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Home My WebLink About2001-01-16 VAC MINUTES VETERANS ADVISORY COMMISSION CITY OF CHULA VISTA MINUTES January 16, 2001 Human Resources Conference Room TUESDAY, 6:10 P.M. City Hall Building 1. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 2. MEETING CALLED TO ORDER—6:04 p.m. 3. ROLL CALL—Stephen Arends P , Carmen Fedje P , Agustive Hermes, Jr. P William Poindexter P , Robert White P , A.Y. Casillas P Stephen Millikin P Other Attendees: Trevor Angood, Jr. —Eastlake High School student 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - The November 2111 minutes were approved as submitted. The Commission does not meet during the month of December. 5. ACTION ITEMS Unfinished Business a. Street Names Chair Arends thanked the commissioners who attended the ceremony on Pearl Harbor Day, December 7th. The media, including 3 television stations and the San Diego Union Tribune, provided good coverage. Mayor Horton requested that Mr Arends speak on behalf of the City and the Veterans of Chula Vista. A copy of Chair Arends speech from the Street Dedication Ceremony was given to each Commissioner. Mr. Casillas thanked Mr.Arends for his impressive speech on behalf of all the Commissioners,and stated that he had received many positive comments. Mr.Arends acknowledged all the people and organizations that worked together to make the event happen. Chair Arends shared the"news"that the City had received a complaint from a citizen about using the word"deceased"on the street signs. A lengthy discussion among the Commissioners followed, and a motion was made and seconded to keep the word "deceased"and communicate with the City on this issue. It was also moved and seconded that the gentleman who is offended by the word"deceased" be invited to a meeting of the Veterans Advisory Commission to explain his position. Chair Arends stated that the street sign research is ongoing at Eastlake High School. He suggested that once the project is completed and everything is submitted,that letters/proclamations from the Mayor or City Council to each student thanking them for all their hard work and research on this project. Chair Arends informed the commissioners of the resignation of Robb Marshall, Editor of the Star News, effective January 11'. Robb wrote several articles with respect to the Veterans Advisory Commission and the work they are doing in Chula Vista. He wrote an article in December for the Star News, thanking the Eastlake students by name, for their work on the project. v . 1 4 , �t \ l b. Veterans Memorial in Rolling Hills Ranch Mr.White was referred to Joe Gamble in Parks and Recreation who has advised him that the park will be named Rolling Hills Ranch Veterans Park (see August 151' minutes). This has been acknowledged by the developers and is on the books at Parks and Recreation, Mr. White informed the Commissioners that there is a process for the development,which could take approximately 6 to 7 months, and he would contact Joe again at that time. Chair Arends spoke with the chair of the Parks and Recreation Commission regarding the memorial for the park. A brief discussion followed on obtaining budget funds for the memorial in the park. Captain Dyke advised that this would be the first year the City would be on a two-year budget cycle. TAKEN OUT OF ORDER FOR TONIGHT At this time the Commissioners returned to item 1,Street Signs,and recognized Trevor Angood. Trevor provided an update on the research project. He spoke about receiving calls from people about their names being on the list at the ceremony but not on the published list. Many of those names were not on Trevor's list so they were not researched. It appears the list now holds 60 names, however the original list only had 36 names. It was decided to continue with the original list of 36. There was discussion on archiving the information for posterity,and editing the biographies by condensing them so they can be placed into a glass display in the lobby area of the Veterans Home. Trevor suggested archiving the information into a website. Trudi will put him in touch with Louie Vignapiano, Director of Management and Information Services for the City to investigate that possibility. Trevor is looking into other websites also. c. Chula Vista Veterans Home Support Foundation Update. Chair Arends updated the Commissioners on this item. The next Foundation meeting is Thursday, February 151 at noon. Donations are behind schedule and it is hoped that more will be coming in soon. Mr.Arends will be preparing letters to all of the San Diego County City Mayors and the City Managers asking them for Community Development Block Grant funds. $1000.00 was received from the City of Chula Vista,and funds will be requested from other cities,which may include Orange County and Los Angeles. These letters will have signatures of the President of the Foundation, the Mayor, and County Supervisor. d. Veterans Home Update As of this date there are 115+ residents at the Veterans Home. Chair Arends brought regards from Bill Ayers, our famous resident at the Home. The Independent Living unit is now about half full (86 residents of 165 beds)and the Assisted Living area has 29 residents of 55 beds. The Skilled Nursing Facility is targeted for residency by the middle of the summer per Gary Ferguson of the Veterans Home. The problems at Barstow are causing a delay in our Skilled Nursing unit being filled. Regarding the publicity for the Veterans Home,there was an article in the Union Tribune on 12/12/00 by columnist Neil Morgan who visited the Veterans Home and toured the facility with Mayor Horton and had a nice lunch hosted by Tom Arnold. We are hoping that Neil Morgan does more columns about veterans in South Bay,the Veterans Home,and the Support Foundation. e. Veteran of the Year Award Chair Arends thanked the Commissioners for attending the City Council meeting on 11/14/00 when Bob Lind was presented with the Veteran of the Year award. There was a reception at the American Legion Post the next day for Bob. The Commissioners agreed that they made the right choice in selecting Bob Lind for the Veteran of the Year Award. Planning for the Veteran of the Year will begin again in the Spring. This item will be tabled until then. f Goals and Objectives The Chairman stated that we would continue in the year 2001 to do what we have been doing. 2 a, 9 A g. Legislative Reports • Chair Arends stated that he received the last report in October. He also enlightened everyone on a House Bill entitled HR62 which is a federal proposal to change Veterans Day to the Tuesday that is Election Day so that everyone can have to day off to vote. 6. COMMUNICATIONS CHAIR'S COMMENTS -Chair Arends thanked the Commissioners for their attendance at the many meetings in the last calendar year. He also asked to be contacted when a Commissioner is unable to attend the regular monthly meeting. Everyone with the exception of Mr. Fedje, is on-line. Per Trudi,an updated roster will be enclosed with each Commissioner's packet. At the invitation of John Smith, the Chair attended the monthly San Diego County Veterans Advisory Council meeting at the Memorial Center, representing the City of Chula Vista in the absence of Bill Ayers. The guest speaker was Anthony Principi, (from San Diego)who is President George Bush's nominee for VA Director. and there were other Robb Marshall is no longer at the Star News and the paper is actively looking for a new editor. The Chair reported that a traveling Viet Nam wall will be in Balboa Park next to the Veterans Center from August 10 through 12. The next meeting of the United Veterans Council meeting, chaired by John Smith,will be held on Saturday, January 27`"at Balboa Park. Chair is sending follow-up note to the Parks and Recreation Department reminding them of previous discussions and their agreement to add two names to the Memorial in downtown Chula Vista. COMMISSIONERS COMMENTS —Mr. Poindexter suggested that perhaps a local high school would be interested in interviewing survivors of previous wars and recording their stories,while Mr.Millikin felt it could be taken on as a long- term objective to establish an all history program. This discussion will become an agenda item for the next meeting. Mr. Hermes advised everyone of the upcoming Memorial Day program. As chairman of the Memorial Day Services, he spoke about the program and stated that the guest speaker this year would be a survivor of the USS Wasp. STAFF COMMENTS—None PUBLIC COMMENTS—None. 7. ADJOURNMENT—7:30 p.m. To the next regularly scheduled meeting at 6:00 p.m.,on Tuesday, February 20, 2001 in the Human Resources Conference Room at City Hall, 276 Fourth Avenue, Chula Vista, CA 91910 /LG J Trudi Ford Clerical Support • 3