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HomeMy WebLinkAboutcc min 1991/06/05 MINUTES OF A SPE(~AL MEETING/WORKSESSION OF THE CITY OF CHULA VISTA Wednesday, June 5, 1991 Council Conference Room 6:08 p.m. Adminis~ation Building C~I,l.~r~ TO ORDER 1. CALL THE ROLL: PRESENT: Councilmembars Malcolm, Nader, Rindone, and Mayor Pro Tempore Moore ABSENT: Councilmember Malcolm ALSO PRESENT: John D. Goss, City Manager; Bruce M. Boogaard, City Attorney; and Vicki C. Soderquist, Deputy City Clerk BUSINESS 2. URGENCY REPORT STATE ROUTE 125 TOLL ROAD FACILITY City Attorney Boogaard informed Council he had just been made aware that the CEQA Statue of Limitations would expire on June 28, 1991. The City is currently solicitLug proposals from companies to advise the City on options relative to the SR125 Toll Road proposal. This allows only 23 days to retain a fhm, appropriate a large sum of money, and file a suit. The City could attempt to solicit an agreement from the State and CTB for waiver, or tolling, of the Statue of Limitations. It would be significantly less expensive for the City to prosue this option. It is estimated that $5,000 would be necessary and the City Attorney intents to retain Best, Best & Kreiger to negotiate the Toiling Agreement. If unsuccessful, the City Attorney will retain this firm or other legal counsel to commence litigation in order to meet the Statue and to return to Council to obtain the necessary appropriation to do so. He requested that the Council approve the agendizing of the item as it had arisen after the preparation of the agenda and could not reasonably wait until the next agenda. 1 ~q2 MSC (Moore/Nader) to add State Route 125 Toll Road Facility as an urgency item to the agenda for discussion and action. Approved 3-0-1 with COUDa'flm~n lV[a]CO]rn absenL City Manager Goss stated that the City's position had been to ask questions and not take a for or against position. The appropriation of the $5,000 would require a 4/Sth's vote and therefore Council could not take action on that request tonight. His office would work with the City Attorney regarding funding. City Attorney Boogaard responded that his office would solicit a waiver and incur debt, coming back to Councfi at a later date requesting appropriation of funds. City Attorney Boogaard requested that Council take the following action: 1) authorize the City Attorney to retain a firm of his choice, probably Best, Best & Kreiger, to obtain a waiver of CEQA Statute of Limitations from the State and CTV, otherwise set to expire on June 29, 1991, in order to preserve the option to challenge the toll road franchise for total failure to obtain CEQA compliance prior to issuance; and 2) in the event that a waiver can not be obtained from CTV and the State, to authorize the City Attorney to retain legal counsel to file suit to set aside the granting of the franchise on the ground that the State did not comply with CEQ& and to return to the Council at such t/me as the Counc~'s normal meeting schedule permits to obtain the needed appropriation therefore. Minutes June 5, 1991 Page 2 ,MSC 0doore//Rindone) to approve the request from the City Attorney. Approved 3-0-1 with Councilman Malcolm absent. City Attorney Boogaard left the meeting at 6:15 p.m. 2. REVIEW OF BUDGET FINANCE, PARKS AND RECREATION, OPEN SPACE, NATURE NATURE D4'TF~RPR~IIv'E CE.N'I]F.R City Manager Goss stated that the budget was slightly reduced from last year. He recommended that the Bookstore Manager be converted to a permanent position as it was felt that revenues would off-set the position. MSC 0vloo~/Rindone) to approve the Nature Interpretive Center budget as presented Approved 3-0-1 with :Count.'lm~n Malcolm absent. City Manager Goss stated the only proposals for this budget were equipment related and had no impact on .the General Fund. .MSC (Moore,/Nader) to approve the Finance Deparanenfs budget as presented. Approved 3-0-1 with .Councilman Malcolm absent. 'PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT City Manager Goss stated there were many issues contained within this budget. He complimented the Department for conceptualizing where the Deparunent was going and including policy issues. A revenue generation plan wfil be done by the Deparunent this year. He then reviewed other important issues facing the Department this fiscal year. Councfiman Rindone stated that the School District had launched a child care program and that the costs involved were extremely high. He felt there should be a parmership between public agencies as they had an obligation to the community. 