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HomeMy WebLinkAboutcc min 1996/11/26 RDA MINUTES OF A SPECIAL JOINT MEETING OF THE REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY/COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CHULA VISTA Tuesday, November 26, 1996 7:28 p.m. Council Chambers Public Services Building 1. ROLL CALL: ALSO PRESENT: Agency/Councilmembers Scott D. Alevy, John S. Moot, Stephen S. Piedilia, Jerry R. Rindone, and Chair/Mayor Shirley A. Horton. John Goss, City Manager; John Kaheny, City Attorney; Beverly A. Authelet, City Clerk; and Patrieia Schwenke, Deputy City Clerk. 2. a. AGENCY RESOLUTION 1521: (1) APPROVING THE APPLICATION TO THE CALIFORNIA DEBT LIMIT ALLOCATION COMMITTEE (CDLAC) FOR AN ALLOCATION OF QUALIFED MORTGAGE BONDS AND ITS ALLOCATION TO THE REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY ACCEPTING CITY'S ASSIGNMENT TO IMPLEMENT; (2) ELECTING TO EXCHANGE SAID ALLOCATION FOR MORTGAGE CREDIT CERTIFICATES; (3) CERTIFYING THE AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS FOR THE REQUIRED PERFORMANCE DEPOSIT OF $50,000; (4) APPROPRIATING $3,200 FROM THE UNAPPROPRIATED BALANCE IN THE LOW AND MODERATE INCOME HOUSING FUND; AND (5) AUTHORIZING ITS EXECUTION BY THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR--The Mortgage Credit Certificate Program (MCC Program) was authorized by Congress in the Tax Reform Act of 1984, as an alternative to mortgage revenue bond-backed financing as a tool for providing home ownership assistance to lower income households. Staff recommends that the City apply for a $10 million Mortgage Revenue Bond allocation. With $2.5 million, the City could issue approximately 125 Mortgage Credit Certificates. Staff recommends approval of the resolutions. (Community Development Director) b. COUNCIL RESOLUTION 18502: (1) APPROVING THE APPLICATION TO THE CALIFORNIA DEBT LIMIT ALLOCATION COMMITTEE (CDLAC) FOR AN ALLOCATION OF QUALIFIED MORTGAGE BONDS AND ASSIGNING ITS ALLOCATION TO THE REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY TO IMPLEMENT; (2) ELECTING TO EXCHANGE SAID ALLOCATION FOR MORTGAGE CREDIT CERTIFICATES; (3) CERTIFYING THE AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS FOR THE REQUIRED PERFORMANCE DEPOSIT OF $50,000; AND (4) AUTHORIZING ITS EXECUTION BY THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Chris Salomonc, Director of Community Development, stated Council has been successful in receiving allocations from the State, and the program has been successful in affording an opportunity to first time home buyers in the City of Chula Vista. This allocation will be good for a two-year period, and it is anticipated the City will rim out of the certificates prior to the two-year period. AGENCY RESOLUTION 1521 .SAND COUNCIL RESOLUTION 18502 Ok'FERED BY CHAIR/MAYOR HORTON, reading of the text was waived, ti~e read, passed and approved unanimously. 3.a. AGENCY RESOLUTION 1522: APPROVING THE CONTRACT WITH ADVOCATION, INC. FOR LEGISLATIVE REPRESENTATION FOR THE 1997-1998 LEGISLATIVE SESSION, AND AUTHORIZING THE CHAIR TO EXECUTE SAID AGREEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY-- On 12/31/96, the current agreement with Advocation, Inc. expires. That agreement provided for two 2-year extensions to coincide with the State legislative sessions, bothofwhichwere granted. In anticipationofthe year-end expiration of that contract, the City issued a Request for Proposals on 9/20/96 for qualified firms for legislative representation for the period 1/1/97 to 12/31/98. Following extensive review of the proposals submitted to the City, a firm is recommended by an evaluation team of both in-house and outside raters to be awarded a contract. Staff recomanends approval of the resolutions. (Community Development Director) Minutes November 26, 1996 Page 2 b. COUNCIL RESOLUTION 18503 APPROVING THE CONTRACT WITH ADVOCATION, INC. FOR LEGISLATIVE REPRESENTATION FOR THE 1997-1998 LEGISLATIVE SESSION, AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE SAID AGREEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE CITY OF CHULA VISTA Gerald Young, Senior Management Assistant, reported there is a unanimous recommendation of the Committee to award the contract to Advocation, because of the work they have done in past years for the City of Chula Vista. Some of the accomplishments include $12 million recently approved for the State Veterans Home in Chula Vista with additional funding earmarked from the Federal government; $243,000 recently approved in supplemental subvention funding the State under-budgeted last year and part of $4 million in supplemental subvention funding as a result of Advocation's work in 1990; $750,000 toward alternative fuel programs which includes funding towards Metallic Power and their recent graduation from BECA