Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutcc min 1998/06/02MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CHULA VISTA Tuesday, June 2, 1998 4:13 p.m. 1. ROLL CALL: PRESENT: ABSENT: ALSO PRESENT: Council Chambers Public Services Building CALL TO ORDER Councilmembers: Moot, Padilla, Rindone (arrived at 4:35 p.m.), Salas, and Mayor Horton. Councilmembers: None City Manager, David D. Rowlands; City Attorney, John M. Kaheny; City Clerk, Beverly A. Authelet; and Deputy City Clerk, Charline Long. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG, MOMENT OF SILENCE 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: None submitted. 4. SPECIAL ORDERS OF THE DAY: A. Proclaiming the week of June 1 through June 6, 1998 as "Management Week." Mayor Horton presented the proclamation to Karin August, Executive Vice-President of the Chapter of National Management Association. B. Proclaiming June 6 through June 13, 1998 as "National Home Ownership Week." Mayor Morton presented the proclamation to Frank Riley, Community Builder of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. C. Jack Blakely, representing the Downtown Business Association and the Lemon Festival Committee, invited the Councilmembers and public to the Lemon Festival on Sunday, June 7, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and presented Council with Lemon Festival T-shirts. D. Dick Reynolds, General Manager of Sweetwater Authority, 505 Garrett Avenue, Chula Vista, 91910, reported that the San Diego County Water Authority's infrastructure access charge of one dollar per month will become effective January 1, 1999. It represents a 4% increase for the average customer in Chula Vista. The fee will increase to two dollars or 8% in year 2003. The charge is for funding a part of the emergency storage project which the San Diego County Water Authority is building. It is a needed project, but Sweetwater Authority's customers have purchased a system which includes two reservoirs that contain two years of storage and are currently full. Even when the reservoirs are not full, they can put imported water in Sweetwater and get through the dry periods. Sweetwater Authority buys on the average about 40% of their water from the Water Authority and the rest is from local supplies. They feel that the charge is not fair to the National City, Chula Vista, and Bonita customers. He asked the Council prepare and approve a resolution which would ask the County Water Authority to consider some kind of a reduced charge for Sweetwater Authority's customers. Mayor Hotton stated that she had forwarded the resolution to the City Attorney to review. It will be on the agenda on June 9th. CONSENT CALENDAR (Items pulled: 7, 8, and 11) BALANCE OF THE CONSENT CALENDAR OFFERED BY MAYOR HORTON, headings read, texts waived, passed and approved 4-0-1 (Rindone absent), except for Item Nos. 6 and Minutes June 2, 1998 Page 2 10 where Moot abstained since it dealt with McMillin; Item No. 12 which was continued to June 9, 1998; and Items 7, 8, and 11 which were pulled. 5. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS: Letter from the City Attorney stating that to the best of his knowledge from observance of actions taken in Closed Session on 5/26/98, that there were no reportable actions under the Brown Act to be reported. The letter was received and filed. 6. ORDINANCE 2733 AMENDING THE RANCHO DEL REY SECTIONAL PLANNING AREA III PLAN BY CHANGING THE LAND USE DESIGNATION FROM CPF (COMMUNITY PURPOSE FACILITY) TO OS-3 (OPEN SPACE) ON A 1.8 ACRE PARCEL LOCATED AT THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF PASEO LADERA AND PASEO ENTRADA (second readinq and adoDtion) - The proposal is to amend the Rancho del Rey SPA III Plan in order to change the designation of the 1.8 acre project site from CPF to OS-3. The Project Site is located northeast of the intersection of Paseo Ladera and Paseo Entrada, one block north of Telegraph Canyon Road. The current CPF Land Use Designation allows the site to be used only for "non profit" community Purpose Facilities which are ancillary to another permitted use (i.e. church). Therefore, the applicant is now requesting an amendment to the SPA III Plan in order to change the land use designation from CPF to OS-3. At the present time, the applicant wishes to market the site for a "for profit" day care facility as the primary use on the site. Per staff's recommendation, the ordinance was placed on second reading and was adopted 4-0-0-1 (Moot abstaining). (Director of Planning) 7. RESOLUTION 19021 APPROVING THE ENVIRONMENTAL INDEMNITY AGREEMENT WITH THE SAN DIEGO UNIFIED PORT DISTRICT PURSUANT TO THE PURCHASE AND SALE AGREEMENT FOR MARINA VIEW PARK DATED JUNE 6, 