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Home My WebLink About2002-03-19 VAC MINUTES2 VETERANS ADVISORY COMMISSION CITY OF CHULA VISTA MINUTES MARCH 19, 2002 TUESDAY, 6:04 P.M. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE MEETING CALLED TO ORDER — 6:00 p.m. Human Resources Conference Room City Hall Building ROLL CALL — Stephen Arends P Carmen Fedje P , Agustive Hermes, Jr. P , William Poindexter P , Robert White P , A.Y. Casillas P , Stephen Millikin E Guests: Armando Buelna 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - The minutes of February 19`h were corrected and approved. 5 ACTION ITEMS Unfinished Business a. Street Names { Mr. Arends received a message from Trevor Angood that he could not attend tonight's meeting but that he hopes the next phase of the project will be completed by late April. The histories will be reviewed and submitted by the Veterans Advisory Commission to the Planning Department. Capt. Dyke called from Sacramento to advise Mr. Arends of the voice mail he received from Jim Sandoval stating that the neither Planning Department nor city staff is in charge of selecting or changing street names, and that it was up to the developer. Capt. Dyke will follow up on this issue with.Jim Sandoval. b. Veterans Memorial Mr. Arends thanked Commissioners White and Poindexter for attending Planning Workshop #1 for the Sunbow Neighborhood Park hosted by the City's staff on March 18th. In attendance were several Sunbow residents, neighborhood residents, landscape architect and designers, a number of representatives from the VFW, Fleet reserves and the American Legion. Discussions were unanimous to maintain the veterans theme in the design of the park. The next community workshops are scheduled as follows: Saturday, March 23rd at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 6" at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 201h at 10'a.m. These workshops are held at the Boys and Girls Club, 1301 Oleander Avenue. Please plan to attend at least one workshop. 11 c. Chula Vista Veterans Home Support Foundation Update - Next board meeting, Thursday 3/28/02 at noon. This replaces the meeting that was postponed in February. Mr. Arends continues to work'for more grants at both the City and County level. He requested $51K from the City Council, to begin in new fiscal, July 1 ". The decision will be made known at the April 9111 council meeting. He requested that the commissioners attend the meeting if they can. Mr. Arends also sent a letter to the VFW and American Legion requesting donations. A project outside the city is taking place in Poway where the proceeds from an auction will go to the Veterans Home. d. Veterans Home Update Governor Davis opened the Skilled Nursing Facility after the March 5'" primary election. There are currently 220 residents in the Veterans Home with 8 residents currently in the Skilled Nursing Facility. SNF will allow a maximun of 12 residents and hold that number for 60 days. After 60 days the Medicare Certification will be in place to bring the 14 contracted -out SNF residents back to the campus. There are over 150 people on the waiting list for the Veterans Home. Entrance into the Skilled Nursing Facility of the Home will be determined by a physical exam. Barstow is losing residents; they are down to 214 residents. Yountville is holding steady at 1100 residents. The VFW would like to open a post on the campus of the Veteran Home. American Legion #867 is already on the campus. e. Veteran of the Year Update Mr. Poindexter will obtain the signature of Mr. Hermes (Vice Chair) and send thank -you notes to those who submitted the information and names of the applicants. Trudi will contact Jeri Gulbransen to request an insert in the next issue of the Spotlight regarding this year's Veteran of the Year. f. Goals and Objectives Listed below are the ongoing goals and objectives with the exception of #2. Mr. Arends is hoping that one of the three top applicants will replace him soon. The mayor has asked that Mr. Arends stay on until a replacement is selected, and he continues to do so. 1) Continue to advise and make recommendations to the City Council regarding veterans concerns, and on matters that the Board has special knowledge and expertise. 2) Find a new commissioner to replace Mr. Arends. 3) Be alert to the end of your term for re-election so that new candidates can be solicited. 4) Continue to encourage veterans to apply for the Commission. g. Legislative Reports Update on Assembly Bill 1841: This bill will be reviewed on April 21 in Sacramento. The Assembly's Higher Education Committee is having a hearing on AB1841, which allows veterans, active duty military, and their families enhanced educational privileges/opportunities in the California system. h. Oral History Mr. Poindexter has received no information after two trips to Hilltop High. 6. COMMUNICATIONS Mr. Arends questioned the correspondence from March and August 2001, which all the commissioners signed regarding the naming of the city street in honor of Bill Ayers. His tickler list reminded him that it had been a year since the letter was sent to the mayor's office with no response. A fax was sent to Mr. Buelna and Capt. Dyke on March 17th reminding them of the letter. Mr. Buelna acknowledged that he had received the fax. E CHAIR'S COMMENTS ➢ Publicly thanked Mayor Horton and Supervisor Greg Cox for attending the CALVET Board meeting. ➢ Thanked Councilwoman Salas for attending Veteran Park workshop on 3/18/02. ➢ Columbarium opens 17,OQO new niches at Ft. Rosecrans. Space for 14,000 available by end of 2002. Glen Abbey project experiencing funding problems at present. ➢ Completed report for City staff regarding Veterans Memorial Registry Request. Worked with Jeri Gulbransen and Diane Howell who were tasked by City Manager Dave Rowlands. The package was sent to Sacramento approximately two weeks ago. ➢ Contacted by Flags Across America Foundation to serve on Board of Directors. Recommended Chip Griffith, a colleague of Councilwoman Salas, to serve. Advised commissioners that there are many organizations looking for volunteers. COMMISSIONERS COMMENTS Mr. White advised that he planned to attend the meeting at the Veterans Home on Thursday, March 28`h and would also be attending the second Sunbow neighborhood park meeting on April 6`h Mr. Poindexter informed the commissioners that once a month, a member of the California State Bar, Arch Rodriguez, attends a VFW meeting advising them and will represent veterans in court against the Veterans Administration. His next visit is April 17`h. Mr. Arends also suggested Jim Stodola and his staff at the County Veterans Service Office downtown were also available for assistance. Mr. Hermes represented the veterans at the grand reopening of WalMart on "C" Street in Chula Vista. STAFF COMMENTS Trudi collected the information from the commissioners requested by Deputy City Clerk, Lorraine Bennett, ,updating term • expirations and current status. None 10 PUBLIC COMMENTS ADJOURNMENT — 7:23 p.m. Next regularly scheduled meeting at 6:00 p.m., on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 in the Human Resources Conference Room at City Hall, 276 Fourth Avenue, Chula Vista, CA 91910 d*e'r& k . �� Trudi W. Mayes Clerical Support 3