to manufacturing; $400,000 for the Nature Center and flow through seawater system; and miscellaneous work on projects such as the Olympic Training Center, the South Chula Vista Library, and University of California Chula Vista, including numerous bills the City supported and opposed over the years with either regulatory or fiscal impacts. Agency/Councilmember Alevy stated he had not been contacted during his time on the Council by the consultant, and he discovered that staff gave direction to the consultants not to contact the Councilmembers. He felt it was wrong and disagreed with the policy. Chair/Mayor Herton believed there may have been miscommunication because she and other Councilmembers previously had meetings with Advocation. John Goss, City Manager, stated there is a Legislative Committee that consisted of the Mayor, City Attorney, and City Manager. The City Council adopted an overall legislative policy which basically provides direction to staff to respond to issues that come before the Legislature. If issues are not covered by that policy, those individual items are brought forward by the Legislative Committee to the City Council. He recalled that our consultant has come before each Legislative session at least annually and was open to meet with anyone who desired. · Marilyn Lasman, 2808 Via del Caballo Blanco, supported Mr. Deddeh and Bob Wilson and Associates to represent Chula Vista. · Mary-Lynn Deddeh, 761 Cabrillo, Coronado, CA, wife of Wadie Deddeh, supported her husband to be an advocate for the City of Chula because he has served and lived in this City for 34 years and was knowledgeable about the issues, history and people involving the community. · Barbara Hunsaker, 11458 Meadow Creek Drive, E1 Cajon, CA, formerly worked for Wadie Deddeh and has known Bob Wilson for many years. She is aware of their capabilities and supports Bob Wilson and Associates to represent the City of Chula Vista. · Rod Davis, 46 Center Street, Chula Vista, CA, stated that Advocation's list of accomplislunents was impressive, but he supported Wadie Deddeh because of his accomplishments in Chula Vista by bringing a courthouse, Nature Center, State Route 54, and many others involving the City. Mr. Deddeh is a man who helped build Chula Vista who lives here and works there, rather than a company who lives there and occasionally works here. He recommended Council retain Bob Wilson and Associates in order to have Mr. Deddeh back on our side. · Patty Davis, 1375 #17 Callejon Montefrio, Chula Vista, CA, supported Bob Wilson and Associates to represent the City of Chula Vista, because Wadie Deddeh has the local contacts to help Chula Vista work in a grass roots effort. · Wadie Deddeh, 761 Cabrillo, Coronado, CA, is a former State Assemblyman for 16 years, and served on the Senate for 11 years. He lived in this cotnrnUlfity and taught children for almost 35 years. For 11 years, his office was next door and there was always an open door policy with the City. He has served 27 years for this community and takes great pride in the services rendered because he believed in this community. If his tirm, Bob Wilson and Minutes November 26, 1996 Page 3 Associates, is hired, he proposed to keep Council apprised of the status in Sacramento every three months. He also indicated his prime interest and concern will be the City of Chula Vista. · Bob Wilson, 1725 Capitol, Sacramento, CA, stated Wadie Deddeh wants to represent Chula Vista more than anything else in the world. If his firm is hired, Mr. Deddeh will represent Chula Vista with honor, and Chula Vista will benefit because of the experience Mr. Deddeh will bring. His firm looked at every bill lobbied for Chula Vista in the last three years and there was not a difference between the position his other clients took and the position of Chula Vista. Diversity is practiced in his firm, and he and Mr. Deddeh will have the primary responsibility of working on Chula Vista's account, If there is a ~0nfli0t, they will first try to r, s01ve itl if the tunflier cannot be resolved, they will notify other cities of the conflict. His firm would never be in a situation where they were advocating a position of a city contrary to the interest of Chula Vista. Mr. Young explained the committee that performed the final interviews did not use a point system. The puq3oso of the final interview was to determine the top ranking firm to negotiate a contract with, and the committee's unanimous decision was to select Advocation. Agency/Councilmember Rindone stated Advocation has represented the City well; however, having personally w~rkedwithWadie Deddeh~ he has perf~rmed exemp~ary~n behalf~ftheresidents~fChu~aVista. Mr. Deddeh's distinguished car~r is significant and th0 fact is that his ropre, sentation, uniqueness, commitment, and understanding of the