1997, ~a4D AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE SAME - Certain conditions of the Purchase and Sale Agreement for the conveyance of the City's portion of Marina View Park to the Port require that environmental investigation be conducted. Staff arranged for a consultant to perform the required work, which included a Phase 1 and limited Phase 2 investigation. City and Port staff agreed, pursuant to the Purchase and Sale Agreement, that in lieu of more exhaustive soil and groundwater sampling, the City would provide additional indemnification to ensure that any presently unknown liability of the City did not pass to the Port as a result of the property sale. The proposed Environmental Indemnity Agreement provides such assurances. Per staff's recommendation, the resolution was approved unanimously 5-0. (Director of Community Development) Item was pulled by Councilmember Salas. Councilmember Salas asked the following questions: (1) Is the City the one who is paying for the soil and groundwater samplings? (2) Is the reason that we are being asked to provide an indemnity agreement for the Port is because we do not want to spend any more money doing more exhaustive testing? (3) Is it true that the property in question is a parkland that was actually created by fill by the Port. Joe Monaco, Environmental Projects Manager, responded to the questions: (1) There was some limited soil sampling conducted as a part of our due diligence for the sale. The costs associated with that work was in the area of $3,000 to $4,000, and the City did pay that cost. (2) Yes; we don't want to spend any more money for testing. (3) The portion of the park that was created by the fill is currently owned by the Port District; the portion owned by the City is the subject of the sale and is not part of the tidelands and not on fill. Councilmember Salas stated she had a problem with this because the staff report states that it is very unlikely that there is contamination on the subject property, but if there were contamination on the subject property, it may have come from groundwater from the Port property. Mr. Monaco stated the issue of concern with respect to potential contamination on the site would be related to groundwater contamination. We did do some Minutes June 2, 1998 Page 3 limited soil sampling and determined that soils on the site were not contaminated, and if there were uses on the site that resulted in contamination, the soil and/or groundwater would be contaminated. Based on the environmental work that we did on the site, we determined that there were no former uses on that property that would have resulted in direct soil or groundwater contamination. There is the potential that groundwater contamination from off- site areas might have migrated onto the site which could include the Port, B.F. Goodrich, San Diego Gas and Electric, or other sources. If groundwater contamination were discovered on the site and the source were easily identified, then it would be the responsible off-site party that would be responsible for clean-up. There is a policy by the Regional Water Quality Control Board that would limit the liability of the owner of that property, in this case, the City or the Port District. A cleanup action would be more specifically directed at the actual responsible party. The Port's concerns, in this particular case, is while there is that policy with the State Regional Water Quality control Board, there are also federal laws that distribute liability more broadly. We don't expect that we will find any contamination on the site or in the groundwater. If there were contamination, we don't expect it to be at the level that would require federal enforcement action. But if it were so severe that it did get into the federal arena, there are federal laws that could assign responsibility to the property owner regardless of their culpability in the contamination. Once the sale is completed, then the property owner would be the Port. Glen Googins, Deputy City Attorney, added that under the proposed Environmental Indemnity, if the Port were the perpetrator of previous actions which resulted in hazardous conditions on the property and were found liable, in theory even though they were the more culpable party, they could come back to the City to indemnify them under the terms of this agreement. So the terms of this agreement definitely allocate potentially away from the Port's liability they might otherwise have under the governing authorities. That was an item which staff tried to negotiate out of the Environmental Indemnity Agreement, but were unable to do so. Councilmember Salas stated that is what she did not like; it places the responsibility for any kind of