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HomeMy Public PortalAboutCity Council_Minutes_1992-05-28_Special 19921 1 CITY OF TEMPLE CITY CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES MAY 28, 1992 INITIATION: 1. CALL TO ORDER: Pursuant to the Agenda posted on May 26, 1992, Mayor McGowan called the special meeting of the City Council to order at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 28, 1992. 2. ROLL CALL: PRESENT: Councilmembers Breazeal, Budds, Wilson, Manning and McGowan ALSO PRESENT: City Manager Ovrom, Community Development Director Dawson, Public Services Director Hart, Community Services Director Kobett, Economic Development Director Sims, Financial Services Director Maldonado, Assistant to the City Manager Kravitz, City Clerk Love. 3. PROPOSED BUDGET FY 92 -93 - A. PROGRAM EXPENDITURES - City Manager Ovrom explained that in order to provide continuity between the last budget study session and this one, the agenda picks at program expenditures which is where we left off at the last budget study session. However, after public services we return to prior discussions on AB 939, City Wide Lighting and Landscape and the travel policy so we can get the Council direction on these items. 1. CITY CLERK City Clerk Love gave background information on the various programs which are handled by the City Clerk's Department which include Council Support, Community Promotions and Elections. There were no questions relative to the Council Support budget. City Clerk Love reviewed the activities which are currently handled through the Community Promotions program and provided Council with an overview of the expanded and added activities for Fiscal Year 1991 -92 and the projected activities for Fiscal Year 1992 -93. Councilmember Budds stated that he wished to discuss the budget relative to the Chamber. In particular, if he was the project manager responsible for the Chamber contract and saw the lack of performance under the terms of the contract, he would not renew the option of the contract. Councilmember Breazeal indicated that he must abstain from discussion on this item due to a conflict of interest. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES Page 2 Special Meeting - May 28, 1992 City Manager Ovrom stated that the contract had not been changed in a number of years and last year the only change made was to make it more quantifiable than in years past. Economic Development Director Sims mentioned that last year during the review process there were several items in the contract which were no longer needed and efforts were made to focus their activities. Councilmember Budds stated that we have hired an Economic Development Director at a substantial salary who does some of the same things. He requested that the Council take a look at the contract and come to terms on what should be required of the Chamber. City Manager Ovrom suggested that perhaps a subcommittee of the Council could meet with a subcommittee of the Chamber Board of Directors to have some discussion to come up with an approach on the expectations of the Chamber contract. Mayor -McGowan inquired as to whether other cities have been surveyed regarding the expectations of the city for their respective chambers. City Manager Ovrom indicated that staff will look into it. Mayor Pro Tem Manning said she would like to see the Chamber Board review the previous agreement and to indicate what they can and cannot do. She indicated that the City is involved in many other things which affect businesses and should not be involved in running the Chamber of Commerce. Councilmember Budds mentioned that one of the provisions of the contract was that the Chamber would go out and do a survey of the businesses which do not have business licenses and provide that to the City. However, wouldn't the Business License Canvasser do the same thing? Financial Services Director Maldonado stated that the Business License Canvasser would complete that project at a cost of $1,200. Mayor Pro Tem Manning moved to direct staff to work with the Chamber and come back with an agreement and realistic work program for Fiscal Year 92 -93, seconded by Councilmember Budds and unanimously carried. Mayor Pro Tem Manning moved to remove the subscription of the Los Angeles Times from the budget, seconded by Councilmember Breazeal and unanimously carried. Council requested that the Kiplinger Newsletter be reproduced and distributed to all Councilmembers. City Clerk Love presented two decision packages which were not included in the budget. The first decision package is the Community Forum. During the Council budget study sessions for Fiscal Year 1991 -92 the Council removed the Community Forum from the proposed budget and indicated they may wish to consider for FY 92 -93. The forum would be produced similar to the forum held in March, 1991 and the cost was approximately $3,300. The Council decided not to approve the Community Forum decision package in the amount of $5,000. 