SALINAS
CITY COUNCIL
MINUTES OF
MEETING
SPECIAL
AND REGULAR
APRIL 18, 2006
The
City Council meeting convened in the Rotunda at 4:05 p.m.
Present:
Councilmember
Gloria De La Rosa
Councilmember
Maria Giuriato
Councilmember
Jyl Lutes
Councilmember
Robert Ocampo (arrived at 4:08 p.m.)
Councilmember
Sergio Sanchez (arrived at 4:09 p.m.)
Also Present:
City
Manager Dave Mora
City
Attorney Vanessa Vallarta
Deputy
City Attorney II Chris Callihan
Deputy
City Clerk Cathy Williams
SPECIAL
MEETING
PUBLIC
COMMENTS – Joe Vierra expressed concern over political signs, their
size and location.
CONSIDERATION
1.
Request by League of California Cities to Endorse
State Housing Legislation (AB 2259, AB2468 and AB 2484
City
Manager, Dave Mora presented his report.
AB2259 (Salinas) extends LAFCO authority to review service
extensions. AB2468 (Salinas) provides a
self-certification mechanism for Housing Elements. AB2484 (Hancock) deals with density bonus exemptions for higher density
zoned parcels. The League supports all
three measures.
Motion
Upon
motion by Councilmember Giuriato, second by Councilmember Lutes Council voted
to endorse all three pieces of legislation and authorized the Mayor to sign
letters indicating endorsement for the legislation.
Council
adjourned the Special Meeting and opened the regular meeting.
REGULAR
MEETING
PROCLAMATION
– EARTH DAY
Mayor
Caballero commended Doug Kenyon, General Manager, of BFI. Mr. Kenyon invited Council and the public to
join in the Earth Day celebration on Saturday, April 22, 2006.
PRESENTATION
– Salinas Union High School District – Art Song Art
Exhibit and Performance, invited Council to join them on Saturday, April 29,
2006 to celebrate at Hartnell College.
CONSENT RESOLUTION
COUNCIL
ACTION FOR CONSENT ITEMS 1-5.
Upon motion by
Councilmember Giuriato and second by Councilmember De La Rosa, Council voted
unanimously to adopt the Consent Resolution Items 1-5, with the exception of
Consent Item No. 6, which was pulled for separate discussion. Abstain:
Councilmember Barnes abstained from the minutes of April 11, 2006, as
she was absent. Councilmember De La
Rosa abstained on Consent Item 5 due to a Conflict of Interest arising from her
real property interest located within 500 feet of Cesar Chavez Park.
The Consent
Resolution contained the following items.
1.
Approved minutes of April 11, 2006 meeting.
2.
Accepted financial claims report.
3.
Accepted the Monthly Financial Report for March 2006.
4.
Adopted RESOLUTION 18965 approving the
Independent Financial Audit for FY 2004/2005 for the School Readiness Family
Literacy Project.
5.
Adopted
RESOLUTION 18966 approving Contract Change Order No. 1 for the 2004
Ceasar Chavez Park Public Restroom Phase D – Revision November 2005, Project
9023 to Sanchez, Inc., in the amount of $111,627.00; contingent upon approving
action plan amendment to allocate $170,000 of Community Development Block Grant
(CDBG) funds.
6.
Adopted
RESOLUTION 18967 authorizing the Mayor, or her designee, to submit a protest
to the California Public Utilities Commission objecting to Alisal Water
Corporation’s request for an expansion of its service area boundary. This
item was pulled for separate discussion and voted on separately.
CONSENT
RESOLUTION NUMBER 6, Letter to the California Public Utilities Commission Protesting Alco
Water Service’s Request to change its Tariff schedule and extend its Salinas
District Service Area.
Mr. Tom Adcock,
Vice-President of Alco Water, explained that this company had taken care of the
community and Public Utilities Commission concerns, and asked that the City not
file a protest with the Public Utilities Commission Water Division.
City Attorney,
Vanessa Vallarta explained that Alco made no effort to notify the public or the
City of Salinas of the filing. The City
only became aware of this Advice Letter on April 7, 2006, two working days
before the deadline, upon its receipt of California Water Service’s (Cal Water)
Protest to the Advice Letter. To cause
further delay in the City’s response to the Advice Letter, Cal Water’s Protest
was not directed to any one individual at the City of Salinas, but was instead
generically sent to the “City of Salinas.”