remediation that may occur on the City of chula Vista. She did not feel that she could support this. To her it seemed that even though there is a very slight possibility that there is a potential problem, she would not want to take responsibility for something that we don't have to. Councilmember Moot stated he did not think we should indemnify the Port for their own potential wrongful conduct. If they were the contaminator and it could be shown that they caused the contamination, why would we indemnity them for the contamination that they caused. Mr. Monaco replied that it is important to note that even in that event where it was proven that the Port as an off-site source was the responsible party for contamination of groundwater beneath this property, it is likely that the contamination wouldn't be limited to this property. This agreement applies only to this property. Any kind of clean up action or responsibility for clean up costs associated with remediation of that contamination would involve additional areas outside of this property, and it may be the case that an enforcement action would require the Port to do the entire clean up. Councilmember Moot stated this is an area that someone is making an application to be designated as non-beneficial use. If that designation were to go through, then realistically the groundwater cleanup probably would not be an issue unless it was heavy metals or something pretty serious. Mayor Horton expressed that she felt comfortable moving forward and supporting staff's recommendation. Understanding that the ultimate liability for cleanup if there is contamination, rests with the generator. If it is Rohr or its the Port, we have something to fall back on. RESOLUTION 19021 OFFERED BY FH%YOR HORTON, heading read, text waived. Minutes June 2, 1998 Page 4 Councilmember Rindone pointed out that the Port stepped forward to make this purchase; it was at the City's request. This does provide a very sizable financial assistance to the City in turning around, not only the general fund balances, but also the Redevelopment Agency. He felt very comfortable in supporting staff's recommendation. VOTE: Resolution was approved unanimously 5-0. 8. RESOLUTION 19022 APPROVING THE AGREEMENT WITH ESGIL CORPORATION TO PROVIDE PLAN CHECK ENGINEERING SERVICES - On December 19, 1995, Council approved the agreement with Esgil Corporation to provide plan check engineering services for the Department of Building and Housing on an as-needed basis. The contractual agreement expires on June 30, 1998. Due to the need for technical engineering support services on projects of unique structural complexities and to offset peak demands, staff prepared a Request for Proposal (RFP) to solicit vendors to perform such services. The RFP was distributed to ten vendors. Six responded, with the top four interviewed by the Selection Committee. After thorough evaluation the Committee determined Esgil Corporation be recommended to continue services. Per staff's recommendation, the resolution was approved . (Director of Building and Housing) Item was pulled by Mayor Horton Mayor Horton stated her concern was that in 1991 we overpaid consultant fees where we could have saved money by hiring staff. She asked what was the hourly fee that would be paid. Ken Larson, Building and Housing Director, replied that the plan check fee was a percentage of the project valuation. It is not predicated on an hourly rate, but predicated on an entire project valuation. Mayor Horton asked if it is more efficient to have this company as a consultant or is it more efficient to have someone on staff. When we don't have the expertise inhouse or if we don't have the right amount of staff on board to handle the volume of work, then we need to make sure we are servicing our clients. She wanted to make sure that we are running the department efficiently by having the staff inhouse. Her concern is that this may be appropriate, but she wanted to make sure it did not get out of control like it did seven or eight years ago. Mr. Larson responded that in addressing the delicate balance between external staff and hiring internal city personnel, we look to a consultant as nothing more than an extension of our department. Key to our analysis is the turn around time. We have a responsibility to Our client, but in hiring an internal staff person when the workload should drop off or the projects of unique complexities don't come in, then we would be looking at modifying that person's duties and transferring to another department or looking ultimately at a layoff. We concur entirely if it is more effective to hire staff, we would certainly do that rather than using a consultant. However, we feel this is the best