1 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES Special Meeting - May 28, 1992 Page 3 The second decision package is membership to the Southern California Association of Governments. The cost of the membership is $2,015. Councilmember Budds indicated that joining the organization will not help our city. It was a consensus of the Council not to join Southern California Association of Governments. Mayor McGowan inquired as to whether it would help to defray costs if we got some advertising in the city newsletter. City Clerk Love indicated that the decision would be a Council policy decision, however, keep in mind the newsletter is only an eight -page quarterly newsletter. Although we have expanded the newsletter to eight pages, at this point in time we are currently cutting articles due to Jack of space. If the newsletter is opened up to advertising, there is a whole host of decisions to be made such as number of advertisements, who gets in, etc. Planning Commissioner Souder suggested considering a joint effort with the Chamber of Commerce containing advertisement and put in a newspaper format. The cost would drop substantially Mayor McGowan suggested adding the Gang Symposium to the Annual event line item for FY 92 -93 in the amount of $300 per event. Councilmember Breazeal moved to approve the addition of two Gang Symposiums to Account Number 4900 -791 in the amount of $600, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Manning and unanimously carried. 2. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION - Community Services Director Kobett indicated that the department is responsible for planning, organizing and providing transit services utilizing Proposition A funds. The Department will also begin to administer Prop C funds. Councilmember Budds stated that the per trip rate seems to be high and asked if there was a better way to monitor the number of trips and the time spent. Mayor Pro Tem Manning suggested that perhaps it would be cheaper to purchase our own Dial -A -Ride vehicle and hire someone to drive it. Community Services Director Kobett stated that the Dial -A -Ride service provides 2 units and backup to ensure they meet their obligations according to the existing contract. In addition, they are servicing four cities in the San Gabriel Valley and will be transporting disadvantaged children for the school district. In addition, he wished to mention that compared to other cities we do not receive any complaints about the Dial -A -Ride service. Councilmember Breazeal had a question about Bus Shelter Maintenance, line item 440. He inquired as to whether or not we have the Graffiti Removal company remove graffiti from the bus shelters and use Prop A funds to pay for it. Public Services Director Hart indicated that it is possible and it would necessitate some monitoring but was a good idea. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES Page 4 Special Meeting - May 28, 1992 City Manager Ovrom indicated that the Prop A money is declining and this next year staff may have to bring this back to Council for a decision on what service level to provide under the Prop A program. 3. RECREATION/HUMAN SERVICES Councilmember Breazeal asked for clarification of the $4,000 increase for Part Time Recreation Leadership. Financial Services Director Maldonado indicated that the projected budget reflects all positions are filled. This year there were vacancies and not all the positions were filled which is why there is such a difference between the projected FY 91 -92 and the estimated FY 91 -92. Councilmember Budds inquired as to whether staff has explored the possibility of taking the position of Community Services Director and reducing it to something such as Community Services Supervisor at a reduced salary. This position would then perform the activities as outlined. He suggested reorganizing these positions under Public Services and utilize the dollars saved to accomplish the reclassification of other positions. City Manager Ovrom responded that every department manager submitted a budget which was reviewed by both herself and Financial Services Director Maldonado. The management team was then requested to go back and review their budgets and make it as tight as they could get it. We saved about $20,000 the first time around. Secondly, in reference to filling the Community Services Director position, there was alot of thought about which direction we should go. One of the reasons for moving forward in filling the position is that every other department manager has their plate full. There is not the capacity in the organization for another department manager to assume additional responsibilities, even if it is only in supervision. The second is the direction the Council is going in adding emphasis of youth services, senior services and human services. It was felt they needed to attract someone at the level that we currently have to put these programs together. Councilmember Budds raised the issue of the Commission attendance to the Contract Cities Conference in Palm Springs since it costs approximately $4,375. Mayor McGowan inquired if there were other training conferences which the commissioners attend. Community Services Director indicated that California Park and Recreation Society Conference and Community Services also hold a Human Services conference. After discussing the attendance of Commissioners at conferences, the Council concurred that the Community Services Commission should each select one of either the CPRS or Community Services conference and the California Contract Cities Conference should be removed from the budget. Councilmember Wilson expressed her opposition to removing the Contract Cities Conference and pointed out that the Council has left the Planning Institute in the Council budget and in her opinion it is not a worthwhile conference. Councilmember Breazeal concurred with Councilmember Wilson. 