The City could not evaluate the Advice Letter until Cal Water’s Protest
was routed to the appropriate department and responsible person. Additionally, Alco’s Advice Letter lists
four Exhibits, none of which has been made available to the City for review and
consideration.
The protest
period for the Advice Letter was only twenty days and expired on April 12, 2006
before the City Council’s ability to consider this matter in time to file a
protest. Today’s meeting (April 18,
2006) is the first opportunity for the Council to consider and comment on the
matter.
At the
appearance of retired Judge John Phillips, representing Rancho Cielo, Ms.
Vallarta explained that she has a Conflict of Interest due to her previous
representation of Rancho Cielo, Inc.
She asked Deputy City Attorney Chris Callihan to come to the dais. Ms. Vallarta stepped down from the dais.
Retired Judge
John Phillips stated that the Board has been working with Alco Water for
approximately two years on where the site for the tanks would be located. He explained that if the City files a
protest it will delay the not only the water, but development as well. Further, he noted that Alco Water is the
only company that has expressed an interest in working with the Board.
Jim Smith,
District Manager for California Water Service, explained that when a water
company plans to extend their service area they notify the surrounding water
companies. Mr. Smith noted that new
customers do not subsidize new growth in certain areas. He explained that Cal Water has received
inquiries from developers concerning water service in the area Alco requests to
serve. Until developers formally
request service, it is premature for Cal Water or Alco to file a service area
extension that includes this area. Both
Cal Water and Alco have been involved in the City’s planning process for this
area, and the City’s plans should be relevant in determining when and how the
development will proceed. Alco failed
to consult with Cal Water before this filing.
Bob
Shatterbrook, Creekbridge Development, explained that he represents the central
area of the future growth area.
Creekbridge has done its own assessment of the water purveyors and is
ready to move forward.
Wendy Elliot,
Land Acquisition for Punty Homes, noted that she would like to see all the
service providers participating in the planning process of the future growth
area.
The
Councilmembers and Mayor stated individually that they could not support Alco
Water servicing the area due to its past record of record of bad service, price
rising, color of water, and inadequate water pressure to their customers. They noted that judgments were rendered
against Alisal Water Corporation in both state and federal court. As a result, Alisal is currently in both
state and federal receivership.
Additionally, the PUC’s Consumer Services Division recently received
complaints and/or inquiries regarding Alco’s charges for increased size of
meters due to fire sprinkler requirements.
MOTION
Upon motion
by Councilmember Sanchez, second by Councilmember De La Rosa, Council voted
unanimously to authorize the City Manager to sign letters filing a protest with
the Public Utilities Commission’s Water Division to recommend the rejection of
Alco’s Advice Letter requesting an expansion of its service area boundary into
the Central and Eastern Specific Plan Areas.
Ms. Vallarta
returned to the dais.
PUBLIC
HEARING
1.
Increase Development Impact Fees by 5% effective July 1, 2006
Lynn Mau, Public Works
Assistant, presented her report.
Section 9-42 of the Salinas City Code regarding Development Impact Fees
allows fees to be adjusted annually to reflect the “construction cost index”
(CCI) as published by the Engineering News Record. The City ordinance mandates that the increase or decrease allowed
in Section 9-42 reflect the CCI increase between January 1 and December 31 of
the preceding year.
MOTION
Upon motion by Councilmember
Lutes, second by Councilmember Barnes, Council voted unanimously to adopt RESOLUTION
18968 increasing fees 5% effective July 1, 2006 in accordance with
provisions of Section 9-42 of the Salinas City Code.
2.
Fourth Amendment to Fiscal Year 2005-06 Acton Plan to Provide $170,000
(CDBG) to cover increased contract costs for the Cesar Chavez Park Restroom
Project – CIP 9023.
David Swanson, Planning
Manager, presented his report. Each
year Council adopts an ACTION PLAN that specifies how funds from the three HUD
entitlement grants (CDBG, HOME, and ESG) will be spent during the fiscal
year. The Fourth Amendment allocates an
additional $170,000 of CDBG funds toward the cost to construct a new restroom
at Cesar Chavez Park.
Councilmember De La Rosa
stepped down from the dais due to a conflict of interest based on her real
property interest located within 500 feet of the Cesar Chavez Park.
MOTION
Upon motion by Councilmember
Sanchez, second by Councilmember Giuriato, Council voted unanimously to adopt
RESOLUTION 18969 approving the Fourth Amendment to the FY 2005-06 ACTION
PLAN allocating an additional $170,000 of CDBG funding to the Ceasar Chavez
Park Restroom project. Councilmember
De La Rosa abstained from the vote and then returned to the dais.
