HomeMy WebLinkAboutcc min 1990/04/09 MINUTES OF A SPECIAL MEETING
OF THE CITY OF CHULA VISTA
Monday, April 9, 1990 Counc~ Chambers
7:00 p.m. Public Services Building
CALL TO ORDER
1. ROLL CALL:
PRESENT: Councilmembers McCandiiss, Malcolm, Nader and Mayor Cox
ABSENT: Councilman Moore
ALSO PRESENT: Deputy City Manager, Jim Thomson
2. SECURITY AT THE SOUTH BAY REGIONAL D~TMqTION CENTER
Mayor Cox explained that City Council would hold a brief meeting and then turn the meeting over to
Supervisor Bilbray for a community meeting.
MSC (McCandliss/Nader) Mayor be authorized to attend the next County Board of Supervisors Meeting and
express to the Board of Supervisors the outrage of the Council and the cornrnklnity at the conditions that
have been nilowed to exist at the South County Detention Facility. He is to encourage the Board to support
Supervisor B~bray in recognizing that an emergency exists, that there is a danger to the health, safety and
welfare of this community and that they should take whatever actions necessary to waive bid requirements,
to move expeditiously, to acquire and make the improvements that will make the jail secure. If necessary
the City is prepared to assign, in the absence of appropriate response by the County, police officers to the
area to observe the facility and if required, will bill the County. Motion.carried 4-0-1 with Councilman
Moore abseZlL /~ 73
Councilman Nader stated that the facility was not intended from the beginning to house violent felons. It
was to house those accused of and convicted of misdemeanors which is a whole different class of criminal.
Misdemeanor convicts never go to state prison and felony convicts do. Felony convicts have every incentive
to escape where misdemeanor convicts do not. Felons on the average have a tendency to be more violent,
although there are some non-violent felonies.
MSC (Nader/1VicCandiiss) 1. Communicate to the County Board of Supervisors our urgent request that a
moratorium be placed on the homing of those accused of~iolent felonies at the South Bay Facility until such
time as security can be upended to a point which would have been acceptable, had it been built in the first
place, for that class of criminal ddendant. 2. Direct City staff, in the event that the County fails to respond
to Councilwoman McCandiiss' motion, to explore and repor~ back to Council on all options on City funding
of further security measures. Those options would include: feasibility of billing the County, to expend
Redevelopment Agency funds for the purpose of providing better security for downtown Chula Vista, and
there m/Flat be others also. Motion carried 4-0-1 with Councilman Moore absent.
Mayor Cox stated he would strongly suggest to the Board of Supervisors next Tuesday that once the East
Mesa Jail Facility is completed, which the latest schedule he had heard of was Spring of 1991, that they
adopt a policy that those convicted of, or having been arrested for, volent crimes not be housed at the South
County Regional Facility and that they instead be incarcerated at the East Mesa Facility. Mayor Cox also
indicated the need to get a similar commitment from the sheriff, and those candidates running for sheriff.
This is primarily due to the South County Regional Facility's location in a residential community and
adjacent to a business/commercial area.
MINUTES
April 9, 1990
Page 2 -
Councilman Nader did not feel the Council should get involved in an election contest or be consreact as
taking an election position, but did feel it was within Council purview to sponsor a public forum for the
candidates for sheriff here in Chula Vista.
Mayor Cox stated that such a public forum has already been initiated by the Chula Vista Chamber of
Commerce. He did not have the date, but they are contacting all candidates for sheriff and inviting them
to come to Chula Vista for that purpose.
Councilman Nader stated that perhaps the Counc~ could offer their support with publicity and making sure
that citizens in the community are aware the forum is going to rake place. He felt that this would encourage
whoever is ultimately elected to take this community very ser/ously.
Councilman Malcolm thanked Supervisor B~bray for setting up this meeting and felt he was taking an
aggressive approach, as he has done/n the past, to solve the South Bay problems.
ADJOURNMENT AT 7:15 P.M. to the Regular City Council Meeting on April 17, 1990 at 6:00 p.m. in the
City Council Chambers.
Respectfully submitted,
BEVERLY A. AUTHELET, CMC, City Clerk
by: Vicld Soderquist, Dep~ity Clerk