recommendation at this time. Councilmember Rindone stated there comes a time when, even though it may not look it is saving the city funds, the fact is it is impacting homebuyers. We are looking at services that on December 19, 1995 was asked of the Council to be a temporary measure. Three years later that need hasn't gone away. In fact, the report before us is to extend those services and appropriate funds through 2001 if need be. That is a total of six years on what is presented as a temporary case. The argument presented under fiscal impact is it will be all right because the developer will pay full cost recovery. That is irrelevant, because if it is increasing the cost of services which impacts the rates of the homes, then that is just as much Council's responsibility as if it were impacting the City. He asked if this could be trailed for one week in order to look at an alternative. If we had an alternative way which was much more economical than this and it was by inhouse staff, then we need to re-examine that. Also, there is a delicate balance on the expertise and if staff feels that this is a way of getting that extra expertise yet at the same time actually be more cost effective, we don't Minutes June 2, 1998 Page 5 have that data in front of us to make that judgement. Perhaps tonight we can go ahead with this item, but he requested staff that prior to renewing this or coming for other ones to address those kinds of issues. Mayor Horton stated that in this situation we are talking about hiring engineers with specific specialized expertise. She could understand this. We are going to be experiencing a lot of growth over the next ten to fifteen years, so if at all possible and if it is more cost efficient, we need to look at some of the alternatives to see if we should have some of this expertise inhouse. Councilmember Padilla stated it is clear that contracting specialized services at this amount is probably in the short-term actually more cost effective if the services required are very narrowly defined and are needed for a short period rather than in a continuing long-term basis. However, in regard to the larger policy question of what is going to be the rate of recurring need in the future for the same or similar type of services given the large volume Of review, design, and inspection needs that are going to come through the city in the coming decade, Council has indicated that we are eager to see that analysis of whether we conduct those services inhouse exclusively or in part contract them out. Councilmember Moot stated that there were seventy-one projects sent out last year to an outside consultant. Some due to their complexity in structural designs and some due to reasonable turn around time. What would be appropriate is to have an informational memo to the Council that actually breaks that out so staff could show us which of these projects were due to complex structural designs and identify a couple of those projects so we might recognize them; and how many were for turn around time and what they were for. We may want to simply consider hiring another plan checker to deal with the turn around time on routine matters. If in fact, this contract is primarily due to complex structural designs that we don't have inhouse people, we can't realistically hire someone in a cost effective way to deal with that problem. RESOLUTION 19022 OFFERED BY MAYOR HORTON, heading read, text waived, passed and approved unanimously 5-0. 9. RESOLUTION 19023 WAIVING THE BIDDING PROCESS AS IMPRACTICAL AND AWARDING PURCHASING AGREEMENT FOR THE PURCHASE OF THREE PICKUP TRUCKS - On March 3, 1998, Council accepted bids and awarded Purchasing Agreements for the purchase of fourteen pickup trucks to three vendors. Staff has found that it is necessary to purchase three additional pickup trucks. Staff wishes to use the bid previously awarded on March 3, 1998. Section 2.56.070 of the Municipal Code requires that formal bids be obtained for purchases in excess of $25,000 unless Council finds that obtaining the bids is impractical. Per staff's recommendation, Council approved the resolution finding that bidding was impractical and awarded the purchasing agreement to People's Chevrolet of Chula Vista for $48,605.55 for the purchase of three pickup trucks. (Director of Public Works) 10. RESOLUTION 19024 APPROVING A REIMBURSEMENT AGREEMENT WITH MCMILLIN - D.A. AMERICA OTAY RANCH LLC FOR ALL INITIAL CONSULTING AND ADMINISTRATIVE COST AND EXPENSES ASSOCIATED WITH FORMING A COMMUNITY FACILITIES DISTRICT FOR FINANCING THE CONSTRUCTION OR ACQUISITION OF CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS SERVING THE MCMILLIN OTAY RANCH PROJECT, WAIVING CONSULTANT SELECTION PROCESS AND