CONSIDERATION
1. Update on Community
Human Services Joint Powers Authority
Ms. Robin McCrae, Executive
Director of Community Human Services, presented her report to Council. She explained that over one third of their
clients are Salinas’ residents and over half of Salinas’ residents use the
programs and services.
In response to
Councilmembers De La Rosa and Sanchez, Ms. McCrae replied that she would relay
their message to the Board to hold meetings in Salinas. She understands the
difficultly to participate in a meeting held on the Peninsula. Councilmember De La Rosa explained that she
would like to participate on the Board; however, it is difficult to make
meetings on the Peninsula and asked that meetings be rotated between the
Peninsula and the City of Salinas.
Councilmember Giuriato asked how many JPA there are and while Measure V
will provide ten million dollars to city services and programs, the city is
still short five million dollars.
It was the consensus of the
City Council to have staff review Ms. McCrae’s request and Council will review
their budget next month to assess the possibility of reinstating some funding
to the Community Human Services Joint Powers Authority.
2.
Rodeo Exposition Property Lease Agreement
Deputy City Manager Jorge
Rifa presented his report to Council.
The Expo property was purchased by Simas-East Market, LLC from the Rodeo
Association around August 29, 2005. The
property was purchased subject to the lease.
The lease provides:
If at any time during the
term demised herein, the Association is unable to conduct for any reason
whatsoever a carnival on the subject property during and immediately preceding
the annual rodeo, the within lease will be terminated and cancelled and the
City agrees that it will cooperate in accomplishing a change of zoning of the
herein demised real property to correspond with zoning of such property in the
area in order to give it the highest market potential possible. (Lease and Agreement for Expo Site, dated
June 4, 1996, Section 4.)
It appears that July 14
through July 23, 2006 will be the last time the Rodeo Association will conduct
a carnival at the Expo site. Section 2
of the lease provides: the City shall pay to the association an annual rent
equivalent to the real estate taxes attributable to Association’s interest in
the subject property for the term of this lease or any extension thereof.
Staff is concerned with the
new owner’s interpretation. The City
has paid both installments of property taxes and believes it has fulfilled its
obligations under the lease for FY 2005/06.
Policy direction is needed to accept and appropriate resources towards
this new obligation or to take steps to cancel the lease.
MOTION
Upon motion by Councilmember
De La Rosa, second by Councilmember Sanchez, Council unanimously agreed to
decline payment of the supplemental assessment as requested by Simas-East
Market LLC, and the Council will advise Simas that it intends to cancel or
terminate the lease no later than July 24, 2006 (or earlier as agreed to by the
parties), since the Rodeo Association intends to hold its last carnival at the
Expo site July 10 through 24, 2006.
Lastly, the Council will offer to negotiate a new lease with Simas for
continued use of the Expo site for recreational uses on similar economic terms
and conditions to the Rodeo lease.
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
City Manager Dave Mora
presented his report. He explained that
the Measure V Committee will be addressing Council at the meeting of May 2,
2006 with recommendations on the expenditure of ten million dollars. A resolution will be brought to Council
with the intention of appropriation for Measure V funds for 2006-2007. Adoption of the resolution will allow for
the reinstatement of service and programs process to begin.
The City Council recessed
and the Redevelopment Agency met.
COUNCILMEMBER REPORTS/FUTURE
AGENDA ITEMS
Councilmember Giuriato asked
to adjourn today’s council meeting in memory of State Assembly Member Simon
Salinas’ father and acknowledge his passing with a card from the
Councilmembers.
In response to Councilmember
De La Rosa, Mayor Caballero suggested staff write a letter to legislatures and
federal government on behalf of senior resident Mr. Avery’s concern regarding
the difficulty for seniors and the rising cost of gasoline.
Councilmember Lutes asked
that Council support the 2006 Library legislation on a future agenda.
Councilmember Sanchez asked
if a tax could be imposed on cans of spray paint and/or could individuals be
asked to present identification. In
addition, he would like Council to open discussions with Comcast and Mr. Garcia
regarding a public access channel for the City of Salinas.
Councilmember De La Rosa
asked that Council consider an Ordinance that prohibits loitering in the
underground parking garage.
ADJOURNMENT
- The
meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m.
APPROVED:
______________________________________
Mayor
ATTEST:
__________________________________
Deputy
City Clerk
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