Mayor Stephen Lam last official duty was to call the October11th meeting to order. Tonight the Council would be reorganizing the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem in accordance with city law.

Mayor Lam gave his farewell speech at the October 3rd meeting with a PowerPoint presentation. He thanked all of the residents of Monterey Park for allowing him to serve nine and one/half months as mayor.  He was sworn in as mayor on December 28, 2017. Now Peter Chan will be the new mayor on October 11, 2018.

Public safety is the first priority of the City Council. They support our Fire and Police Departments.

He spoke about our new economic development that includes the Market Place, home of Costco and Home Depot, that will have new shops: Guitar City, Starbucks, IN-N-OUT and Chick-fli-A. This center will produce much needed sales taxes and local shopping. The new hotels will be opening in 2019 or later.  We have a balanced budget with $15 million in reserves. He supports education and has donated $5,500 to students at Mark Keppel so they could participate in Team Robotics in Boston.  He has helped support our many cultural and friendship events that include Lunar New Years, Cherry Blossoms, Cinco de Mayo, Play Days, Memorial Day, 4th of July honoring new citizens and military families, Fire Service Day/Lions’ Club Pancake Breakfast (a 65 year tradition) and Veterans Day. He has met with Chinese delegations on their visit to East Los Angeles College. He donated $1,200 to the Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Library since the library helped him to become a better person. He also attended the Library Foundation Day at the races. He also donated funds to help American Legion Post 397 install a new roof.

He is a pro-growth guy. Now Fortune Five companies are coming to our 102-year-old city. We have been vote the 3rd Best Place to Live in the United States by Money Magazine in 2017.

Mayor Lam thanked all of the Councilmembers and staff for their support. He thanked his wife and his three children, who were all born at Garfield Hospital, for their love and support.  He was happy that there was no trouble at the meetings as he was a first time mayor.

Mayor Lam thanked all of the residents for voting him to serve the people. He wants to increase the salaries for the 500 employees who are so valuable to our city. He wants peace and harmony in Monterey Park.

Mayor Lam called the October 11th meeting to order.

Members of the Monterey Park Police and Fire Explorers presented the colors and Members of Boy Scout Troop 301 led the pledge of Allegiance.

Brendan Cheng sang our National Anthem.

Reverend Johnny Cabrera from Trinity Church led the Invocation. He asked God to bless and protect us in Monterey Park. We are thankful for these leaders. He asked God to grant them the wisdom to lead the city. He thanked all of the Councilmembers for their service. He asked God to bless us all.

The Council voted to reorganize the Council and vote to designated Peter Chan as Mayor and Hans Liang as Mayor Pro Tem.

Mike Eng welcomed all to this special event in Monterey Park. The Council’s rotation of members to serve nine and one/half months as mayor. This has been the city’s custom for many years.

Congressmember Judy Chu said she is happy to be here to celebrate with Peter Chan and Hans Liang. She thanked Stephen Lam for his service as our mayor.

She presented them with Congressional Proclamations.

Stephen Lam has served the city as a member of BIDAC helping to clean up downtown Monterey Park. It is a beautiful place. He organized funding to repair the roof on the American Legion building. The new roof cost $20,000. As mayor the Monterey Park Market Place is a reality with more sales tax in Monterey Park.  Stephen Lam is a very good representing Monterey Park.

Hans Liang has been her friend for quite a few years. He is a professional Probation Officer and now is their union president. He is a leader in so many non-profits. He is wise and mature. He is looking to find additional funds to support our Fire and Police Departments. She congratulated him on being our new Mayor Pro Tem.

Peter Chan has been her friend for the last 31 years. She knows him well. He attended La Salle in Hong Kong and University of Wisconsin. He moved to Monterey Park and started a business. He helped to lead the effort to fix up the library. He worked on Measure C to rebuild the library.  He helped fund raise the $600,000 to build the new library. He also sat on the Library Board. He helped on making the repairs on the Barnes Park pool and there are more repairs to be made. He is working with her to help reduce the LAX noise with the FAA. He is dedicated to the City of Monterey Park. She congratulated him on being our new Mayor.

Mike Eng said we are all part of the Monterey Park family. He thanked the Council for rotating with the greatest respect.

Melinda Liang administered the Oath of Office to her son, Hans Liang as the Mayor Pro Tem. Lanny Liang, his wife joined them for a family picture.