1 1 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES Page 5 Special Meeting - May 28, 1992 Mayor Pro Tem Manning moved to delete the Planning Commission Institute from the Council budget, seconded by Councilmember Budds and unanimously carried. Decision Packages Community Services Director mentioned that Council has a memo before them which mentions a petition which was presented regarding having a staff person on duty at Live Oak Park and the basketball court lights available every day until 10:00 p.m. Mayor Pro Tem Manning stated that she feels very strongly about having someone on site everyday. The Council discussed the background information relative to the availability of the basketball court lights. Mayor Pro Tem Manning moved to approve staffing of Live Oak Park until 10:00 p.m., seven days per week, seconded by Councilmember Breazeal and unanimously carried. Councilmember Breazeal moved to extend the availability of the basketball court lights until 10:00 p.m., seconded by Councilmember Budds and unanimously carried. Community Services Director Kobett indicated that Council had a memo before them relative to supervision at Live Oak Park on Sunday mornings from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. Councilmember Breazeal moved to refer this item to the Community Services Commission, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Manning and unanimously carried. 4. PUBLIC SERVICES - Public Services Director Hart indicated that the Public Services Department is comprised of three Divisions, Public Safety, Public Works and Maintenance. He indicated that Law Enforcement would be set aside until the next budget study session. Traffic Safety Program This program provides technical, administrative and clerical support primarily for the Traffic Commission, as well as some other public safety areas. These include Traffic surveys, identifying various hazards regarding traffic and pedestrians and developing mitigation plans to eliminate those hazards Councilmember Breazeal suggested that line item 6100 -510, Fares & Subsistence, be discussed. Public Safety Director Hart stated that California Contract Cities Association conference is budgeted for $875 for five commissioners for a total of $4,375. Local traffic safety conferences are budgeted for all five commissioners at $155 per commissioner and the total is $775. Quarterly Traffic Safety meetings are held which are regional in nature and are budgeted in an amount of $600 for all five commissioners. Councilmember Budds moved to eliminate Contract Cities in the amount of $4,375 and allow all five commissioners to attend both the local traffic safety conference and traffic safety meetings, seconded by Councilmember Breazeal and unanimously carried.. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES Page 6 Special Meeting - May 28, 1992 Councilmember Budds indicated that he had reviewed the minutes for the Traffic Commission meetings of the last six months. It was his opinion that this commission takes staff support and asked if there has ever been any consideration of eliminate the Traffic Commission and reviewing the responsibilities, especially with the parking permits, and give those responsibilities to one of the other commissions. Councilmember Breazeal indicated that previously the commission functions had been reviewed. The Traffic Commission does look at red curbing, speed limits, reviewing the location of the SMART device. The intent was to get the commission more involved in trying to solve some of the conflict in the parking district. He indicated that due to the Specific Plan their scope of responsibility should be broadened. Councilmember Budds moved to authorize the Mayor to appoint a committee of two Councilmembers to review the functions of the Traffic Commission and come back to the Council with a recommendation of expansion or elimination. Motion died for a lack of second. Animal Control There were no questions on the Animal Control budget. Emergency Services Councilmember Breazeal inquired as to why the training budget has doubled. Mr. Hart responded that some of this was carryover from FY 91 -92. There were no other questions on the Emergency Services budget. Code Enforcement Councilmember Wilson indicated that she did not recall Council direction to look at a part time public safety intern being added to the budget. Public Services Director Hart indicated that last year during the budget process, the Council directed staff to come back with a plan to add either a full time or part time to the Code Enforcement Program contingent upon our ability to locate the funding, which we could not do at that time. We discussed this again in our February study session and Council requested that we include that in the Code Enforcement proposed budget. City Manager Ovrom indicated that the issue before the Council is whether or not we do more code enforcement downtown. Currently, we are not enforcing what is on the books now such as the banners in the windows, etc. As we go through developing the Specific Plan these types of issues will be more of a concern. The rationale was not only graffiti but increasing the availability of Bob Daniels to do some commercial code enforcement on a more pro - active basis. Currently we are only reacting to resident