Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to enter into a Reimbursement Agreement, and any subsequent amendments, with the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD), to reimburse the Long Beach Fire Department (LBFD) $30,870, to provide a Junior Lifeguard Preparatory Course at Cabrillo and Jordan High Schools for LBUSD students, from February 3, 2020 through June 30, 2020; Authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to enter into a Reimbursement Agreement, and any subsequent amendments, with the LBUSD to reimburse LBFD $26,750 for tuition for LBUSD students to participate in the summer Long Beach Junior Lifeguard Program, from July 6 through August 14, 2020; and Increase appropriations in the Tidelands Operating Fund Group in the Fire Department by $57,620, offset by reimbursement revenue. (Citywide)
Thank you. Now for item nine and 17, councilman. Awesome. Can you please chair the council meeting? I will be accusing myself of both of these items, asking that school district is my employee. And after those, thank you very much. Okay, Counsel, we will take item number nine, hoping to read the item. Work from fire recommendation to enter into a reimbursement agreement with LBE USD to reimburse the Long Beach Fire Department $30,870 to provide a junior lifeguard preparatory course citywide. Is there a motion to have a motion from Councilmember Craig? Do you have the can you read the who? Who was the motion? Who made the motion? And the second on the timer. Councilmember Austin. I made the request all the way through. You can comment on it as well. No, no, I will. Councilmember, did you make the motion? No concern replaced in that time. Councilmember Orson, let's have Councilmember Rank as the maker of the motion, all seconded. I just wanted to comment on it. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Price. And thank you all, Councilmember, also for allowing me this opportunity to speak on the title. As you know, our youth is very important to us, and this program has one of those benefits that we always look for in a community program. It's been a great partnership that the city has had with Longmont Unified School District in regards to its Junior Lifeguard program and especially the program as it has grown in the last couple of years. It has grown to the extent that many of the kids that are being recruited and who participate in the program come from our most communities and need our disenfranchizes and are just going to the communities in West Langley and Moorestown as well. So many of the kids come from Cabrillo High School, which is in my district and Silverado Park, and understand that there's also a bus goes around. It picks up kids from other schools who are interested in participating in junior lifeguards, specifically during high school walk in the water. So I want to thank the school district for its partnership with the city of Long Beach and working together and getting this program going. It's a great opportunity for kids to learn about lifesaving. It provides an opportunity for them to look at a career path that will eventually lead not only to a great paying job as a as a lifeguard, but to other life, other great benefits that it has for people as you grow up and become a community members. So with that, I want to thank the city and leadership for working together. I hope that this program continues to grow. It's my understanding that there is the Marine safety officer that manages this program, and I hope that that position will stay active from here on out. Not only this year, but a years is very important that we keep this program going for not only the future of our kids, but the future of our beaches as well. And, of course, the commissioner, I really see this as an opportunity as well for people to really get to enjoy the beach or to feel safe. With that, I pass it to Councilmember Price. Thank you. Councilman Austin, thank you very much. I want to echo Councilmember Romney's comments this. My children have participated in this program for a number of years. I think we've been a junior guard family for a decade now and still going. The program is phenomenal and I did not think the program could get better. But when Chief Medina Deputy Chief Medina took over as deputy chief, he instituted some changes into the program that I think have actually made it so much more representative of our city and the diversity of our city. The program with Long Beach Unified allows kids who maybe didn't grow up swimming, maybe didn't learn that skill early enough in life to qualify for the junior guard's program, to now have a path forward. It gives everybody an opportunity to have a path forward to get into the program. And the qualifying test is no longer such a huge burden that kids shy away from the program because they don't think they're going to pass the qualifying test. And Chief Medina has created a mechanism to get all kids in the city if they're interested in this program, like he was when he was a youth in the city . The opportunity to do so and I very much value the program. I love that we have a partnership with Long Beach Unified School District. And I think throughout these budget discussions, I'm going to be highlighting the work of our lifeguards and the work of this program, because I think they are a group who are you know, they're very subtle in their approach and in terms of advocacy. But the work that they do to save lives every day and the rescues that they do every single day and the work that they do to teach the youth that are in the program, including my own children, skills about respect, skills about life saving, skills, about being members of the community and following rules. Those are life lessons that I think our children are going to have with them forever. And I'm so grateful because this is one of the few programs that are available for youth in the third district. And I'm so grateful for this program because it's it's really a fantastic program. And I, I cannot say anything more than Councilmember Wrongheaded about the benefits of it because it's bringing in youth from all over the city. So I wanted to highlight this program, as did Councilman Ranga, and just share with everyone that this is a tremendous program. We should be looking at every which way we can to support the growth of this program, not stifle it or make it idle because. Thank you. Any other comments from the council? Councilmember Richardson here. Yes, go ahead. Thank you. I don't want to chime in. I've been following in this pilot program for some time now. I want to acknowledge the fire department. School board member Megan Carr, who have really worked with us to make sure that the North, Long Beach, Jordan high school kids get access to this. I got to say, this is you know, we've talked for a very long time about it is to connect our coastline to our communities and uptown. And it's really been a promise that we haven't been able to figure out how to meet in our city. But this is a good program and a great career pathways and additional opportunities in an area and a zip code that more youth than any other zip code in the city by proportion and by round number. So I'm supportive of this program. I think it's a strategy toward helping diversify our police, our fire department, and and I look forward to supporting this program moving forward. So I'm happy to add my voice, my support to this this program. Thanks. And thank you for those comments. Any other comments from the council? Council members. This is Mary. Just wondering, are we using the Q in system? Because I was there, but I'm not sure if you are able to see it. But I want you to say thank you to both of these. Both. Long Beach Unified School District and and our department. Fire Department. This is a great things come out of programs like this that found in the opportunity for our youth to be able to have such a valuable experience is is very mended. So I to support this and this item going forward. Thank you. And thank you. And I will just say that. No, I don't have a Q. Beyond that. So at this point, I'll just add my words to this. I think this is I agree with everything that has been said by my colleagues, but I also think this is an amazing example of joint use agreements and partnerships with the school district. And I see this, this opportunity expanding work and so great work by everybody involved in this. I'm going to let the public comment on this. I'm. No public comment on this item. Harry. None quite complete, although. Well. From District one. All right. District two, I, District three, I, district four. I. District five. I. District six. I'll put it over to District seven. I District eight. District nine. I. Ocean carries.