City of Vernon City Hall Chambers
Protecting Public Leadership by Fixing the Air First
The Challenge
The City of Vernon is one of the most industrious cities in California. While only a small number of residents live within city limits, the city is surrounded by dense industrial activity, manufacturing, and trucking corridors that operate around the clock.
In the aftermath of COVID, the City Manager and Director of Public Works raised serious concerns about the air quality inside City Hall—particularly within the City Council Chambers, where the Mayor, council members, major business owners, and the public regularly convene.
Two issues had become impossible to ignore:
- Persistent industrial odors from surrounding factories were being pulled directly into the building.
- Health and safety concerns made leadership hesitant to host in-person meetings, especially with public attendance.
City leadership reached a point where they questioned whether meetings should continue at all unless the environment could be made safer.
Why This Space Was High-Risk
The City Council Chambers are housed within a fully concrete, sealed municipal building that also contains the police department and city offices. There are:
- No operable windows
- Limited air exchange options
- No escape from what the HVAC system introduces into the space
Compounding the issue, the existing HVAC design continuously drew approximately 50% fresh air into the chamber. Under normal conditions, this would be acceptable. In Vernon, it was a liability.
Surrounding industrial odors—often described as resembling processed meat facilities—were being introduced directly into the room where city governance occurred.
While odors were a concern, the dominant fear was airborne exposure. COVID had changed expectations. City officials and attendees no longer felt comfortable gathering in a space where air quality was uncertain, uncontrollable, and invisible.
Why Traditional HVAC Couldn’t Solve It
The system itself was operating within code and ASHRAE guidelines. However:
- The building design offered no flexibility
- Increasing fresh air worsened contamination
- Reducing fresh air conflicted with standards
- Mechanical adjustments alone could not address VOCs, odors, or perceived biological risk
In short, the HVAC system was doing exactly what it was designed to do — and that design was no longer sufficient for the environment it served.
The Secure My Air Solution
Secure My Air engineered and installed a custom central air purification and protection system, designed specifically for the City Council Chambers.
Key elements included:
- Targeted ducting delivering clean air directly above each council member
- Creation of an air curtain / air shield, preventing coughs, sneezes, and contaminants from reaching seated officials
- Layered air purification, including:
- UVC technology
- MERV 16 filtration
- Activated charcoal filtration
- Real-time monitoring of particulates and VOCs
- A live dashboard visible to staff and leadership
This was not just air cleaning — it was air protection, designed around how people actually use the space.
City staff were trained on the system, shown how to interpret data, and empowered to understand what was happening in their environment.
Immediate Results
The impact was immediate and unmistakable.
- Industrial odors disappeared
- The air felt lighter, clearer, and calmer
- Anxiety around exposure dropped
- Confidence in holding meetings returned
Perhaps most importantly, the visibility of air quality data changed how people felt in the room. The dashboard provided reassurance that leadership and staff were no longer guessing — they could see and trust the environment around them.
City Council members expressed appreciation not only for the cleanliness of the air, but for the sense of protection the system provided during public meetings.
The Bigger Lesson
City Hall buildings across Southern California share common characteristics:
- Sealed construction
- Aging HVAC infrastructure
- High reliance on outdoor air drawn from polluted corridors
- No meaningful way for occupants to control or escape poor air quality
In industrial regions like Vernon, Downtown Los Angeles, the City of Commerce, and the City of Industry, contaminated air is not an exception — it’s the baseline.
What this project revealed is that poor air quality silently erodes morale, creativity, clarity, and public trust. People may not articulate it, but they feel it. They disengage. They leave as soon as they can.
Initially, this project faced resistance due to cost concerns — a common reality in public-sector decision-making. Yet once installed, it was the people working in the space, not the budget holders, who expressed the greatest gratitude.
Clean air reduced strain on HVAC systems, improved energy efficiency, and—most importantly—restored a sense of safety and dignity to a space where public leadership occurs.
One-Sentence Takeaway
Why This Matters
This case study isn’t just about City Hall.
It’s about every civic space where people are expected to think clearly, collaborate, and lead—while breathing air they’ve never been taught to question.
Secure My Air exists to change that.