HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-02-2001 Minutes
MINUTES
MAYOR AND COMMON COUNCIL AND
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
OF THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO
JOINT REGULAR MEETING
APRIL 2, 2001
COUNCIL CHAMBERS
The joint regular meeting of the Mayor and Common Council and Community
Development Commission of the City of San Bernardino was called to order by Mayor
Valles at 8:10 a.m., Monday, April 2, 2001, in the Council Chambers of City Hall,
300 North "D" Street, San Bernardino, California.
ROLL CALL
Roll call was taken by City Clerk Clark with the following being present:
Mayor Valles; Council Members Estrada, Lien, McGinnis, Schnetz, Suarez,
McCammack; City Attorney Penman, City Clerk Clark, City Administrator Wilson.
Absent: Council Member Anderson.
RECESS MEETING - CLOSED SESSION (Discussed later in the
meeting - pages 47 & 49) (1)
At 8:10 a.m., the Mayor and Common Council and Community Development
Commission recessed to closed session for the following:
Pursuant to Government Code Sections:
A. Conference with legal counsel - existing litigation - pursuant to
Government Code Section 54956.9(a):
Highland Hills Homeowner Association v. City of San Bernardino, et al.
- San Bernardino Superior Court Case No. 241464;
Soliman v. City of San Bernardino, et al. - San Bernardino Superior
Court Case No. SCVSS 66744;
City of San Bernardino Municipal Water Department v. The United
States Department of the Army - United States District Court Case No.
CV 96-8867, Consolidated with CV 96-5205;
John Windley v. City of San Bernardino, et al. - United States District
Court Case No. CV 98-6247 AJW;
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Jack Schneider v. City of San Bernardino - Worker's Compensation
Appeals Board Case No. SBR 0267240.
B. Conference with legal counsel - anticipated litigation - significant
exposure to litigation - pursuant to subdivision (b) (I), (2), (3) (A-F) of
Government Code Section 54956.9.
C. Conference with legal counsel - anticipated litigation - initiation of
litigation - pursuant to subdivision (c) of Government Code Section
54956.9.
D. Closed Session - personnel - pursuant to Government Code Section
54954.5(e):
Public Employee Discipline/Dismissal/Release
E. Closed session with Chief of Police on matters posing a threat to the
security of public buildings or threat to the public's right of access to
public services or public facilities - pursuant to Government Code
Section 54957.
F. Conference with labor negotiator - pursuant to Government Code
Section 54957.6.
Negotiator:
Fred Wilson, City Administrator
Employee Organization:
San Bernardino Confidential Management Association
G. Conference with real property negotiator - pursuant to Government Code
Section 54956.8.
CLOSED SESSION
At 8: 10 a.m., Mayor Valles called the closed session to order in the conference
room of the Council Chambers of City Hall.
ROLL CALL
Roll call was taken by City Clerk Clark with the following being present:
Mayor Valles; Council Members Estrada, Lien, McGinnis, Schnetz, Suarez,
McCammack; City Clerk Clark, City Administrator Wilson. Absent: Council Member
Anderson; City Attorney Penman.
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Also present: Senior Assistant City Attorneys Carlyle and Simmons, Deputy
City Attorneys Barnes and Empefio, Administrative Operations Supervisor Anderson,
City Attorney's Office; Water Department General Manager Kersey; and Attorney Tom
Jacobson of Gresham, Savage, Nolan & Tilden.
READING OF RESOLUTIONS & ORDINANCES
Deputy City Clerk Hartzel read the titles of all the resolutions and ordinances on
the regular agenda of the Mayor and Common Council and Community Development
Commission while the Mayor and Common Council and Community Development
Commission were in closed session.
MAYOR V ALLES EXCUSED
At 8: 17 a.m., Mayor Valles left the closed session.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT - MAYOR VALLES & CITY
ATTORNEY PENMAN (4)
Mayor Valles addressed the audience, stating that she appreciated everyone's
presence in support of the Chief of Police. She stated she wanted them to know that
whatever rumors were being circulated relative to the resignation/release of the Chief
were false--that this was never discussed or considered. She stated that she was the
Mayor of the City, that she had never entertained such a thought, and verified with
Chief Dean that they had never discussed this matter. She also advised that it would
not be discussed today in closed session.
City Attorney Penman stated that if anyone had any questions for him, that now
would be a good time to bring them forward. He stated he also had heard a lot of
rumors regarding Chief Dean; and acknowledged that he did owe the Chief an apology.
According to Mr. Penman, an inspection had been scheduled, and the Attorney's Office
had asked for a couple of officers to participate. Subsequently, Mr. Penman was
informed that their participation had been cancelled, and it was his belief that Chief
Dean had cancelled the officers; however, he had since learned that the Chief was
acting on the orders of his supervisor. Mr. Penman pointed out that, according to the
Charter, the only person in the City who has the authority to remove a department head
or ask for their resignation is the Mayor.
MA YOR VALLES RETURNED
At 8:18 a.m., Mayor Valles returned to the closed session.
COUNCIL MEMBER ANDERSON ARRIVED
At 8:20 a.m., Council Member Anderson arrived at the closed session.
CITY ATTORNEY PENMAN ARRIVED
At 8:23 a.m., City Attorney Penman arrived at the closed session.
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CITY ATTORNEY PENMAN EXCUSED
At 8:31 a.m., City Attorney Penman left the closed session.
DEPUTY CITY ATTORNEY EMPENO, WATER DEPARTMENT
GENERAL MANAGER KERSEY & ATTORNEY JACOBSON
EXCUSED
At 8:31 a.m., Deputy City Attorney Empeiio, Water Department General
Manager Kersey and Attorney Jacobson left the closed session.
DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES RAYA, WORKERS'
COMPENSATION SUPERVISOR HAYNES & ATTORNEY LOUIS
SEAMAN ARRIVED
At 8:31 a.m., Director of Human Resources Raya, Workers' Compensation
Supervisor Haynes, and Attorney Louis Seaman of Serembe, Bakke & Seaman arrived
at the closed session.
DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES RAY A,
COMPENSATION SUPERVISOR HAYNES &
SEAMAN EXCUSED
At 8:36 a.m., Director of Human Resources Raya, Workers'
Supervisor Haynes, and Attorney Seaman left the closed session.
WORKERS'
ATTORNEY
Compensation
CITY ADMINISTRATOR WILSON, SENIOR ASSISTANT CITY
ATTORNEY CARLYLE, DEPUTY CITY ATTORNEY BARNES &
ADMINISTRATIVE OPERATIONS SUPERVISOR ANDERSON
EXCUSED
At 8:37 a.m., City Administrator Wilson. Senior Assistant City Attorney
Carlyle, Deputy City Attorney Barnes, and Administrative Operations Supervisor
Anderson left the closed session.
ADJOURN CLOSED SESSION
At 9: II a.m., the closed session adjourned to the Council Chambers of City
Hall.
RECONVENE MEETING
At 9: 11 a.m., Mayor Valles reconvened the joint regular meeting of the Mayor
and Common Council and Community Development Commission.
ROLL CALL
Roll call was taken by City Clerk Clark with the following being present:
Mayor Valles; Council Members Estrada, Lien, McGinnis, Schnetz, Suarez, Anderson,
McCammack; City Attorney Penman, City Clerk Clark, City Administrator Wilson.
Absent: None.
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INVOCATION
The invocation was given by Sister Marita Beumer of St. Bernardine's Catholic
Church.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
The pledge of allegiance was led by Rheeanna Vera, a graduating student from
Anderson Elementary School.
APPOINTMENTS
(2)
No appointments were made at this meeting.