City are second to none. MS (Rindone/Horton) to direct negotiations to devdop a lobbyist contact with Bob Wilson and Associates, Including Wadie Deddeh. Agency/Councilmember Padilia stated Mr. Deddeh has been around, knows the game well and there is no question where his heart is set, which is an important demerit. On the other hand, Advocation has done an excellent job, although the issue of communication not being consistent concerns him. He stated there comes a time when you have to make a difficult decision, and believes he would go with the home team, Mr. Deddeh. Agency/Councilmember Moot mentioned it is difficult when staffs recommendation is different than the opinion of Council. It is easy for Council to understand the impacts of someone living in Chula Vista can have, and he asked if there was something about the Legislative process that needs to have the people in Sacramento as opposed to living in Chnla Vista. Mr. Young explained he didn't think in terms of where a lobbyist was located made an impact. The key points for the Committee's selection is the past work that Advecation has done for Chula Vista and the continuity of continuing the contract it would represent. Looking at the top two firms in the staff report, there was a concern about the possibility of conflicts with other cities. Both lobbyists represent a wide range of clients and although it could be beneficial, there could be some conflicts. Agency/Councilmember Moot sta/ed he didn't want Chula Vista to go unrepresented, and he didn't want to be in the position where there could be controversial issues. He believes the contract needs to address this issue and suggested designating a subcontractor as a back-up. Mr. Young stated a clause was included in the contract that if an unresolvable conflict should arise, the contractor shall continue representing the City of Chnla Vista. · Don Brown, Chairman of the Board of Advocation, stated with respect to the conflicts, Advocation has never taken another City as their client. He could not imagine Bob Wilson and Associates having contracts with other cities and if each one of them had a different position, their firm would only represent Chula Vista. Advocatinn would not put themselves in that type of situation. Advocation has purposely never taken another city as a client and have only concentrated on Chula Vista's work. It was their understanding they worked for City staff and were Minutes November 26, 1996 Page 4 only requested to report to staff. Whenever staff asked them to meet with the Mayor, Advocation has always complied. · Chuck Cole, President of Advocation, 4831 Cameron Ranch Drive, Sacramento, CA, said in terms of the contract, they would report to the Legislative Committee. The terms of the Request for Proposals states they would be violating the rules of the process if they had attempted to do anything other than that. He wanted to make sure there was no misunderstanding, because it is the intent of Advoeation to further the quality of life in Chula Vista. Chair/Mayor Hotton said it has always been her preference to hire local firms when possible. It is a difficult situation because Advocation has done an excellent job for the City of Chula Vista, and the City has received millions of dollars in funding for projects they may have not received without Advocation's representation. She also feels confident in the services Bob Wilson and Associates and Mr. Deddeh could provide the City, because their hears are here, and there is no doubt they have contacts in Sacramento that could help us reach our goal. VOTE ON MOTION: Passed and approved unanimously. MSUC (Moot/Horton) that staff review the conflict issue regarding National City's and Chula Vista's contracts and report back to Council and whether language should be added to the contract if Bob Wilson and Associates was unable to represent Chula Vista that Advocation Inc. be hired as the subcontractor. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None. OTHER BUSINESS 4. DIRECTOR'S/CITY MANAGER'S REPORT: None. 5. CHAIR'S/MAYOR'S REPORT: None. 6. AGENCY/COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS: · Agency/Councilmember Alevy reported that the Citizens for Clean Air Policy will have a symposium at Miramar College on 12/13/96. This is an organization dedicated to public education on alternative fuel vehicles, and there has been prominent involvement of our community at this symposium. It is a major event and our Board of Environmental Commerce Alliance, the City of Chula Vista, and the California State Automobile Dealers Association are involved with this event. The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m. Minutes November 26, 1996 Page 5 ADJOURNMENT Respectfully submitted, BEVERLY A. AUTHELET, AAE/CMC, City Clerk Patricia Schwenke, Deputy City Clerk