2021-09-07 CC Agenda - Public Communications related to Item #12 - Hyperion2021-09-07 CC AGENDA PACKET
PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS RELATED TO ITEM #12 - HYPERION
Harada, Patricia
From: Weaver, Tracy (City Clerk)
Sent: Tuesday, September 7, 2021 5:09 PM
To: *ALL CITY CLERKS
Subject: FW: Hyperion Reimbursement Payments Letter from Supervisor Hahn
Attachments: Letter - Hyperion Reimbursement 9.7.21.pdf
Council received the letter attached
Tracy Weaver I City Clerk
City of El Segundo
350 Main St. El Segundo CA 90245
310.524.2305 1 tweaver _ elseeundo.org 1www.elseeundo.org
ELSEGUNDO
Where big ideas lake off.
From: Mitnick, Scott <smitnick@elsegundo.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 7, 2021 5:05 PM
To: Mitnick, Scott <smitnick@elsegundo.org>
Subject: Hyperion Reimbursement Payments Letter from Supervisor Hahn
City Council and applicable City staff— FYI
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September 7, 2021
BOARDS OF SUPERVISORS
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES
822 KENNETH HAHN HALL OF ADMINISTRATION/ LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90012
Telephone (213) 974-4444 / FAX (213) 229-3676
JANICE HAHN
Supervisor, Fourth District
The Honorable Eric Garcetti
Mayor
City of Los Angeles
200 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
The Honorable Ron Galperin
Controller
City of Los Angeles
200 North Spring Street, Suite 300
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Dear Mayor Garcetti and Controller Galperin,
I am writing to each of you regarding the unacceptable delay in reimbursing El Segundo residents for the costs
of hotel stays and air conditioner units in the wake of the Hyperion sewage spill.
The odor coming from the Hyperion plant in the days, weeks, and now months after the July I Ith spill has
been described as "overwhelming" and "paint -peeling." The City of Los Angeles made the right call by
deciding to cover the costs of hotel stays and AC units so residents could get some reprieve from the smell.
But the residents who took the city up on that offer had no idea that it would mean being saddled with
thousands of dollars of credit card debt for months. Nearly two months after the spill, only a small fraction of
the residents have gotten what they are owed, and every week that they aren't reimbursed means more stress
and financial hardship.
Timely reimbursements are not too much to ask. Imagine if your residents took six to twelve weeks to pay
their utility bills.
This was a disaster on City of Los Angeles property, but the people who have been bearing the brunt of it are
not your residents. They don't have a Los Angeles City Councilmember to champion them and that's why I
feel the need to step in and advocate on their behalf.
I know the process of verifying and approving reimbursements can be tedious, but the El Segundo residents
shouldn't be the ones paying the price. I urge you to devote more resources to this program and expedite these
reimbursements.
Sincerely,
.0—
JANICE HAHN
Supervisor, Fourth District
County of Los Angeles
CC:
The Honorable Drew Boyles
Mayor
City of El Segundo 350 Main Street El Segundo, CA 90245
The Honorable Mike Bonin
Councilmember, 1 Ith District
200 North Spring Street
Room 475
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Greg Good
President
Board of Public Works
City of Los Angeles
200 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Barbara Romero
General Manager
Los Angeles Sanitation
12000 Vista Del Mar
Playa Del Rey, CA 90293
Harada, Patricia
From: Weaver, Tracy (City Clerk)
Sent: Tuesday, September 7, 2021 5:11 PM
To: *ALL CITY CLERKS
Subject: FW: Hyperion Reimbursement Update -- September 7, 201 & 4:50 PM
Council received email below.
Tracy Weaver I City Clerk
City of El Segundo
350 Main St. El Segundo CA 90245
310.524.2305 1 tweaver@elseRundo.or l www.elsegundo.or�
EL,EOUNDO
Where big ideas lake off,
From: Mitnick, Scott <smitnick@elsegundo.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 7, 20214:49 PM
To: Mitnick, Scott <smitnick@elsegundo.org>
Cc: Weaver, Tracy (City Clerk) <tweaver@elsegundo.org>; Shilling, Mona <MShilling@elsegundo.org>; Voss, Barbara
<bvoss@elsegundo.org>; Sassoon, Elias <esassoon@elsegundo.org>; Jennings, Mishia <MJennings@elsegundo.org>;
Sotelo, Anjello <ASotelo@elsegundo.org>
Subject: Hyperion Reimbursement Update -- September 7, 201 & 4:50 PM
City Council —
FYI, latest reimbursement information.