PROCLAMATION - NATIONAL DISPATCHERS WEEK - APRIL 9-
15, 2001 (3)
Teri Rubi, Executive Assistant to the Mayor, read a resolution proclaiming the
week of April 9-15, 2001, as National Dispatchers Week in the City of San Bernardino.
The proclamation was accepted by Assistant Chief of Police Mike BiIldt.
PROCLAMATION - FAIR HOUSING MONTH - APRIL 2001 (3)
Teri Rubi, Executive Assistant to the Mayor, read a resolution proclaiming the
month of April 2001, as Fair Housing Month in the City of San Bernardino. The
proclamation was accepted by Betty Davidow, Executive Director of the Inland Fair
Housing and Mediation Board.
PROCLAMATION - NATIONAL LIBRARY WEEK - APRIL 1-7,
2001 ~
Teri Rubi, Executive Assistant to the Mayor. read a resolution proclaiming the
week of April 1-7, 2001, as National Library Week in the City of San Bernardino. The
proclamation was accepted by Ophelia Roop, Library Director for the City of San
Bernardino.
PROCLAMATION - EARTHQUAKE PREPAREDNESS MONTH -
APRIL 2001 (3)
Teri Rubi, Executive Assistant to the Mayor, read a resolution proclaiming the
month of April 2001, as Earthquake Preparedness Month in the City of San Bernardino.
The proclamation was accepted by Fire Chief Larry Pitzer.
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Miguel Ascarrunz, Disaster Preparedness Coordinator, advised that the City
would be participating in several activities relative to earthquake preparedness including
training sessions and earthquake safety fairs. He introduced Ted Hughes, Director of
Community Outreach with Neighborhood Housing Services. Mr. Hughes announced
that on April 7, an earthquake safety fair would be held at 1390 "D" Street, to include
media coverage and presentation of awards to participants of the Earthquake Safety
Essay Contest.
RESOLUTION - ENERGY CONSERVATION IN THE CITY OF SAN
BERNARDINO (3)
Teri Rubi, Executive Assistant to the Mayor, read a resolution regarding energy
conservation and the City's goal to reduce its electrical use by 10 percent during the
year 2001, and urging residents and businesses to also reduce their energy
consumption.
ANNOUNCEMENTS - COUNCIL MEMBER ANDERSON (4)
Council Member Anderson congratulated the Northwest Project Area
Committee for spearheading a Sixth Ward Beautification Day, which resulted in
gathering 44 truckloads of trash and filling 12 dumpsters. She announced that on
Saturday, April 7, there would be another Beautification Day at Mt. Vernon and 16'"
Street, and invited everyone to come and dump their trash, even if they didn't live in
the Sixth Ward.
ANNOUNCEMENTS - CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (4)
Sue Dawson, representing the San Bernardino Area Chamber of Commerce,
made the following announcements: Thursday, April 5, at 7:30 a.m. the Chamber will
hold its Government Affairs meeting to discuss the upcoming Sacramento Legislative
trip; Wednesday, April 11, at 8:30 a.m., a ribbon cutting ceremony at Stater Bros.
market on 40'" Street; Thursday, April 12, a ribbon cutting at Super-Subs, 2376 N. Del
Rosa; the Legislative Conference in Sacramento will take place on April 23 and 24; and
on Saturday, April 28, the Renaissance Faire will open.
ANNOUNCEMENTS - COUNCIL MEMBER McCAMMACK (4)
Council Member McCammack congratulated the nominees and winners of the
recent Women of Achievement luncheon and thanked Marilyn Karnig for being the
keynote speaker; congratulated the women recently honored at the University of
Redlands, including Executive Vice President of the San Bernardino Area Chamber of
Commerce Judi Penman; thanked ICUC for the forum they held in the Seventh Ward
last Wednesday evening; and thanked all of the people who attended and supported the
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40'" Annual Assistance League Headdress Ball, the proceeds of which support a
children's dental health center.
ANNOUNCEMENTS - COUNCIL MEMBER ESTRADA (4)
Council Member Estrada announced that the First Ward would have a Cleanup
Day on Saturday, April 7, to be held at the Home of Neighborly Service, and
encouraged residents throughout the city to bring their trash.
ANNOUNCEMENTS - COUNCIL MEMBER LIEN
(4)
Council Member Lien applauded law enforcement for turning out to show their
support when something concerns them, adding that everyone is concerned about the
parolee issue; but even more importantly, about safety in the City of San Bernardino.
She stated she attended the briefing presented by the Police Department and applauded
the program that has been put together in the distressed neighborhood areas, noting that
it is now known where the parolees are living and aid is being offered to those who can
be successful in their rehabilitation efforts.
Ms. Lien noted that earlier this year the League of California Cities approved a
new governmental partnership program designed to increase the effectiveness of the
cities in the League, and since she serves as the chair of the Legislative Review
Committee, the Mayor asked her to serve as the representative on this task force. She
stated that the task force met and defined several key issues statewide that affect cities--
first and foremost being the stabilization and protection of local government revenues;
secondly, the expansion of funding sources for transportation infrastructure; thirdly, the
expansion of the Alameda Corridor East financing, which is very costly to us; fourth on
the list is the reduction of low-income housing concentration in the Inland Empire--the
Mayor is working hard on our Regional Housing Needs Assessment and trying to
resolve that issue; and last but not least, our electricity issues. She stated that the
League has formed an energy task force that is tracking the bills and the issues relative
to electricity that will impact the City and its residents.
Ms. Lien advised that Sam Racadio, City Manager, City of Highland, updated
everyone on a possible fiscal reform initiative being discussed for placement on the
ballot, which would potentially deal with the issue of unfunded mandates--the fact that
the State dictates to cities what they must provide, but doesn't give them any money to
do so.
She advised that the task force voted to oppose SB 910, a bill which would
impose harsh penalties on cities that don't have state-approved housing elements in their
General Plans. The new amendment would take away some of the City's gas tax
revenue, which is used to improve and maintain City streets; and the Mayor has sent a
letter opposing this bill. The task force is also asking cities and residents to support
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Assembly Bill 227 by Assembly Member Longville, that would provide a permanent
stream of additional gas tax revenue to be used to construct and rehabilitate streets
throughout the city. Ms. Lien advised that the task force will be meeting monthly;
therefore, once a month she will agendize it so she has the time to provide an update to
her colleagues, rather than using her three-minute announcement time.
Finally, she announced that on Tuesday, April 10, there would be a public
hearing at the San Bernardino County Museum to consider a number of transportation
alternatives. These are routes that would improve transportation between Moreno
Valley and San Bernardino County; in particular, a north/south corridor between the 60
Freeway and the 10 Freeway. She stated that a committee has been formed, which is
the first step in moving into the funding process to build a new freeway, and this will
be an interesting public hearing because all of the potential routes that could take us
from the 60 to the 10 are being discussed. She encouraged everyone to come, stating
that workshops would be held from 4-8 p.m., followed by presentations at 4:30 and
6:30 p.m. She noted that if some kind of corridor is not built between the 10 and the
60, the real impact will be to the 215 Freeway.
ANNOUNCEMENTS - COUNCIL MEMBER McGINNIS (4)
Council Member McGinnis commented that it was good to see the members of
the police safety unit at the meeting, showing their cohesive support for the Police
Chief. Mr. McGinnis also noted that United Way had recently presented the City of
San Bernardino with a large trophy for winning the Mayor's Challenge Award. He
explained that each year the Mayors in the Inland Area challenge each other that their
employees will contribute the most on a per capita basis to the United Fund campaign,
and San Bernardino had won the challenge, showing the character and caliber of
employees that are working for the City of San Bernardino.
