General Fund, it's paid for through federal, state and county transportation funding sources (Federal STPL, State RMRA/SB1, Metro Prop C and Measure R).

➡️ View the Draft Resolutions

Why it matters: this is real money and real road work headed to a specific stretch of the city, and this is federal and state gas-tax and transportation dollars—not your property tax bill—fund a lot of La Verne's street repair.

A helicopter engine for the region's crime task force. La Verne acts as the fiscal agent for LA IMPACT (the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force), a regional law enforcement partnership. The task force needs a replacement helicopter engine; a public bid solicitation drew zero responses, so staff went directly to vendors and got four bids. Staff recommends Advanced Helicopter Services at $674,050—the lowest of the four bids received, underbidding the engine's own manufacturer, Safran. The purchase is funded through the LA IMPACT Asset Forfeiture fund, not general city revenue.

Why it matters: La Verne isn't buying a helicopter engine for its own police department—it's handling the paperwork and payment on behalf of a multi-agency task force that covers a much wider area, funded by seized criminal assets rather than taxpayer dollars.

📢 Public Hearing

Updating the City's emergency plan for the first time in over a decade. The council will hold a public hearing on a resolution to adopt an updated Local Hazard Mitigation Plan—the City's roadmap for reducing risk from disasters before they happen. La Verne's plan hasn't been substantively updated since 2012. FEMA has already signed off on the new version pending the council's formal adoption. The update, prepared with consultant Black & Veatch and an 18-member steering committee, covers eight hazards: dam failure, drought, earthquake, extreme temperature, extreme wind, flood, landslide and wildfire. More than 300 residents weighed in through a hazard survey during the planning process. There's no cost to adopt it.

➡️ View the Draft Local Hazard Mitigation Plan

Why it matters: this isn't just paperwork—a current, FEMA-approved hazard mitigation plan is typically required for the City to remain eligible for federal disaster-mitigation grant funding after a major emergency. If you want a say in how La Verne prepares for wildfire, earthquake or flood risk, this public hearing is the moment.

Discussion Calendar

🗣️ Want to comment? Speak in person, raise your hand on Zoom, or email cityclerk@LaVerneCA.gov by noon on Oct. 5. You'll have up to three minutes.

What VFW Post 12034 should pay to use Veterans Hall. This one has some history to it. Veterans Hall itself was donated to the City by the American Legion years ago. The City converted a portion of a storage room into office space for VFW Post 12034 back in 2006-07, spending roughly $15,300, under an agreement that technically expired June 30, 2008—but the VFW has continued using the space in the years since under that same informal understanding. During this year's budget process, the council directed staff to formalize the relationship as part of a broader push toward cost recovery across city facilities. Staff is now presenting a proposed five-year license agreement (Oct. 1, 2026 through Sept. 30, 2031) and asking the council to choose among three fee options: $500 a month ($6,000 a year), a nominal $1 a year, or no fee at all, plus whether a $500 refundable security deposit should still apply.

A Little History

According to the Aug. 21, 1968 edition of the La Verne Leader, the building was dedicated in November 1934, and it was gifted to the City by the American Legion Post 330 in 1943. Then, the City had considered using it for a teen center.

Why it matters: this is a real conversation about how a cash-strapped city balances its push for financial sustainability against the public-service value of groups like veterans organizations that have used city facilities for free, informally, for nearly two decades. Whichever option the council picks will likely set a precedent for how the City treats similar long-standing arrangements with other community groups.

A $250,000 study to plan the City's water system through 2027 and beyond. The council is being asked to authorize a purchase order with Civiltec Engineering, not to exceed $249,946, to update the City's Water Master Plan—essentially a long-range blueprint for the water system's infrastructure needs, capital improvement priorities, and a 5-year and 20-year capital improvement schedule. This follows direction the council gave on Nov. 1, 2025, during an earlier discussion of a water rate study. The work is funded through the city's Water Capital Improvement Fund, not the General Fund, and is expected to run from late October 2026 through fall 2027.

Why it matters: this is the technical groundwork behind any future conversation about water rates, water reliability and where the City invests in pipes, pumps and treatment infrastructure—residents who care about water rates down the road should know this planning work is where those numbers eventually come from.

Filling a vacant seat on the board that finances Old Town's growth. Due to a vacancy, the council is being asked to appoint a new public member to the Public Financing Authority's Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD) Board—a five-member body (two council members, two LA County representatives and one public member) created to help pay for infrastructure improvements tied to development in the Old Town La Verne Specific Plan area and the Metro A Line extension. The City reopened the application period through Sept. 24 after extending it on July 20, and received 10 applications. Mayor Tim Hepburn and Councilmember Steve Johnson, who represent the council on the EIFD board, are recommending resident Steven Wagner for the seat, which carries no term limit.

Why it matters: this board will help shape how infrastructure gets financed as Old Town La Verne grows and the Metro A Line extension moves forward—it's a low-profile appointment with a real role in the City's development future.

Two Old Town holiday traditions, back for another year. The council is being asked to approve Community Organization Partnership Agreements for two Dec. 5 events in Old Town: the annual Holiday Stroll, now organized by the Old Town La Verne Business Association, and the second round of the La Verne Walk of Honor plaque program, which will unveil 10 more sidewalk plaques honoring community members (after the first 10 went in last December). Both groups are covering their own event costs and reimbursing the City for materials; the City is being asked to provide roughly $1,792.50 in staff time for the Holiday Stroll (plus waiving about $388 in vendor business-license fees) and about $4,050 in staff time for the Walk of Honor installation.

Why it matters: these are free community events that depend on a partnership between volunteer organizers and city staff—these are examples of the kind of items that, under a newer city policy, now need council sign-off rather than being just being approved by staff.

Looking ahead

The next council meeting is Monday, Oct. 19, with a study/closed session at 5:30 p.m. and the regular meeting at 6:30 p.m.

Upcoming Dates to Note

TUESDAY, Oct. 6
9 a.m. · Development Review Committee · La Verne City Hall, City Council Chambers, 3660 D St.