GUIDELINES FOR THE SELECTION OF BROWN, DIVEN, HESSLE & BREWER AS BOND COUNSEL, /LND APPROVING AGREEMENTS WITH FIELDMAN, ROLAPP & ASSOCIATES, DAVID TAUSSIG & ASSOCIATES, AND BROWN, DIVEN, HESSLE & BREWER FOR SERVICES ASSOCIATED WITH SAID DISTRICT AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE SAID AGREEMENTS - McMillin - D.A. America Otay Ranch LLC has requested the City initiate proceedings to form a Community Facilities District for the acquisition or construction of public facilities associated with the McMillin Otay Ranch project. The first action is selecting a consultant team which will provide assistance to the City during the proceedings. The Financial Advisor and Special Tax Consultant were selected Minutes June 2, 1998 Page 6 through a Request for Proposals process. Staff recommends that Fieldman, Rolapp & Associates be retained as Financial Advisor and David Taussig & Associates as Special Tax Consultant and to waive the consultant selection process and guidelines for the selection of Brown, Divert, Hessle & Brewer as Bond Counsel. Per staff's recommendation, the resolution was approved 4-0-0-1 (Moot abstaining). (Director of Public Works) 11. RESOLUTION 19025 GRANTING AN EASEMENT FOR DRAINAGE PURPOSES ACROSS CITY- OWNED PROPERTY AT ADA STREET AND INDUSTRIAL BOULEVARD TO TROLLEY TERRACE TOWNHOMES PARTNERSHIP - South Bay Community Services is developing a parcel of land at 750 Ada Street. It proposes to build several multi-residential units. The City owns the adjoining property to the east. In order to adequately drain the lot, permission has been requested from the City to place a pipe across the north property line and drain to Industrial Boulevard. TO permanently allow this to be done, an easement should be granted in perpetuity. Per staff's recommendation, the resolution was approved unanimously 5-0. (Director of Public Works) Item was pulled by Councilmember Moot. Councilmember Moot stated that when we review these projects, they have certain amount of administrative fees that are charged to the project. If this partnership has a source of funding outside the City, then whatever portion of that is our staff time, it should be reimbursed as if they were any other entity asking for this service. Juan Arroyo, Housing Coordinator, responded that staff has estimated that the fee generated from this request would be about $1,000. Considering our support for this substantial project to promote affordable housing, staff felt that it would be a minor type of request. Councilmember Moot stated that one of our goals is to make affordable housing projects stand more on their own. We need to begin to treat these developers who are coming in to do these non-profit projects as we would treat other people. Our subsidy comes from identifiable funds. If they have a funding source that is outside the City to do this type of administrative processing, and those funds are available from that source, we should be seeking reimbursement of that cost just as we would ask a private developer to reimburse that cost. If this one is $1,000, we can skip it on this one, but he requested that when staff got requests like this in the future to find out if they had an administrative non- governmental source that can pay this and get it reimbursed back to the City. RESOLUTION 19025 OFFERED BY COUNCILMEMBER MOOT, heading read, text waived, passed and approved unanimously 5-0. 12. REPORT APPLICATION FOR THE FORMATION OF COMMUNITY FACILITIES DISTRICT NUMBER 97-3 (OTAY RANCH MCMILLIN SPA ONE) - Otay Ranch McMillin has formally petitioned the City to form a Community Facilities District (CFD) pursuant to the Mello-Roos Act of 1982 for financing the construction and/or acquisition of certain public improvements serving the Otay Ranch McMillin SPA One project. In keeping with Council policy, the developer has submitted an application containing information required for reviewing the feasibility of the proposed CFD. Staff has reviewed the application and concluded that the financial information provided is preliminary and general in nature and that a final analysis on the financial feasibility of the project can not be made at this time. Compliance with Council policy can not be confirmed until various documents such as appraisal, market absorption study, disclosure form, Special Tax Report, Preliminary Official Statement, etc. are complete. These documents will be prepared during the district proceedings and brought to Council for consideration prior to bond sale. Staff considers that this process will provide adequate information ensuring that the developer has the financial ability to bring the project to completion. (Director of Public Works) Minutes June 2, 1998 Page 7 