ANNOUNCEMENTS - COUNCIL MEMBER SCHNETZ (4)
Council Member Schnetz congratulated the Assistance League staff on their 40'"
Annual Headdress Ball, stating it was a great event and one of the best he has attended.
He announced that on Saturday, April 28, there would be a Beautification Cleanup Day
for the north end of San Bernardino sponsored by the 30/40 Neighborhood Association
and the North End Neighborhood Association at the Wildwood Park parking lot. He
advised that they can always use more volunteers to help unload the trucks.
ANNOUNCEMENTS - COUNCIL MEMBER SUAREZ (4)
Council Member Suarez advised that the Gents had an officer installation on
March 31, and Mr. Joe Rodriguez was again re-elected as president. He congratulated
all the officers, stating it was a fantastic event, and applauded the work they do
throughout the city. He announced that the Fifth Ward also had a Beautification Day
and they hauled over ten dumpsters of trash, and thanked the Neighborhood Cluster
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Groups who sponsored this event. Mr. Suarez also noted that the Soap Box Rally held
over the weekend was a huge success and a lot of fun; and he looks forward to seeing
everyone at the Western Regional Little League Park for the upcoming Soap Box
Derby, which will be held on May 26 and 27. He advised that Blair Park had its Little
League Kickoff on March 24, with Post 777 hosting that event; and wished all the kids
a successful Little League season.
ANNOUNCEMENTS - MAYOR VALLES
(4)
Mayor Valles made the following announcements:
. Thanked Council Member McCammack for congratulating the employees
of the City of San Bernardino who were recipients of the Women of
Achievement A wards, and also for recognizing the efforts of the Assistance
League--specifically, Ann Atkinson and Christina Milian--for their
leadership in coordinating the Headdress Ball;
. Invited everyone to the final Symphony Concert of the season on Saturday,
April 7, at 8: 15 p.m. at the California Theater--the farewell concert for
Maestro Stuart Robertson, who has conducted the Symphony for the past
12 years;
. Announced the beginning of the design phase of the Children's Art Bench
project--a project where the children and students of our schools will be
painting all the old bus benches which have recently been removed;
. Noted that the Police Department's mobile command unit went into service
this week--a state-of-the-art mobile unit which puts the City of San
Bernardino on the cutting edge of proactive policing and community
relations. She gave special thanks to Officer Brad Lawrence and Public
Safety Programmer Mike Eckley and the Police Department for doing an
outstanding job in obtaining the $260,000 grant to make this unit possible.
. She noted that with regard to the parolee issue, the emphasis is still on the
benchmark of 700 parolees in the city. She advised that parolees have
been an issue in the City for years--that it is not a new problem--and the
City is dedicated to cleaning up this problem with the assistance of the
State Department of Corrections and several other parties. She
commended the Police Department for their efforts in working with the
State Parole Officers and developing this model program for the state and
for the nation. She stated that lowering the crime rate is the number one
priority of the Police Chief, the Police Department, and this Mayor and
Council; and commended the Chief and his department for all the work
they have done to contribute to this.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS - CITY ATTORNEY PENMAN (4)
City Attorney Penman stated he wanted to join in the congratulations to the
Assistance League for the excellent program they put on Saturday night--that it was one
of the best programs he has seen anywhere. He stated he was very pleased with the
information he had heard about the parolee partnership program and the efforts they are
making. He stated he had spoken with the Mayor earlier about the parolee situation,
and he was pleased to hear that everyone is in agreement and still working toward a
benchmark figure of7oo parolees living in the city.
ANNOUNCEMENTS - CITY ADMINISTRATOR WILSON (4)
City Administrator Wilson advised that the City of San Bernardino was featured
on the front cover of the Business Press on March 26, stating that it is a worthwhile
publication which talks about some of the unique and good things going on in our
community. He also advised that as a result of the rains last month there have been
many phone calls regarding potholes, and he encouraged the public to continue to call
this information in at 384-5045. He stated that the City is making a concerted effort to
address the potholes, but asked for the public's patience as City crews tackle the
backlog that currently exists.
ANNOUNCEMENTS - CITY CLERK CLARK
(4)
City Clerk Clark congratulated her parents, Lalo and Angie Mendoza, on their
56'" wedding anniversary; announced that the Stampede baseball team would play its
first game of the season on April 13, and urged everyone to come and show their
support; and announced that the April issue of Ladies' Home Journal contained an
article regarding the top ten cities for women, and in the "Government" category, San
Bernardino ranked fourth throughout the United States.
WAIVE FULL READING OF RESOLUTIONS & ORDINANCES
(5)
Council Member Anderson made a motion, seconded by Council Member
Suarez, and unanimously carried, that full reading of the resolutions and ordinances on
the regular agenda of the Mayor and Common Council/Community Development
Commission be waived.
CLAIMS & PAYROLL
(6)
Council Member Anderson made a motion, seconded by Council Member
Suarez, and unanimously carried, that the claims and payroll and the authorization to
issue warrants as listed on the memorandum dated March 28, 2001, from Barbara
Pachon, Director of Finance, be approved.
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PERSONNEL ACTIONS
(7)
Council Member Anderson made a motion, seconded by Council Member
Suarez, and unanimously carried, that the personnel actions as submitted by the Chief
Examiner dated March 27, 2001, in accordance with Civil Service rules and Personnel
policies adopted by the Mayor and Common Council of the City of San Bernardino, be
approved and ratified.
RES. 2001-63 - RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND COMMON
COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO AUTHORIZING
SUBMITTAL OF A GRANT APPLICATION FOR FINANCIAL
ASSISTANCE FROM THE GREAT AMERICAN STATION
FOUNDATION FOR THE PURPOSE OF SANTA FE DEPOT
RESTORATION. (8)
Council Member Anderson made a motion, seconded by Council Member
Suarez, that said resolution be adopted.
Resolution No. 2001-63 was adopted by the following vote: Ayes: Council
Members Estrada, Lien, McGinnis, Schnetz, Suarez, Anderson, McCammack. Nays:
None. Absent: None.
AUTHORIZE BUDGET AMENDMENTS - OMITTED FROM
MOTIONS AT PREVIOUS MAYOR & COMMON COUNCIL
MEETINGS OF SEPTEMBER 5, 2000 & DECEMBER 18, 2000 -
PUBLIC SERVICES DEPARTMENT & DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
DEPARTMENT (9)
City Clerk Clark submitted a staff report dated March 8, 2001, regarding two
budget amendments which had been omitted when the motions were made during the
Mayor and Council meetings of September 5,2000, and December 18,2000.
Council Member Anderson made a motion, seconded by Council Member
Suarez, and unanimously carried, that the Director of Finance be authorized to amend
the Public Services Department Street Sweeping Division Fiscal Year 2000/2001 budget
to transfer $47,800 from Account No. 527-414-5601, Garage Charges, to Account No.
527-414-5803, Lease Payments, and adjust the Fleet budget accordingly; and that the
Director of Finance be authorized to amend the Development Services Fiscal Year
2000/2001 budget to increase the Expenditure Budget Account No. 242-362-5504-7093
by $177,200 and Revenue Budget Account Nos. 242-000-4658 by $118,700 and 242-
000-4945 by $58,500.
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RES. 2001-64 - RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND COMMON
COUNCIL OF SAN BERNARDINO AUTHORIZING AN INCREASE
TO THE ANNUAL PURCHASE ORDER TO CONSOLIDATED
ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTORS, FOR THE PURCHASE OF
ELECTRICAL FIXTURES, MATERIALS AND SUPPLIES FOR CITY
FACILITIES. (12)
Council Member Anderson made a motion, seconded by Council Member
Suarez, that said resolution be adopted.