'Councilman Nader questioned whether the Child Care Commission had reviewed the budget. Jess Valenzuela, Director of parks and Recreation, responded that they had reviewed the budget and supported staff recommendations. The Commission is currently working on a referral regarding City facilities in public places. Lauderbach Center is currently being considered as a sight for a latchkey program. If cliosan, there would be approximately a one year delay due to the state licensing procedure. Councilman Rindone stated that the School District had just completed that procedure and there was legislation that currently exempted schools. He felt the City may want to pursue a change in legislation to exempt cities. Minutes June S, 1991 Page 3 Councilman Nader expressed his concern of the period over time required to process the permit and requested that staff get input to find what could be done to speed up the process. He would also support Councilman Rindone's recommendation regarding legislation. He also questioned whether there was an existing private or non-profit program that the City could "share" with. He would like a report regarding this option, what state agency is involved, reasons for lengthy the delay, and current legislation. City Manager Goss stated that Supplemental Budget Memo 17 addressed the issue of funding for the Senior Information and Referral Center. He recommended Alternative 2 which would fund the mount of $66,782 from the City's General Fund to absorb the loss of Community Block Grant funds. The reduction in part time staff and supplies would result in longer response times but it was hoped that volunteers would make up the loss in personnel time. Mayor Pro Tempore Moore questioned whether the Center serviced all of South County. He felt that because taxpayers money was being used to support the Center it should service the City only. Mr. Valenzuela responded that the Center serviced non-residents of the City. There were approximately 18,800 people served with 10,800 being Chula Vista residents. The current response time is five minutes for a simple inquiry and 1S minutes for a complex inquiry. He would not be able to estimate the response time if the Center was staffed only with the coordinator. Councilman Nader noted that the City could save $17,000 if all part-time personnel were reduced. The only impact of this cut would be a longer response time. He felt this area should be revisited if the State cuts revenues to the City. City Manager Goss stated the department was concerned about the historical role of providing staff'rag and equipment for the various special community events. Allocation of resources in this manner result in staff being removed from their normal duties and additional workload being absorbed within their operating budget. Mayor Pro Tempore Moore felt the City should utilize volunteers rather than staff. City Manager Goss responded that there was the liability issue and damage to equipment when utilizing volunteers. The Deparnnent is caught in the middle because additional funding is not being included in the budget to address this issue and there are no outside revenues to help offset these costs. Council then discussed the possible duplication of effort regarding the afterschool programs. Staff felt that four programs were located close to similar programs being conducted by other agencies. Councilman Rindone did not agree with the concept of being "close" to other programs. He felt the afterschool programs were an investment in human needs and the return was tremendous. He also felt there was a need to have a male and female insreactor at each sight. City Manager Goss responded that these were preliminary options. In case there was a need to cut back expenditures or if the State cut back revenues to the City. He stated that the EastLake Community Center was now beginning construction document phase with completion anticipated in July 1992. It will be a challenge for the City to come up with revenues in the 1992-93 budget for staffing and programming. MS (Rindone/Moore) to amend staff recomrnpJldation to double the coverage, add 7 new school versus 4 so there is full double coverage in 3 years versus 5 years. This will be a cost of $16,916.50 or an increase of $7.000. Minutes June S, 1991 ~Page 4 City Manager Goss requested a clarification of the motion. A,ME,ND~ TO MOTION: (Rindone/Moore) to add 7 schools to the llst of double coverage with staff computing the addi~onal costs. City Manager Goss responded that it would be approximately $3,200 per site. Mayor Pro Tempore Moore requested that the item be put on the 'Wish List' for review at the end of the budget. All items on the list could then be compared and prioritized for possible funding. Councilman Pindone agreed to adding it to the 'Wish List' but felt it was not a significant amount of money and that the City should make a commiunent. SlJl~-ll-llrfE MOTION: (Moore/Nader) to add the addition of 7 schools to the wish list for review. Staff is to include total revenues involved for comparison, Approved 3-O-1 with Councilman Malcolm absent. MOTION: (Nader) to add Alternative 3, funding of $49,192 {a cut of $17,0OO), for the Senior Information and Referral Center, to the 'Wish List'. City Manager Goss stated he did not feel a motion was necessary as it was the consensus of the Council. The Drug Prevention/Gang