After some wrangling, the Cypress City Council approved two new ad-hoc subcommittees, but not before getting entangled in a heated discussion for one of the two new boards.
First, the Council voted unanimously to approve a Resolution establishing an ad hoc subcommittee to consider options to ensure the future sustainability of the Cypress Community Festival.
As presented, the ad hoc subcommittee will work cooperatively with the city administration to engage with the Recreation and Community Services Commission along with the Cypress Community Festival Association, according to the staff report.
It’s work will be in parallel with the planning and delivery of the 2025 Festival. The ad hoc subcommittee is intended to begin its work promptly to report back to the City Council no later than November 10, 2025, and it is anticipated its work will inform Festivals beginning in 2026.
That said, Mayor David Burke said that was not a hard deadline and if the discussions produced ideas that could be easily adapted for the current year, it may be possible to implement them.
Council member Bonnie Peat said if implementation items could be cleared with the Cypress Festival Association, “maybe some things can happen this year.”
In addition, Burke said there was no reason why the ad-hoc subcommittee could not also include the Cypress Chamber, the Cypress Kiwanis, and other clubs associated with the Cypress Community Festival before concluding its report.
“The ad-hoc committee can engage, as appropriate, with other partners,” of the festival, said Burke.
There was some discussion as to why the Cypress Chamber was removed from the proposed participation in the original resolution. Still, Cypress Festival President Jimmy Fuller said while the Chamber is a strategic partner of the festival, so are several other groups.
Fuller said his idea of an effective ad-hoc committee was to “go as directly as possible to decision-makers.”
The Council voted unanimously to approve the subcommittee, with Burke and Council member Bonnie Peat as the official representatives.
The Council went back and forth with another proposed ad-hoc subcommittee to have the Council review the city’s parks and perhaps make longer-term recommendations.
Burke suggested the parks needed shade structures and a reimagined look at recreation equipment for future parks.
The debate after Nick Mangkalakiri, Acting Director of Public Works, presented the city’s most recent Capital Improvement Projects report.
Mangkatakiri said currently, the city has about $14 million budgeted for capital outlay projects, which mostly include infrastructure items like streets, pumps, and parks.
In short, the acting public works manager said under the plan, the city will in essence repave or overlay every street in the city every seven years, and rebuilding each of the city’s “20 or 21” parks could take decades.
Council member Dr. Kyle Chang said he supported Burke’s idea for an ad-hoc subcommittee. “This will simply be an information-gathering committee,” he said.
With a young family, Chang said he often visits parks around the city. Of all the city parks, Chang said he sees “four premier parks” in the city and suggested ideas on how all parks can be improved.
Burke said that any ideation that comes from the ad-hoc committee will come back to the Council and of course, then as appropriate passed on to the Commission.
Council member Scott Minikus suggested the new ad-hoc subcommittee was unnecessary, and, said it would demoralize the existing Recreation and Community Services Commission members along with city staff.
Minikus also suggested the effort could waste hundreds of thousands of dollars though not a single plan or recommendation had been made.
Burke took the Minikus offensive as an attack and sharply reminded Minikus there was a code of conduct in the city.
“I’m not attacking you,” offered Minikus.
“I’m surprised at the tone of this conversation,” said Burke.
Peat suggested a reasoned approach to mitigate Burke’s concerns, but she stopped short of supporting the ad-hoc idea of parks.
She said the city has qualified members serving on the commission and suggested various ways to accomplish the objective without having to create an ad-hoc commission.
Mayor Pro-tem Leo Medrano, himself a former Commissioner before winning a seat on the Council, asked City Attorney Fred Galante and City Manager Peter Grant about the process. He was cautious but said he did support shade structures even if he was surprised when engineers said it could cost $250,000 or more to construct them.
As a former Commissioner, Medrano said the Council needed to stay clear of the Commission’s independence so they could do their work.
Burke made the motion for the ad-hoc subcommittee, it was seconded by Change. Burke and Chang voted yes, Peat and Minikus voted no.
Medrano abstained from voting, but according to the Cypress Municipal Code, an abstention counts in the affirmative, so Burke’s motion passed.