Resolution No. 2001-64 was adopted by the following vote: Ayes: Council
Members Estrada, Lien, McGinnis, Schnetz, Suarez, Anderson, McCammack. Nays:
None. Absent: None.
PRESENTATION - DURAND RALL GENERAL MANAGER,
OMNITRANS (Discussed later in the meeting - page 25) (17)
(Note: No backup material was submitted and, therefore, will not be available
for review.)
Durand Rail, General Manager, OmniTrans, presented an update on recent
actions taken by OmniTrans to address the problems caused by methyl mercaptan at
their compressed natural gas station.
Mr. Rail advised that at the OmniTrans Board Meeting of March 2, they made a
commitment to the community that they would make some major changes within the
next 30 days, and they had fulfilled that promise.
First of all, approximately a week and a half ago, they installed a new valve
system so that when they have to do maintenance to the system, instead of bleeding gas
off from the pressurized pipe lines within the compressor station for a 10- to I5-minute
blow down (which simply means a bleeding off of a little bit of gas), they can now
isolate that to about a 15-second issue instead.
Secondly, when a compressor station runs it has packings in the system which
are subject to leakage, and when they do leak there is a small emission from a vent
tube. Just this past weekend, they have vented this leakage into a storage area;
therefore, when the pressure builds to a certain point, it is looped back into the system,
so it is no longer exposed to the open air.
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4/2/2001
Mr. Rail stated that they have also begun the process of procuring a liquid
natural gas (LNG) station. He explained that the difference between compressed
natural gas and liquid natural gas is that compressed natural gas comes out of the city
pipeline like everyone's gas supply to their house. This is what OmniTrans is now
using and it has methyl mercaptan in it, which is added simply as an odorant so they
can detect leaks. This has become offensive to the neighbors and so they have started a
long term campaign to try and correct this problem.
He explained that by going to a liquid natural gas, because it is liquid, it does
not contain any ordorant. They will take the liquid natural gas, store it on site, and it
will then be converted to compressed natural gas on board the buses, but will not be
stored on site as compressed natural gas. He advised that they are still dealing with the
Fire Department to see if some type of odorant will be required in the gas for leak
detection.
Mr. Rail stated that the OmniTrans facility is fully equipped with methane
detectors, so if there is a gas leak it will sense that. Also, there are methane gas leak
detectors on all buses, so if there is a leak on board the buses it will be detected. He
emphasized, however, that he said methane, not methyl mercaptan, and so it is not the
methyl mercaptan they are detecting, it is to detect leakage of the methane within the
fuel itself.
He advised that the new LNG station had been bid, and although they are
waiting for final amendments to the bid, hopefully the OmniTrans Board of Directors
will award a contract to install the new station at their May board meeting. He stated
that the new station would officially be known as an LCNG, since the product will be
brought in as liquid natural gas, stored as liquid natural gas, but will be liquid natural
compressed gas aboard the buses. He pointed out that if they do not have to add an
odorant to that, there will be no odor in their system unless they have to use the current
CNG station as a backup to it.
He advised that this new system would cost about $4.6 million, including both
their east and west valley facilities. If the Board approves the project, they then have to
wait until the tanks are built and delivered, but their target would be to have the system
operational and completely switched over to the liquid natural gas, using the
compressed natural gas only as backup, by the first of the year.
According to Mr. Rail, they are right on track with the time frame presented to
the community, and feel quite confident that when this process is completed they will
be rid of the methyl mercaptan smell.
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Mr. Rail stated that they have done one additional thing--they are about to sign a
contract with a company to design a filter that will take the methyl mercaptan out of the
compressed natural gas as well, and if they are successful in doing that, then all of the
gas will enter their system without any odorant in it. Again, they will still have to wait
and see if they are required to add some other kind of odorant in order to satisfy Fire
Department regulations.
According to Mr. Rail, OmniTrans has been working very diligently on solving
this problem--doing a significant amount of work over the last couple of years; but
specifically, over the last six months in trying to get this station up and operational and
continuing to operate without any leaks in it. They have tripled their inspection times
on the station--doing an inspection at the beginning of almost every shift--and doubled
the time for their outside consultant to come in and do their checks on the station.
They are also using new materials in packing, which seem to be working quite well.
Council Member Lien stated that the ladies that were outside demonstrating at
City Hall all complained that there was a lack of communication between Omnitrans
and the neighborhood residents. She asked what Omnitrans had done to remedy that
situation.
Mr. Rail stated that they have attended a couple of the neighborhood meetings.
At one of those meetings they created a committee of representatives from the
community to come and meet with OmniTrans. At the meeting of March 2, they
established a date and time for the community to come over and take a tour to see the
facility; however, one of the members of that committee called and cancelled that
meeting. He advised that subsequently he sent the committee a letter stating that
OmniTrans would be happy to meet with them at their convenience; however, they
have not yet heard back from them.
Council Member Lien stated that she hoped OrnniTrans would pursue that
aggressively. She noted that in her area she has dealt with the residents that live around
juvenile hall, which can be a very disturbing situation for them, and ultimately they
have become great partners--that they have now almost become advocates for the
problems going on with juvenile detention. She encouraged Mr. Rail to really focus on
this because the community members are very upset.
CITY ATTORNEY PENMAN EXCUSED
At 10 a.m., City Attorney Penman left the Council meeting.
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Council Member Estrada stated that she wanted to make sure that the residents
in the area had a clear picture of where everything now stands and where things are
going. To that end, she asked Mr. Rail to explain further some of the statements he
had made in order to clarify matters for the residents. She also suggested that maybe a
spokesperson for the residents might have some questions for Mr. Rail.
Marilyn Alcantar, 1495 Kingman Street, San Bernardino, CA, chairperson for
Westside Residents for Cleaner Air Now, wanted to know who asked the residents in
the area about using the LNG. She stated they did not have any questions, but wanted
to make a statement. She stated that they don't want it--they don't want LNG--they
don't even want the refueling station located there.
SENIOR ASSISTANT CITY A TTORNEY CARLYLE ARRIVED
At 10:06 a.m., Senior Assistant City Attorney Carlyle arrived at the Council
meeting.
Council Member Estrada asked how costly it would be to move the entire
fueling operation of the buses.
Mr. Rail stated he didn't have any numbers on that--that it would cost about the
same to build no matter where the location. However, the problem it causes them is
how do they get their vehicles to the site to fuel them and bring them back. He
explained that the current site is built for 165 full size buses, and to shuttle 165 such
buses somewhere to fuel them and bring them back every night would be a very costly
process. They currently have a staff of seven people just to fuel them at night on the
existing site, so if they had to drive them somewhere and bring them back, it would
take a lot more people to do that.
Council Member Estrada stated that as an alternate member of the OrnniTrans
board, she had attended one of the meetings a few weeks back. At that time, the board
had requested that Mr. Rail bring back for their consideration some alternatives on how
to deal with this problem, and she asked whether those alternatives had been written up.
Mr. Rall stated that they would be presented to the board when they make their
recommendation to go to the LNG station, and that would be at the May board meeting.
Council Member Schnetz advised that he had read the OmniTrans neighborhood
newsletter and the information regarding the methyl mercaptan smell, the parts per
million that it is mixed, and the amount of exposure which must be experienced before
any adverse health symptoms occur. He stated that he was not concerned so much with
the methyl mercaptan, which provides the smell to enable detection of a gas leak, but
the fact that where there is methyl mercaptan there is gas, and there was nothing in the
newsletter addressing the effects of the gas itself. The article stated that the additive
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4/21200 I
can cause nausea and headaches, but no nosebleeds; however, he wondered whether
extended exposure to the gas itself could cause these nosebleeds that people are
experiencing.