RESOLUTION 19026 APPROVING THE INITIATION OF PROCEEDINGS TO CONSIDER THE FORMATION OF A COMMUNITy FACILITIES DISTRICT FOR OTAY RANCH MCMILLIN SPA ONE Per applicant's request, the item was continued to June 9, 1998. * * * END OF CONSENT CALENDAR * * * ORAL COMMUNICATIONS There were none. PUBLIC HEARINGS ~24D RELATED RESOLUTIONS ~3gD ORDINANCES None submitted. BOARD AND COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS None submitted. ACTION ITEMS None submitted. ITEMS PULLED FROM THE CONSENT CALENDAR Item NOS. 7, 8, and 11 were pulled; however, the minutes reflect the original published agenda order. OTHER BUSINESS 13. CITY M~NAGER'S REPORT(S) Worlds Fair Expo 2000 Press Conference Barbara Bamberger, Environmental Resource Manager, stated that the City has been contacted by the Expo 2000 Committee and invited to participate in Expo 2000 in Hanover, Germany. For this Expo, they are going to be developing a number of pavilions, booths, publications that outline and provide a profile on various projects throughout the world. The Expo 2000, staff along with a number of individuals from the German Consulate, will be in Los Angeles conducting a press conference on June 11. In addition to that, they will be holding a number of events the same day that will allow the participants to meet and discuss what the participation really means in the context of Expo 2000. At this point, staff is looking for direction in terms of who should be representing the City of Chula Vista at this press conference and at the workshops thereafter. Mr. Rowlands expressed that Ms. Bamberger should be one of the individuals involved in this event. If a councilmember was available on that date that would be another good attendee. Mayor Hotton stated she would support that. Councilmember Rindone stated he was not opposed to us being represented on June 11. Ultimately, the Worlds Fair is looking at what the pay back for the City would be. He also wanted to know what were the benefits for the City by participating which was not clearly delineated. The other issue is that by the time this is held, the future solvency or the continuation of the project that is being featured, may be non-existent. Do we want to move forward and be advocating a project which was on the cutting edge at the time; one which really dealt with the change in technology and environmental issues, but yet we are at the next level beyond that. Those are a couple of perspectives that Council should be apprised before we move much beyond this. · Briefing on the Latest Developments in the Governor's and State Legislature's Efforts to Repeal/Reduce the Vehicle License Fee. Minutes June 2, 1998 Page 8 Colleen Kelly, Administrative Analyst, stated the issue of whether or not to reduce or repeal the Vehicle License Fee has become a very heated and partisan issue in Sacramento. Proposals to repeal or reduce the VLF have now come from the governor's office as well as from the senate and from the assembly. There is only one proposal which is currently in writing that offers local government a constitutionally protected backfill for the funds that we would lose. Assemblymember McClintock, who is the one who got this ball rolling, has opened an outside office to start a voter initiative to repeal the "car tax." He has publicly stated that the voter initiative would not include any backfill for local government. Opponents of VLF proposals, largely the senate and assembly leadership, have assured us that they have the votes to prevent any legislative proposals from going through in this legislative session. Proponents of the proposals claim that they have enough votes to prevent a budget from being passed this year unless the budget includes a VLF repeal or reduction. They are willing to stall a budget "as long as it takes" including up through the November elections in order to make this an election issue. Some of the VLF proponents, those wishing to reduce or repeal the VLF, are saying that they would also be willing to discuss a return of property tax lost by local government over the past several years. The governor does not necessarily support that proposal. In all of this, the League of California Cities has been trying very hard to tie the VLF issue to a broader local government fiscal reform platform, but they have not been successful. The city's lobbyist has met with key figures every day on this issue on both sides of the isle. City staff not only has been talking with the League and our lobbyist, but also with city managers throughout the state trying to develop a cohesive strategy that cities can take forward. Opponents of the proposals are telling cities don't worry, we have the votes to stop this. The proponents are