Diversion Program will not increase in expenditures but will require General Fund support as State funding is no longer ava~able. The department has recommended a full time Cultural Arts Coordinator but the City does not have sufficient revenues to embark on new programs in the coming year. It is recommended that this position be deferred pending a more detailed evaluation by the department as to what the impact of reducing portions of existing services would be and whether the State is going to significantly reduce City revenues. If service level expansion is possible it would be recommended 'that consideration be given to implementing the Cultural Arcs Coordinator position either on a part-time basis or at a full-time basis mid-year. Irene Martel, 648 Via Curvada, Chula Vista, CA, spoke in opposition to the fees being charged the property owners in Open Space District #5. There are only 122 property owners supporting 13.0 acres of open space. Their fees are currently $344 and with the new budget they will be paying approximately $400 which she felt was excessive. She felt the assessment should have been reviewed when the Rancho del Rey development was built as it is on the other side of the open space. Mayor Pro Tempore Moore advised Mrs. Manel that a public hearing was scheduled on Saturday for all those .paying open space district assessments. The expenditures for the individual districts would be addressed .at that time. Councilman Nader requested that staff look into the consolidation of open space districts, where possible, with a report back to Council. He also requested that maps of the districts be included in the report. Lan'y Dumlao, 650 Rivera Slzeet, Chula Vista, CA, Member of the Cultural Arts Commission, expressed concern on the proviso being placed on the funding of the Cultural Arts Coordinator. He felt the Council should make a serious commitment. A full time person was necessary in order to obtain other funding SOUrces. Ralph Torres, 1035 Corte Maria, Chula Vista, CA, Member of the Cultural Arts Commission, encoUraged Council to fund the position of Cnltural Arts Coordinator. Minutes June S, 1991 Page S Paul Henriticks, 286 Third Avenue, Chula Vista, CA, Member of the Cultural Arts Commission, encouraged Council to fund the position of the Cultural Arts Coordinator. Mary Haymes, 142:3 Eckman Avenue, Chula Vista, CA. requested that Council fund the purchase of a TV/VCR for the Tiny Tots Program. They have been offered a $7S.00 discount on the unit with the final cost approximately $:320.00. Councilman Nader questioned whether the Tiny Tots Program could utilize the TV/VCR currently located at the pool during the daytime hours. Mr. Valenzuela responded that the TV/VCR was utilized by the swimming staff for I~aining of personnel oily, not students. Therefore, the unit could be stored in a central location so the insnmctors for the Tiny Tots Program would have access. Mayor Pro Tempore Moore requested that the purchase of a TV/VCR be added to the 'Wish List'. MSC (Moore/Rindone) to approve the Park and Recreation Departmant's budget as presented. Approved 30-1 with CouncHman Malcolm absent. LIBRARY City Manager Goss stated that new facilities would be coming on line and revenues would be needed for support. He complimented staff on their reorganization and felt once evaluated, the reorganization may actually save positions. He then briefly reviewed the Literacy Grant and Lending Materials. MSC (Moore/Nader) to approve the h'branfs budget as presented. Approved 34)-1 with Counraman Malcolm absent. City Manager Goss referred to Supplemental Budget Memo 4, State Budget: Status of Possible Funding Cuts, and Supplemental Budget Memo 18, Recommendation for Short and Long Term Revenue Enhancements. MSC (Moore/Nader) to authorize staff to pursue (devdop information) Utility Roll Benefit Legislation, Municipal Fire/Homeownen Insurance, and Enterprise Operations. Approved 3-0-1 with Counttrain Malcolm absent. Councilman Nader felt that the Public Safety Assessment District should be considered in each new development proposal. All options should be weighed with recommendations to the Council for review. He did not feel there should be assessments on existing developments but there should be a policy change. He requested that this item be placed on the Agenda at the June 18, 1991 meeting under his comments. ORAL COMMIJNICATIONS None Minutes June 5, 3.991 Page 6 OTHER BUSINESS 3. ta 11' MANAGERS REIK)RTfS) - Informed Council that the carryover items, Mayor/Council Staffing and Town Manager, would be discussed at the Meeting/~Vorksession scheduled for Monday, June 10, 1992 at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers. 4. MAYORS RF2~RTfS) - None 5. COUNCIL COMMENTS - None ADJOURNMENT /kDJOURNMENT AT 8:15 P.M. to a Special City Counc~ Meeting/Worksession on Monday, June 10, 1991 at 6:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. Respectfully submitted, BEVERLY A. AUTHELET, CMC, City Clerk