Mr. Rail stated that he did not believe so, but probably representatives from the
AQMD or the Gas Company would have more knowledge about this than he did.
Henry Hogo, Planning and Rules Manager, Air Quality Management District,
stated that the methane gas itself is not a known carcinogen; however the concern is
that in an enclosed area such as your home, it causes affixation because it displaces the
air inside a house. In an open area the methane gas is actually lighter than air, and it
rises faster than the mercaptans that are in the mixture. The mercaptans are heavier
and tend to linger longer and that is why you have the smell, but the methane itself has
disbursed, so there is not as much of a concern with the methane as with the
mercaptans .
Discussion ensued regarding the time frame for design and installation of the
new filter, which would reduce the methyl mercaptan even more. Mr. Rail advised that
he thought it would take approximately four months to have someone come in and
design and try to build the filter; therefore, looking at a time frame of sometime in
July, if this is what they decide to do--because if they take out the methyl mercaptan in
the compressed natural gas station, there is still the issue as to whether or not they have
to put a different odorant in the gas.
He stated that they also need to be concerned about the additive they may be
required to put back in, that it doesn't destroy the benefits of the clean air emissions
they would get from their compressed natural gas engines. If they use an additive that
has a negative effect on the emissions from the engines, it negates the reason for going
to natural gas in the first place.
Council Member Schnetz expressed his concern that most of the information
brought forward to the community has come from the AQMD, and he questioned
whether the AQMD had a third party objectivity, since they are the same organization
charged with helping the state in the reduction of smog and emissions. Therefore,
when these same people <AQMD) are the ones telling us that this thing is good for us,
or at least not harmful to us, he becomes a little bit suspect because they want this
program to be successful statewide. However, for the residents living in this little
pocket and for the school next door to this filling station, if they are going to have any
credible reports, those reports need to be done by a disinterested third party who is
going to come out and monitor these emissions.
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4/2/200 I
Mr. Rail stated that insofar as clean air is concerned, he was not sure that it
would be possible to find a disinterested party. Whether you go to the Environmental
Protection Agency, or to the Air Resources Board, clean air is the objective; and these
are the people who know the characteristics and chemical compositions of these
materials and also have the equipment to do the testing. These are the people he has to
look to as the experts to help him solve these problems.
Council Member Schnetz stated that he understood that, and he understood that
the objective here is clean air for the whole basin; however, as an uninformed
layperson who knows nothing of the science he wanted to make sure that we aren't
sacrificing a small number of people for the benefit of the whole equation.
Mr. Hogo responded, stating that two years ago the issue of environmental
justice, or the localized impact of emissions on the population, became a bigger concern
to AQMD; particularly as it relates to where stationary sources and industries are
located. He stated that relative to toxic exposure, they found that mobile sources are
the most significant contributor to toxic exposure to the population, and two years ago
the state listed diesel emissions as a toxic air contaminate. Because of the concern
relative to localized exposure, they started looking at ways to reduce diesel emissions
and started moving towards natural gas vehicles, which are inherently cleaner to begin
with.
Mr. Hogo advised that the AQMD had made a set of recommendations to
Omnitrans and to the community relative to public health. They have asked the Asthma
and Allergy Foundation to bring its breath mobile out to the local school, talk to the
children there, and have them participate in a breath analyzer test. This will be at the
cost of the AQMD to help the community to look at the medical issues here. They also
asked the American Lung Association to come out to the community and do some
outreach relative to asthma and air pollution exposure. So they are looking at this from
the public health aspect of the local community and want to continue to do so.
SENIOR ASSISTANT CITY ATTORNEY CARLYLE EXCUSED
At 10:20 a.m., Senior Assistant City Attorney Carlyle left the Council meeting
and was replaced by City Attorney Penman.
Kathleen Moreno, 547 Tia Juana Street, San Bernardino, CA, stated that the
AQMD had promised the residents that they were going to test the air and also conduct
a community health fair, yet almost two months had passed and residents were still
getting sick, no testing had been done, and no community health fair had taken place,
and she wanted to know why.
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4/2/200 I
Mayor Valles asked whether anyone could give the residents information on the
health fair, stating that a perfect site would be Casa Ramona or the Ramona Alessandro
School.
Mr. Hogo stated that what they had done to date is put out a mobile sampler at
the school site, adjacent to the Ornnitrans facility, with a second sampler placed at a
nearby residence. Unfortunately, it did not work the first time, but they are involved in
that process. Also, twice a month they will be collecting background air sampling to see
if they can detect mercaptans in the background air. He stated that the AQMD had
made an offer to OrnniTrans to install, if feasible, an early warning detection system,
so that if there is a release of some sort, that the facility knows rather quickly and can
get the message out to the community.
Mayor Valles stated that the residents were asking for a community health fair
so that the members of the community could attend this event and become informed of
exactly what is being done by AQMD and what they can do, also.
Ms. Moreno clarified that it was AQMD who suggested a community health fair
to see how many residents are actually sick from this. She stated that only one air
sampling had been done since November, and questioned why there has not been more
sampling.
Jan Misquez, 659 N. Hancock, San Bernardino, CA, stated that she has a
testing device in her front yard. As she previously advised, there was a two and a half
hour leak which could be smelled for a three-block radius, and she did what she was
told, turned on the key, and the machine did not work. It then becomes necessary to
have an AQMD supervisor come out and actually smell the odor himself, which has not
been successful either. She advised that this has been going on for almost three years,
the residents have done everything they can, and they are at a dead end.
Council Member Lien inquired whether the County Health Department had been
notified of the problem.
Ms. Misquez stated that she had contacted them personally, and they didn't give
the residents any answer--they told them to call the City and see if they could get some
soil and air samplings to do themselves. She also reminded the Council that last week
they had asked the City to file a lawsuit on their behalf, and she asked whether they had
any information from City Attorney Penman regarding this.
Council Member Estrada advised that the Council had asked the City Attorney
to look into the process for filing a possible temporary restraining order--that there
were some specific instructions given to the City Attorney relative to the OrnniTrans
matter.
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4/2/2001
City Attorney Penman acknowledged that this was correct. He stated he had a
report which would be given to the Council later today in closed session on whether or
not to initiate litigation. He stated that the Council directed the City Attorney's Office
to contact certain experts and try and get some cost estimates and this would be
discussed later today in closed session.
City Attorney Penman noted that he did contact the experts, but there is more
information needed before the Council can make the decision they need to make.
However, he would extend an offer to OrnniTrans indicating that we have talked to
their attorney and county counsel, and we are certainly willing to sit down with them
and try and resolve this issue without going to litigation if they are willing to sit down
with us and talk about it.
Mayor Valles stated that it appears that what has happened is that there is a lack
of credibility and trust between Ornnitrans and the residents. Consequently, the
problem won't be resolved here today, so they probably should do as Mr. Penman
suggests and bring in a third objective party and try and resolve all of this. She stated
that the concerns the residents have regarding the health of the children is the City's
concern also. She noted that at the last meeting, City staff had asked the residents to
compile a list of those individuals who have complaints, noting exactly what the
complaints are, and that we should be looking into that also, but a third party needs to
be brought in. She stated this does not mean that Ornnitrans is not trying to resolve the
issue as best they can, but it is just not moving fast enough. She stated there have been
several other solutions proposed such as using the fueling at the City yards or County
yards; however, the point made by Mr. Rail is that it is a matter of manpower, and
maybe that is something that also needs to be addressed.