saying, cities you had better come to the table and negotiate the best deal you can. Both sides are telling us that if we don't do what they want, there will dire consequences. Our lobbyist has cautioned the city against committing to any one side at this point. They think that there will be additional options that will surface as the issue continues to develop. Councilmember Padilla asked if the original proposal to roll back the VLF was tied specifically to the current budget surplus or is it something that they want to permanently see on a continuing basis for all future state budgets. Ms. Kelly replied that the initial thrust was definitely a result of the fact that suddenly they recognized there was going to be a surplus. The cry was that taxpayers deserve to get this surplus back. Cities responded fine, then reduce your portion of sales tax or income tax; reduce something that supports the state budget, not something that supports local government. The Legislative Analyst stated that they were pretty sure there is a surplus this year and next year, but they were not sure what would happen after that. Councilmember Padilla asked if there has been any specific feedback from the Wilson Group or the League about the conflict between constitutional guarantee on the backfill or statutory guarantee on the backfill. Does anyone have an option on whether they think a reasonable secure guarantee for backfilling the loss in revenue to local government could occur. Ms. Kelly felt the League was afraid to even address that issue, because it makes it sound as if they are considering supporting some form of a repeal. If you were to talk with members of the League staff off the record, they would say that under no circumstance even short term would a statutory backfill be something they would want to endorse and that our only scenario that we could possibly consider would be a constitutional backfill. Councilmember Padilia stated that the combination of the initial proposal in light of the budget surplus and the fact that proponents are seeking a mechanism for realizing this proposal and are threatening to indulge in this kind of political grandstanding at the cost of local government and then further threaten a budget delay has to stop. He hoped that when there is some type of clarification, we would continue to remain strong in our position. Minutes June 2, 1998 Page 9 Councilmember Rindone stated that this is putting the cities in the middle of a political issue. Cities should have no part of it. When there was a short-fall of funds at the state level and there was a recession for a number of years, the cities gave up a lot of revenue in the subventions that were provided and made considerable adjustments. The fact that there now appears to be money exceeding the cost of state government proposals nothing should be done until all members of the legislature look at what is meaningful to the citizens of this state. One of those is education. Councilmember Moot felt that cities were losing the public relations battle on this issue. He suggested that we do what the state did when they got into this dialog with the federal government. Their rallying cry was unfunded federal mandates. We provide public safety, the state doesn't. Is the state carrying its share of the public safety mandates. This may begin to refocus the issue where cities want the issue to be. Every state legislator that he knew has run for political office on a public safety platform. It is absolutely clear that the state police and the state fire departments contribute very little to the funding of public safety. That funding comes from the cities. Ms. Kelly added that one trap we don't want to fall into is to have the state say we will give you funds, but then not give cities the discretion on where to spend the money. 14. MAYOR'S REPORT(S) - none 15. COUNCIL COMMENTS Councilmember Rindone: - Made a staff referral regarding legal options for the MCA naming rights of the amphitheater and requested that this be placed on the Closed Session Agenda for next week. Councilmember Padilla: - Stated that a fair criticism of our society would be that as Americans at every level tend to take the freedoms and opportunities that we enjoy in this country for granted. News isn't always positive, but people are fighting and dying around the world just for the right to have a voice. We should be mindful of that and try on Election Day to remember the many blessings that we do have in this County. We do have an opportunity to have a voice, and we should not take it for granted but take the opportunity to participate. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 5:31 p.m. Res ectful~,su~ ~. ACthelet, CMC/AAE City Clerk