Thanks,
Scott Mitnick
City Manager
From: Sassoon, Elias <esassoon@elsegundo.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 7, 2021 3:58 PM
To: 'Bob Wingenroth' <bob.wingenroth@lacity.org>; Bates, Portland <Pbates@elsegundo.o>
Cc: Mitnick, Scott <smitnick elsegundo.org>; Voss, Barbara <bvoss@eisegundo.o>; SHARI KUROKI
<Shari.Kuroki Tacit .or >
Subject: RE: Reimbursement Statistic Questions
Ty!
Elias Sassoon, Director
CITY OF EL SEGUNDO I Public Works Dept. -
350 Main Street, El Segundo, CA 90245
(310) 524-2356
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From: Bob Wingenroth <bob.wingenroth@lacity.orp
Sent: Tuesday, September 7, 2021 3:37 PM
To: Bates, Portland <pbates@elsegundo.org>
Cc: Mitnick, Scott <smitnick@elsegundo.orR>; Voss, Barbara <bvoss@elsegundo.or >; Sassoon, Elias
<esassoon@elseRundo.or >; SHARI KUROKI <Shari.Kuroki tacit .or >
Subject: Re: Reimbursement Statistic Questions
It's always an honor to talk with you Portland. I researched the answers to your questions with the Staff at LA
Sanitation. I present the answers in bold below:
How many ES resident requests for reimbursement have been made up to this point?
3,200 applications were received from El Segundo Residents. Of the 3.200, 2,100 have submitted receipts or other
documents to support their request, while 1,100 have registered on the site, but have not yet submitted any receipts
or documentation.
How many ES residents have received their reimbursement?
As of this moment, checks of been mailed to 266 Residents totalling $276,045.28 (The Dashboard will not be updated
until tomorrow morning)
How many ES residents are in process to receive their reimbursement?
As of this moment, there are an additional 24 Residents that have been approved for payment by LA Sanitation and
are currently being approved by the Public Works Accounting Division.
How many ES resident reimbursement requests are outstanding?
There are approximately 1,810 reimbursement requests in process. About 30% of those requests have been actively
worked, applicants have been asked to provide documentation such as receipts and LA Sanitation is awaiting the
documents and will approve payment. The remaining 70% (about 1,300 reimbursement applications) have not been
reviewed. For example, LA Sanitation is currently reviewing Air Conditioning reimbursements submitted on August
18th. To speed up the review of all applications, LA Sanitation has taken the steps outlined in the next answer.
What is being done to expedite the process for residents whose requests are outstanding?
Based on my conversations with LA Sanitation, they have recently added 11 people to review applications and contact
applicants if additional documentation is needed. They are also streamlining the process based on lessons learned.
Please call me anytime with questions/clarifications.
Thanks,
Bob Wingenroth
City of Los Angeles - Office of the Controller
(213) 978-7392
Email: Bob. -Win enrothNIacity.org
Website: http://www.lacontroller.orq
Address: 200 N. Main St. Room 460, Los Angeles, CA 90012
"I've learned that people will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel."
Maya Angelou
On Tue, Sep 7, 2021 at 2:26 PM Bates, Portland <pbates@elsegundo.ore> wrote:
Hello Bob —
It was great catching up with you today. The questions we discussed are listed below:
1. How many ES resident requests for reimbursement have been made up to this point?
2. How many ES residents have received their reimbursement?
3. How many ES residents are in process to receive their reimbursement?
4. How many ES resident reimbursement requests are outstanding?
5. What is being done to expedite the process for residents whose requests are outstanding?
Thank you again for all of our help with this situation.
Respectfully,
3
Portland Bates
Management Analyst
City of El Segundo
350 Main Street El Segundo CA 90245
310.524.2343 1 pbates@elsegundo.o[gI www.else undo.or
EL,EGUNDO
Where big ideas take ufr.
n m @ c c
4
Harada, Patricia
From: Weaver, Tracy (City Clerk)
Sent: Tuesday, September 7, 2021 12:32 PM
To: *ALL CITY CLERKS
Subject: FW: Pubic Comment: Hyperion
Council received email below.
Tracy Weaver I City Clerk
City of El Segundo
350 Main St. El Segundo CA 90245
310.524.2305 1 tweaver@elsegundo.org lwww.elsegundo.org
ELSEGUNDO
Where big ideas tale uff.