Again, she thanked the residents for being there and assured them that their
concerns were not falling on deaf ears--that this was a real complicated issue. She
stated that there is always an up side and a down side, but ultimately the health of our
children is at issue and that needs to be taken care of.
The residents stated they had gathered approximately 500 signatures of people
who have been having problems.
At this time, due to the fact that there were several individuals present who
wanted to speak on behalf of the Chief of Police and several of them had to be in court,
the Mayor took public comments from them; and Agenda Item No. 17 was continued to
later in the meeting.
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4/2/2001
PUBLIC COMMENTS
(24)
Sergeant Steve Filson, President of the San Bernardino Police Officers
Association, stated that as is typical in situations that occur from time to time,
reasonable minds do seem to prevail and that is what has happened in this particular
situation. He stated he wanted to provide a reminder and a little wake up call to Mr.
Penman that we sometimes make statements associated with things that we may believe
are true, but in fact are not. He stated that today's appearance of their membership,
both police officers and management group, is a distinct illustration of the commitment
and loyalty both to their organization and to the community that the police officers in
San Bernardino have to each and everyone. He thanked everyone who took time out of
their busy schedules to come down and show support for Chief Dean, the police
organization, and the State Department of Corrections Parole and Community Services
Division. He told Mr. Penman that they did accept Mr. Penman's public apology to
both Chief Dean and to their organization.
In an effort to clarify matters, City Attorney Penman advised that he had been
erroneously informed that the Police Chief had cancelled a response to backup some
fire inspectors and code officers. He subsequently learned that the Chief was ordered
to do that, and he (Mr. Penman) apologized to the Chief for thinking that he would
have done otherwise.
Mr. Penman stated he had not changed his pOSItion on the necessity of
implementing the cap that Secretary Presley placed on the number of parolees in our
community on October 23. He stated he wanted to make it clear that the parole agents
working in our community, in conjunction with San Bernardino's police officers, have
done an outstanding job in trying to keep the parolee population under control. He
acknowledged that it has been difficult due to the large number of parolees in this city;
however, they work very hard and very closely with our police and with the Attorney's
Office.
Mr. Penman stated he wanted to make it clear that the people of San Bernardino
continue to be concerned about the large number of parolees in the City, but it was his
understanding from the Mayor that the Chief, the Mayor, and the City Attorney all
agree that they want to work toward that benchmark of 700 parolees in the city, but in
no way should the assigned parole agents, or even the administrators, be blamed by
anyone in our city for the number of parolees here, because that is totally beyond their
control. He stated that if anyone thought that his remarks had been directed at them
personally, that was certainly not true; however, there was no backing off on his part
about the need to keep that cap.
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4/21200 I
He thanked the Police Officers Association and the corrections officers who
showed up to support the Police Chief. He stated that both he and the Mayor made it
clear this morning that neither she nor he had asked for the Chiefs resignation, and
there was no intention to do so.
The following individuals expressed support for Police Chief Dean, his job
performance, and the working relationship between the City of San Bernardino and the
State Parole Department:
Warren Cocke, 2875 Valencia, San Bernardino, CA, former City of San
Bernardino Police Chief.
Pastor Ray Turner of Temple Missionary Baptist Church, 1583 West Union
Street, San Bernardino, CA.
Father Ray Rosales, former pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in San
Bernardino, currently serving as pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Chino.
Stephen Goya, Regional Administrator of State Parole.
Wayne Harp, former City of San Bernardino Assistant Chief of Police,
representing the Retired Police Personnel Association.
Larry Gonzales, State Vice President and Local Chapter President of the Latino
Peace Officers Association.
John Snedden, representing the California Peace Officers Association and the
Parole Agents Association of California.
Sergeant Mike Ervin, from the Pomona Police Department and Vice President
of the Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC).
Lieutenant Larry Neigel, representing the San Bernardino Police Management
Association and the San Bernardino Confidential & Management Association as their
president-elect.
Mayor Valles thanked everyone for being present and for their comments. She
advised that some visitors to our City from Washington had commented that when they
travel around with congressional people to different cities throughout the United States
they always have to work with local law enforcement, and the professionalism exhibited
by our police officers in San Bernardino was unparalleled.
Chief Dean thanked the Mayor for allowing his supporters to speak and thanked
the City Attorney for his overture, stating that it was accepted. He stated that everyone
needs to get on with business here in the City and continue the good work that is being
done. He stated he appreciated all the nice comments that were made in his behalf; and
pointing to his supporters and members of the various law enforcement agencies present
in the audience, noted that they are the real heroes and they deserve the credit.
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4/2/200 I
RECESS MEETING
At 10:56 a.m., Mayor Valles declared a five-minute recess.
RECONVENE MEETING
At 11: 13 a.m., Mayor Valles reconvened the joint regular meeting of the Mayor
and Common Council and Community Development Commission.
ROLL CALL
Roll call was taken by City Clerk Clark with the following being present:
Mayor Valles; Council Members Estrada, Lien, McGinnis, Schnetz, Suarez, Anderson,
McCammack; Deputy City Attorney Empefio, City Clerk Clark, City Administrator
Wilson. Absent: None.
PUBLIC HEARING - GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT NO. 00-01 -
TENTATIVE PARCEL MAP NO. 15537 - CONDITIONAL USE
PERMIT NO. 00-13 - VARIANCE NO. 00-10 - DETERMINE PUBLIC
CONVENIENCE OR NECESSITY ALCOHOL BEVERAGE
CONTROL TYPE 21 OFF-SALE GENERAL LICENSE
NORTHWEST CORNER - UNIVERSITY PARKWAY & KENDALL
DRIVE - HOWARD BERKSON (19)
James Funk, Director of Development Services, submitted a staff report dated
March 12, 2001, regarding the proposed development of the northwest corner of
University Parkway and Kendall Drive in the City of San Bernardino.
Valerie Ross, Principal Planner, discussed highlights of the staff report with the
Council. She advised that the application originally included a request for a median
break on University Parkway, approximately 450 feet north of the intersection at
Kendall Drive. She noted that staff did not support the median break because of safety
concerns and aesthetic concerns; however, the Planning Commission unanimously
recommended approval of the project, including a signalized median break. Since that
time, the applicant had withdrawn his request for a median break, and it was staffs
understanding that Cal State, as a result, had withdrawn its opposition to the project.
Council Member McCammack stated that it appeared to her that the traffic
signal at Cambridge was going to increase neighborhood traffic, and she asked what
was done to reduce traffic from going through that neighborhood.
Ray Casey, City Engineer, stated that the conditions of approval call for the
signal at the Cambridge location, and staff had looked at some issues associated with
that in response to community concern. He stated that discussions had just taken place
regarding the possibility of installing some temporary delineators that would
discourage, or perhaps prohibit, cross movement into the Cambridge subdivision, but
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4/2/2001
would still allow right-in, right-out movement from the shopping center and perhaps
left-out movement from the shopping center as well. He stated he would want to make
sure that the developer is comfortable with this, but the City has a precedent on
Tippecanoe where such a temporary measure has been used and is working very well to
reduce traffic and discourage cross movement. He noted that at some point a
permanent improvement would be constructed at Tippecanoe, and perhaps the same
thing could happen here.
Chas Kelley, 5066 Varsity, San Bernardino, CA, President of the Kendall Hill
Neighborhood Association, stated that their issue is the traffic situation. He stated their
concern is the cut -through traffic that has been going through the neighborhood on
Cambridge--they are concerned that motorists will exit the plaza and roll up on the light
at Cambridge, it will turn green, and the option will be to go down University Parkway
with all of its traffic, or cut straight across the street and go through their
neighborhood. He stated that they have had 1,572 cars in a 24-hour period. He
stressed that they are not opposed to the plaza, but want to prevent anybody from
coming out of the plaza and cutting across and coming through their community. He
stated that he had discussed various solutions with staff and would appreciate the
Council listening to their requests.
