CalAM executive urges Bell Gardens council to consider company for water-system acquisition, cites affordability programs

Agatha Kotani, who identified herself as principal business development at CalAM, told the Bell Gardens City Council on April 27 that her company could be a “strong partner” in a potential water-system acquisition and emphasized customer affordability and language access.

Kotani said CalAM builds affordability into its operations and described an industry assistance program intended to help low-income customers. "And at Cal Am, affordability is built into how we operate," she said, and said the company aims to auto-enroll eligible customers in assistance programs to reduce barriers to access.

Kotani told the council she estimated "about 1 in 11" Bell Gardens customers would qualify for the assistance and said eligible households would receive a 25% discount on their water bills under her company's program. She also described full Spanish-language support, a fully translated website and round-the-clock bilingual emergency assistance to ensure customers "always have someone to speak with."

She highlighted CalAM’s community investments, saying in 2025 the company invested about $110,000,000 with minority-owned suppliers and contributed more than $1,000,000 to charitable causes, and said employees volunteered locally. "We truly believe we can be a strong partner for you, helping bring vision for the water system and the Bell Gardens community to life," Kotani said, offering to answer questions from the council.

After the comment, the mayor said there was no objection from the council to closing public participation and announced the council would recess into closed session to address the three items listed on the agenda. The council recessed at 5:14 p.m. and said it planned to reconvene to open session at 6 p.m. or shortly after; the city attorney said he would report back when the council returned.

No council discussion or vote on any acquisition appears on the public record during this meeting; the council’s deliberations moved to closed session under agenda items not detailed in the public portion of the transcript.