From: Ann Mazuk <snowspout@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, September 6, 2021 3:29 PM
To: ALL ELECTED OFFICIALS <ALLELECTEDOFFICIALS@elsegundo.org>
Subject: Pubic Comment: Hyperion
Council;
Issues with the on -going Hyperion incident have not been resolved over the two months since it began, and the
situation is untenable. These fundamental issues of health and safety, trust, and fiscal responsibility, demand
action by the Council to speed resolution.
There is no on -going measurement in the City of the toxic effluents from Hyperion that are making people sick.
Hydrogen sulfide exposure is regulated by OSHA as `highly toxic' in adult workers, even at low
concentrations. There had been NO monitoring prior to the July incident, and no realistic monitoring has been
implemented since. The twice a day `fence -line monitoring' is a laughable attempt at providing accountability
for highly toxic hydrogen sulfide emissions in a dynamic environment. Hyperion appears to be more interested
in water effluent than in the health and safety of their neighbors. Will residents need to purchase their own
hydrogen sulfide detectors to feel safe in their own homes?
From the initial incident in July through today the flow of information from Hyperion has been abysmal, and this
situation has not improved. There has NEVER been an emergency declared by Hyperion and communicated
by the City to residents. In comparison even NORMAL flaring operations at Chevron are clearly communicated
via multiple channels to residents. This behaviour by Hyperion represents a complete lack of respect for the
residents of the City, and has destroyed any trust that Hyperion can be a good neighbor.
Hyperion's efforts at financial compensation for affected residents continues to be a nightmare. They are only
reimbursing at GSA per diem rates for hotels. But since no emergency was ever declared by Hyperion, nor a
travel order issued, residents are not able to book hotels at per diem rates. No consideration of compensation
has been given to residents who are working from home, because we are still in the COVID pandemic after
all. So residents who evacuate for health are forced to telework from whatever accommodations they can
afford. Hyperion initially said they would reimburse in 2-3 weeks, this has now grown to 2-3 months! So
Residents are incurring debt and interest charges due to Hyperion's incompetence, in addition to being forced
from our homes!
To date there have been no plans distributed by Hyperion to deal with any events like this in the
future. Hyperion's comments at the last Council meeting were that they were 'waiting on the investigation
report'. Hyperion has not established third party continuous monitoring and alert procedures to help rebuild
trust with the City. Indeed Hyperion and AQMD appear to be using the Residents as unpaid monitors, only
reacting to Residents' complaints but not proactively monitoring the situation. Additionally, AQMD appears to
be only interested in odors and not the actual components that create these odors.
As a Resident, Landowner, Tax -payer, and Voter, I demand action from the City to hold Hyperion accountable
and establish procedures that ensure this situation will not be repeated!
Ann Mazuk
El Segundo, CA
Harada, Patricia
From:
Sent:
To:
Subject:
Council received email below.
Tracy Weaver I City Clerk
City of El Segundo
350 Main St. El Segundo CA 90245
Weaver, Tracy (City Clerk)
Tuesday, September 7, 2021 12:32 PM
*ALL CITY CLERKS
FW: Public Comment: August 21 Fundraiser Excessive Noise
310.524.2305 1 tweaver@elsegundo.org lwww.elsegundo.arg
EL,SEGrUNDO
Where fiig idew�s take Off,
From: Ann Mazuk <snowspout@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, September 6, 2021 2:05 PM
To: ALL ELECTED OFFICIALS <ALLELECTEDOFFICIALS@elsegundo.org>
Subject: Public Comment: August 21 Fundraiser Excessive Noise
Dear City Council Members,
As a resident of El Segundo who has vacated their home due to the July 11th Hyperion Sewage Spill, I wanted to
comment on the August 21, 2021 White Light White Night fundraiser that was held at 2100 East Grand Avenue; El
Segundo.
I was staying at a local hotel on El Segundo Blvd and this event was so loud, I could very clearly hear what they were
saying from my hotel room. While this was a one night event, there were 3 nights of extreme noise disturbances. One
night was spent with bands doing sound checks until midnight, the second night was some sort of pre -event and the
third night was the actually event.
I'm assuming the event organizers and the city officials who approved the amplified noise figured that this was okay
because it is not in a residential area. However, there are at least 3 hotels immediately adjacent to this area.
If I were a visitor to the City of El Segundo and staying at one of these hotels, I would never come back because it was so
loud. As a resident, I know this doesn't happen very often and that this was a fundraiser for a good cause.
I just wanted to remind those who approve these types of events that while this is a non-residential area, be considerate
of the hotels and visitors who we want to welcome to our city.
Thank you,
Ann Mazuk
121 W Palm Ave #4
El Segundo, CA 90245