Council Member Suarez stated that he had spoken with many of the residents
from this neighborhood group, and many of the things happening are due to their input.
He stated that nobody is more concerned about safety and traffic than this City Council,
and that is why City staff is working diligently with the University and others to
mitigate these problems and ensure the safety and growth of our city.
David DeMauro, 5500 University Parkway, San Bernardino, CA, stated he was
happy to be present on behalf of the University and its president, Dr. Albert Karnig, in
support of this project. Dr. Karnig asked him to come and thank the Council for
helping the University work through this situation and come to an amicable agreement.
He stated the developer, Mr. Howard Berkson, had been very generous in working
with them and also helping them work through the agreement on the median cut. He
stated they have always felt that this is an outstanding project that is going to be good
for the north side of the city and that the architect has done an excellent job.
Council Member Schnetz asked about the traffic impact fee, which was based on
9,006 trips a day at $17 a trip, and questioned how staff figured 9,000 trips a day on a
37,000 square foot facility, and inquired as to the current ratio.
City Engineer Casey stated it was based on the Institute of Transportation
Engineers (ITE) Manual for the trip generation; however, he didn't currently have it in
front of him.
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4/212001
Council Member Schnetz inquired whether the signal at Kendall and Cambridge
was in addition to the $154,000 in traffic fees or an aggregate amount.
Mr. Casey advised that the participation on the signal was in addition to the
traffic fees.
RES. 2001-65 RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF SAN
BERNARDINO ADOPTING GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT NO.
00-01 TO THE GENERAL PLAN OF THE CITY OF SAN
BERNARDINO, TO AMEND THE GENERAL PLAN LAND USE
DESIGNATIONS FROM RL, RESIDENTIAL LOW, TO CG-3,
COMMERCIAL GENERAL - UNIVERSITY VILLAGE, FOR 6.66
ACRES LOCATED AT THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF
UNIVERSITY PARKWAY AND KENDALL DRIVE. (19)
Council Member Anderson made a motion, seconded by Council Member
McGinnis, that the hearing be closed; that the Mayor and Common Council adopt the
resolution and adopt the Mitigated Negative Declaration and Mitigation Monitoring and
Reporting Program; approve Tentative Parcel Map No. 15537; Conditional Use Permit
No. 00-13, Variance No. 00-10; and make a determination that the public convenience
or necessity is served based on the Findings of Fact, subject to the Conditions of
Approval (Attachments C and D as amended) in the Planning Commission Staff Report,
and direct the Development Services Department to send a letter to the Department of
Alcoholic Beverage Control for a Type 21 (off-sale general) license (for the proposed
Sav-On Store), located at the northwest corner of University Parkway and Kendall
Drive.
Deputy City Attorney Empeiio pointed out the letter dated April 2, 2001, from
Dave Mlynarski of MAPCO to James Funk, Director of Development Services,
wherein he mentioned modification of their proposed project to eliminate the proposed
left-hand turn lane located on University A venue. He stated that in light of the fact that
the site plans that were formally submitted to the City had not yet been revised to
eliminate that median, it was his recommendation that the form motion be modified to
include the words "excluding the median cut on University Parkway" immediately
following the words, "Conditional Use Permit No. 00-13."
Council Member McCammack suggested that in addition there should be some
language relative to traffic cutting across from the plaza and taking a shortcut on
Cambridge through the residential neighborhood.
City Administrator Wilson suggested amending the motion to include some
language directing staff to work with the neighborhood association and the developer to
identify options to mitigate traffic on Cambridge.
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4/2/200 I
Council Member Anderson amended her motion, seconded by Council Member
McGinnis, that the hearing be closed; that the Mayor and Common Council adopt the
resolution and adopt the Mitigated Negative Declaration and Mitigation Monitoring and
Reporting Program; approve Tentative Parcel Map No. 15537; Conditional Use Permit
No. 00-13, excluding the median cut on University Parkway, and Variance No. 00-
10; and make a determination that the public convenience or necessity is served based
on the Findings of Fact, subject to the Conditions of Approval (Attachments C and D as
amended) in the Planning Commission Staff Report, and direct the Development
Services Department to send a letter to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control
for a Type 21 (off-sale general) license (for the proposed Sav-On Store), located at the
northwest corner of University Parkway and Kendall Drive; and direct staff to
identify options to mitigate through traffic on Cambridge.
The motion carried and Resolution No. 2001-65 was adopted by the following
vote: Ayes: Council Members Estrada, Lien, McGinnis, Schnetz, Suarez, Anderson,
McCammack. Nays: None. Absent: None.
Howard Berkson, project developer, advised that this had been a two-year
project in the works and he was very happy to see that a public and private partnership
had been able to take care of the problems and challenges that have been encountered
on this particular project. He gave special thanks to City Administrator Fred Wilson;
Director of Development Services James Funk, Principal Planner Valerie Ross,
Associate Planner Joe Bellandi, City Engineer Ray Casey, Council Member Suarez,
Mayor Valles, and Gary Miller and Dave Mylnarski of MAPCO, stating that he looked
forward to doing more development in this city.
DEPUTY CITY ATTORNEY EMPENO EXCUSED
At 11:35 a.m., Deputy City Attorney Empefio left the Council meeting and was
replaced by Senior Assistant City Attorney Carlyle.
PRESENTATION - DURAND RALL, GENERAL MANAGER,
OMNITRANS (Discussed earlier in the meeting - page 12) (17)
The following individuals voiced their concerns regarding the methyl mercaptan
fumes emitted from the Omnitrans refueling station and requested that the Omnitrans
Board remove the fueling station from the area:
Marilyn Alcantar, 1495 Kingman Street, San Bernardino, CA.
Consuelo Lopez, 580 Cabrera, San Bernardino, CA, who noted that the
students at Ramona Alessandro School have been breathing these fumes for two and a
half years.
Terry Lopez, 683 N. Ramona, San Bernardino, CA.
Lisa Wolf, 634 Madison Street, San Bernardino, CA, who noted that every
single resident in the six houses on her street have been sick from these fumes.
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4/2/200 I
Jan Misquez, 659 N. Hancock, San Bernardino, CA.
Virginia Ramirez, 1360 W. Victoria, San Bernardino, CA.
Mayor Valles assured the residents that their pleas were not falling on deaf ears;
however, the City has been placed in a difficult situation. She noted that to design a
new filter would take a long time, and advised that City staff has also explored fueling
at the City yards or the County yards; however, she does not know what all would be
involved with this. She reiterated the fact that the residents in the area have a lack of
trust and question the credibility of Omnitrans, and everyone needs to work to resolve
this. She stated that it would probably take some additional funding, and everyone
needs to work together on this so the problem can be solved and bring immediate relief
to the surrounding community. She stated that the City is not in a position to be able to
move the facility, but she believes steps can be taken to mitigate the situation.
Council Member Estrada stated that she had an opportunity to talk to Mr. Hogo
and the residents during the break, and there was mention of an electrical system, and
she asked that Mr. Hogo explain what that entails.