complaints. Public Services Director Hart indicated that his recommendation for this particular staffing level is due to the amount of money that is being spent. This individual would be able to assist with routine type activities. It is believed that this would free up about 20% of the Code Enforcement Officer's time and we would devote most of that time to the commercial area. 1 1 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES Special Meeting - May 28, 1992 Page 7 In addition, a comprehensive survey of all of the downtown area needs to be completed to identify some of the specific problems which in turn would allow us to develop immediate and long term strategies for abating some of those problems. Councilmember Budds inquired if we charge a permit fee to rent out property. Financial Services Director Maldonado indicated that a fee is only charged for residential properties that have over four (4) units.. Councilmember.Budds indicated that if we are regulating rentals with a permit in a residential zone then we should be attaching conditions such as maintaining the yard, painting, etc. In addition, if we expand this program into the commercial zones then the funds generated from the permits should be used to offset the costs of the program. In discussion with people who own alot of rental property their opinion was that these kind of fees are good because they protect the value of property. He would support the concept as long as there are conditions attached so that code enforcement could go out and cite for window screens falling off, the property needs to be repainted and maintained and then you have the onus over them to pull their_permit... Public Services Director Hart informed the Council that there are some inherent problems from an enforcement standpoint because you will not get the District Attorneys office to give you any cooperation on pulling those permits. Currently the Municipal Code allows us to accomplish this very same thing by citation and filing misdemeanor complaints. The problem is that judges will call from the courtroom and indicate that they will not put someone in jail for failing to maintain their property. The direction given by the District Attorneys office is that the City should exercise their authority under the abatement process so that the City can facilitate the improvements and place a lien against the property which would be recovered at the sale of the property. Staff has looked at that process and we estimate it would cost approximately $100,000 per year and we would not get that money back until the sale of those properties. City Manager Ovrom indicated that staff is trying to propose that we coax and solicit the cooperation in maintaining the properties and the only way we can do that is by having more personnel in the field. Public Services Director Hart stated that generally speaking staff gets about a 90% voluntary compliance rate. However, there are some problems with the housing stock in general. It is aging and alot of people do not have the money to paint their house. Councilmember Manning state that Council should look at charging a fee for single residential rentals. Councilmember Breazeal indicated that he agrees in principal however, how do inform people that they need a permit to even rent their guest house? Financial Services Director Maldonado indicated that staff had surveyed surrounding cities and the majority do charge on the residential side. The service that we are recommending to you will supply us with all the homeowners that are not currently in their property and Hinderliter and De Llamas did an audit in property tax and came up with a list of 2000 rentals city -wide and approximately 1700 are single family. Council directed staff to work up the numbers for this item and return to them. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES Page 8 Special Meeting - May 28, 1992 Mayor McGowan requested that the Council reconsider the Traffic Commission. She stated that there was some discussion and concern about expanding or eliminating the Commission and felt there wasn't any closure on the discussion. Mayor McGowan moved that the Mayor appoint a committee to look into restructuring the Traffic Commission, seconded by Councilmember Budds. STREET LIGHTING Councilmember Breazeal inquired as to why the increase of $1,500 for the Contract Service for the Engineer, 8300 -120. Public Services Director Hart indicated that the amount reflects anticipated engineering for some of the lighting improvements as well as some additional work that has to be done to update the lighting assessment district itself. There is a necessity for a parcel by parcel search to correct some unique situations within the lighting district. TREES AND PARKWAYS Public Services Director Hart provided Council with a comparison of the cost of contract services for tree trimming compared to our costs for a tree trimming crew. A survey of cities with urban forest's comparable to Temple City was completed. The average cost for tree trimming services in other cities was about $150 per tree. The best rate for contract services which Temple City could get was $92 per tree. Our cost, including vehicles, supplies and manpower, is $65 per unit. Planning Commissioner Chuck Souder inquired about line item 140, Contract Arborist for $16,000. Public Services Director Hart responded by indicating that $15,000 