Assemblymember Ed Chau said he was delighted to be here for his friend Peter Chan. They both went to La Salle. He is proud of Peter Chan and the Council for being selected by Money Magazine for being the 3rd Best Place to Live. He is proud and happy to be here to administer the Oath of Office to Peter Chan as Mayor. He congratulated Hans Liang and Steven Lam.

Ed Chau, Peter Chan and Jenny Chan shared a moment together.

Jenny Chan, Brian Chan and Kevin Chan presented the gavel, badge and business cards to Mayor Peter Chan.

Mayor Pro Tem Liang said it is an honor to see you all here. He thanked Steven Lam for his past service as mayor. He is grateful to meet and build relationships with the residents and the employees. He thanked his mother and wife for helping him serve. His dad died this year so he is here in spirit. He was here when he was sworn into office as Mayor Pro Tem and Mayor in the past years. He expressed his love to his dad, his mother and his wife, Lanny.

Mayor Peter Chan said this is his second time serving as mayor. He is humble and honored for the trust and support from all of you. He thanked Judy Chu, Mike Eng, Ed Chau, Johnny Cabrera and Brendan Cheng. He thanked the Boy Scouts, the police officers, firefighters and the employees. He thanked all of the former mayors. He thanked Stephen Lam for his outstanding service as mayor for the last nine and one/half months. He thanked Hans Liang, Mitch Ing and Teresa Real Sebastian for working together with him. He also thanked the department heads and staff for their support. He thanked City Manager Ron Bow.

Mayor Chan thanked his wife, Jenny and their sons, Kevin and Brian for their love and support. He thanked his brother Michael from Hong Kong, He thanked Jenny’s family, the Ng family, for their love and support.

He said the Market Place is a reality and other new developments are coming into our city. Our city has challengers since she is102 years old. Our City Hall is getting older. Monterey Park is fully developed with issues of traffic, housing and homeless problems.  He will be termed out at the end of this term. He wants to lay the groundwork for the future councilmembers, city managers and the staff. He asked the residents for ideas to help payoff the unfunded liabilities. We need more general funds for the city.  We may sell bonds to help the city. He has an open door. He wants the residents to give him ideas. We will listen to you. We will work with schools and service clubs in improve the city for all of us.  We are still working on replenishing the playground equipment. Our 2018-2019 Budget will allow us to repair and remodel the City Hall and Langley Center. The Council supports public safety. He thanked the Fire Department and the Police Department for their service to our community. We are helping them purchase new equipment and new vehicles. Fire Station 62 will be rebuilt in the near future.

The Council is going to have the house numbers painted on the curbs to help promote public safety. They are going to have four new Police Cadets to take the reports.  They are updating the E R Plans for the schools to keep everyone safe. He hopes to have Bike patrols in the future. We have Power Charging stations at City Hall and LNG stations at the City Yard. The City Hall has LED lights. We are going to install solar panels at City Hall and the Library as our part to help protect our environment. The 710 Freeway is never going to be complete so we will make a regional plan to help with traffic issues. We are adjusting traffic lights on Garvey and Garfield to make traffic move faster. The Spirit buses maybe help people take the shuttle. These are just some ideas to make it happen. We need to pave the streets and need more money to repair our roads. We are a fully developed city and we need the vacant lots to be developed. We need to improve our infrastructure and update the City’s General Plan.

We need to upgrade our building codes for our commercial areas so we can develop a friendly customer service and collect more sales tax.  The hotels are coming into our city. We need to work with the county and other cities to provide shelter for the homeless residents in our cities. Our library is closed on Fridays so we will work hard to open the library seven days a week. We are also working with other cities to help reduce the airplane noise. We need to improve our customer service at City Hall. We will work together with the residents, business people and employees to make Monterey Park to best place to live and work. We will enjoy and be proud to live in Monterey Park.

City Clerk Vice Chang introduced the VIPs that included Members of the People’s Republic of China, Congressmember Judy Chu, Mike Eng, Assemblymember Ed Chau, former Mayor David Lau, former Mayor Lily Chen, former Mayor Anthony Wong, former City Clerk Dave Barron, former City Clerk Theresa Amador, Rosemead Councilmember Sandra Armenta and a representative from Supervisor Hilda Solis’ office.

Mayor Peter Chan adjourned the meeting and invited everyone to enjoy the party!