of the $16,000 is for an Urban Forest Management Plan. This item was carried over from last year as we were unable to get to it. The other $1,000 is for professional consultation services which we may require from time to time. Councilmember Breazeal inquired as to what is an Urban Forest Management Plan. Public Services Director Hart stated that the plan will accomplish a number of things. First of all, Temple City has 6500 trees which have been inventoried by species and location. This urban forest is worth about $20,000,000 and is the single most significant asset the City has. These trees have a natural life cycle and it is necessary to plan for the maintenance, removal and replacement of these trees over a long period of time. As an example, some of the Elm trees on Kauffman Avenue are in serious decline and need to be removed and replaced. Just these three blocks will cost over $300,000. It is extremely difficult to anticipate what the needs will be unless a comprehensive study is done which would include looking at every tree in the City, determining its condition, what its natural life cycle is, when it would be scheduled for replacement and what is the maintenance requirement of the particular tree. In addition it will identify any other special conditions that should be considered to plan the long term maintenance program and decide the best way to allocate our limited resources. Councilmember Budds asked what is the life cycle of the plan. 1 1 1 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES Special Meeting - May 28, 1992 Page 9 Public Services Director Hart stated that the department currently has a software program and master tree inventory which are linked together. This plan would have been the third phase of this project. Everytime a tree is serviced the information would update the database so the plan would always be current. This would be a one time expenditure. Councilmember Breazeal moved to deny the expenditure for an Urban Forest Management Plan, the motion died for lark of a second. PARKS Public Services Director Hart indicated that this was another area in which Council directed staff to look into contract services, unfortunately the study has not been completed but will be back in the next 30 to 60 days. Councilmember Budds asked what the Park Master Plan covers. Public Services Director Hart indicated that this plan looks at existing facilities and determines whether or not these facilities are being used commensurate with the community needs. It also looks at future expansion of the park, looks at other sites, land acquisition and funding sources. It is a comprehensive study which may help make some policy decisions on future uses of the park. Councilmember Wilson moved to delete the Park Master Plan, seconded by Councilmember Budds and unanimously carried. TRAFFIC SIGNAL MAINTENANCE Public Services Director Hart indicated that this program provides for the maintenance and improvement of traffic signals. Council had no comments on this program. 2. CITY WIDE LIGHTING AND LANDSCAPE - Councilmember Breazeal outlined the course of action that Council had previously taken and moved to approve Option 1, seconded by Councilmember Budds and unanimously carried. Option 1 was to fully fund the lighting and landscape program costs without a General Fund Subsidy. The total anticipated assessment for FY 92 -93 is $550,450. 1. AB939- City Manager Ovrom provided background information regarding AB 939. She indicated that based on the Council decision, staff would work with Community Disposal on a special mailing which would go out by June 12 and would include an explanation of what these fees are. The customer would receive this information in a first class envelope. A public hearing would be held at the second meeting in June to get input and consider both these fees. A final decision would be made and these fees would appear on the August bills by Community Disposal. The fee would be effective July 1, 1992. Public Services Director Hart provided background information relative to the Waste Characterization Study and the involvement with the JPA. However, based on information received as of today, the costs involved for Temple City may be significantly less than originally proposed. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES Page 10 Special Meeting - May 28, 1992 Council reduced the amount allocated from $25,000 to $15,000. Solid Waste Cost Recovery Program City Manager Ovrom indicated that the Solid Waste Cost Recovery Program to recoup operating expenses for the last two years and what we anticipate we will expend until June 1993. Our minimum costs incurred until June 1993 will have been $356,000. The question before the Council is do we want to recoup this in the same fashion that we are recouping AB 939. $.45 per month for a year recoups $71,000. Council moved to recover full costs associated with developing and implementing the Source Reduction and Recycling Element as required by AB 939, as well as the total solid waste costs associated with the Monterey Landfill. This includes recovering prior year's expenditures over a five year time frame. The total cost for FY 92 -93 is $141,360. 5. ADJOURNMENT - The City Council adjourned to the next regular meeting on June 2, 1992 at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers located at 5938 North Kauffman Avenue. MAYOR VML /MINS /2334.1 1 1