Mr. Hogo advised that AQMD had offered Omnitrans support funding to
replace the engines that use the compressed natural gas with electric engines, which are
typical of most, if not all, compressor stations that are in service today. Omnitrans
indicated that it would take them quite some time to install them and that in that time
frame they could put in the LCNG station. However, AQMD's offer still stands to
replace those engines with electric engines, and that would help mitigate some of the
mercaptan release, in addition to the filtering system that Mr. Rail had mentioned
earlier. He stated that this could take from four to six months to install such a device;
and AQMD is offering to purchase the engines for Omnitrans at their cost.
Mr. Rall stated that he did not think anyone should oversimplify what they are
talking about doing here. He stated that they have two compressors, and they require
both of those compressors on site to supply the volume of fuel they need each night to
fuel their vehicles. Therefore, he can't shut one of them down and remove it. So when
Omnitrans received this offer from AQMD, he suggested that perhaps they should take
that amount of money and put it into additional storage space for LNG on site, which
they denied.
He stated that to his knowledge there is no facility at the City they can use to
fuel their vehicles, and although there is a fueling station at the County, the County
does not want them to overuse that station--they can use it in emergencies, but the
County doesn't have the volume needed to supply Omnitrans' fuel needs. He pointed
out that the station they have is one of the larger stations in this area, and the volume
they put through that station, the other stations aren't capable of doing.
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4/2/200 I
Therefore, in order for them to do the conversion, removing the CNG engine
and replacing it with an electric motor, they have to have some way to supply fuel, and
they can't do that until the LNG station is in place. Secondly, that is not really going to
prevent leaks--all it will do is eliminate the exhaust from the LNG engine, but if there
is a leak in the compressor, putting in an electric motor is not going to change that, it
will simply eliminate the exhaust from the CNG engine. He advised that in his staff
and maintenance department's analysis, they figured they were better off to put their
money into an LNG station now, and perhaps do the conversion to the electric motor
later, because he can't shut one of the compressors down because he couldn't fuel his
fleet if he did so.
Council Member Schnetz stated that one of the things that concerned him is that
a lot of the people living in this neighborhood are property owners, and under the law
in the State of California, whenever anybody sells a piece of property (and he believed
it must be disclosed even when you rent the property) the property owner must fill out a
disclosure statement; and this methyl mercaptan issue would have to be included in the
disclosure statement. He noted that this is going to impair the value of the homes in
that neighborhood, for when a buyer comes in and sees that on his disclosure statement,
he is not going to buy that house. In the reverse, if they don't disclose it and a buyer
comes in and buys it, now that seller has legal liability to that new buyer. He pointed
out that this is a big issue that goes beyond the obvious--that it is just going to grow and
grow and real estate values will be depressed even further in that area. He stated that
these are some of the big issues that need to be discussed and need to be resolved.
Council Member McCammack asked Mr. Hogo how long it would take to
convert the current system to the electric engine in terms of time. She stated she
understood the need to fuel the fleet, but if the buses are being fueled in the evening, is
it going to take weeks to convert these motors--just exactly how much time is needed.
Mr. Hogo stated that based on Mr. Rail's comments, it would take a few
months.
Mr. Rail explained that it isn't like taking out a small gasoline engine and
putting in an electric motor. The system has to be designed and engineered to use it.
The consultants Omnitrans talked to said they would have to physically remove the
entire station from the Omnitrans facility, take it to their plant to do the conversion and
perform all the testing to make sure that it did what it was supposed to do, and then
bring it back and re-install it. They are suggesting that it would probably take three
months off site to accomplish that. This would be in addition to the time required to do
the engineering so they could develop specifications, because when using tax dollars
they have to go out and get bids on the work to make sure they are getting a
competitive price. Therefore, Omnitrans would first have to design it, take it out to
bid, after which time it would go back to the Board to award a contract, then they could
give direction to proceed to a contractor. They would then get all the equipment they
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4/2/200 I
would need to make the conversion, then come and get the system, take it to their plant,
make the conversion, and bring it back.
Council Member McCammack stated that since the matter seemed to be
mushrooming into several important issues, including such things as property values
and the public health issues, she would think the County would be as helpful as possible
in providing some kind of assistance during this transition period.
Mr. Rall stated that he needed to make it very clear to this Council that
Omnitrans has not been sitting idly by for three years, doing nothing to correct this
problem. He stated that his staff has continually worked on different solutions to these
problems--they have worked with their contractors, they have tried different materials,
they have looked at how the system is engineered and how they can change things to
that system, and they have made significant improvements to that system over time.
He stated that if anyone were to go back and historically look, it isn't like they
have five or ten leaks a day; that during the month of March they received three phone
calls for leaks in their system. One of those calls-- the long, two and a half hour one
that was mentioned--was not a leak in their system--it was the cleaning out of the
clarifier, which is more of a sewer smell than a gas smell. Aside from that, they had
two leaks reported this month to their station--not three and four a day. He advised that
over the last several months the number of calls have continually decreased. Mr. Rail
noted that they have invested a significant amount of effort and dollars, they have
installed filters, they have tried to find ways to slow these things down. However, the
system is engineered to run a certain way, and they have to be a little bit careful of
what they do so they don't destroy the integrity of the engineering that brought the
system together in the first place.
He stated that significant work has been done, and when they look at the leaks
today compared to when this system was first set up, it has been significantly enhanced
from what it was. They are not saying that the problem has been completely solved,
but they do have a plan to do that, they have a timeline to do that.
Council Member Lien stated that the most frightening thing they were hearing
today is the allegation of the health issues; that we're not talking odor anymore--500
people have signed petitions saying that their health is affected. She stated that she
heard Mr. Penman say something about county counsel, which made her think that
perhaps the county is involved in this in a significant way--possibly they represent
Omnitrans--but maybe the County Health Department needed to be involved, since she
believed that all avenues needed to be explored.
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4/2/2001
Mayor Valles agreed with Mr. Schnetz, that a third party needed to be brought
in to really address this and try to resolve it. She stated that she did not know if all the
options had been explored, but it was her inclination to look at the County fueling
station and see what could be done to at least mitigate things while we are trying to get
this filter in place.
Council Member Estrada stated that in speaking to the representative from
AQMD, he indicated that the unit that is used to test the children who think they are
being affected by this is in Los Angeles. She asked him if it would be a fair statement
to say that during the month of April a health fair would be held using the AQMD unit
to test these children and he answered in the affirmative.
Mr. Hogo stated that his staff was talking to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation
because they only have one of these breath mobiles that can come out and they are
located in Los Angeles County. He stated he would try to schedule with the school
directly, and they wanted them to come in on a Friday, and they can do from 35-40
students. Therefore, they are looking at a date between now and the end of May, but
they will try to get that scheduled as soon as possible. He advised that this was the
initial discussion with them, and if they can bring them out more often they will. In
addition, AQMD is discussing with Kaiser Permanente and other medical hospitals
about providing some sort of community medical interview to see what type of heath
issues there are in the community. He stated that they were still working with
representatives from these hospitals to see what could be done, and they appear to be
very interested in it.
Mayor Valles asked Mr. Hogo what the City needed to do to expedite this
process.
Mr. Hogo stated that he thought it was just a matter of scheduling with the
Asthma Foundation as to when the van can come out, but it should be done as quickly
as possible, and also determine when there is potential for another trip out to the
community.
Mayor Valles asked whether Mr. Hogo would be doing this and whether there
was someone in the City that needed to assist AQMD to make this happen--do they
need assistance from the Mayor's Office to get this going.
Mr. Hogo stated that his staff was actually working with the Foundation and
Ramona Alessandro School to get this going, and he would check with his staff as to
how fast they are moving and then contact the Mayor's Office with that information.
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4/2/200 I
Council Member Estrada asked if the Mayor's Office could check with Kaiser
Permanente and find out if they might join in on this effort so that on the day that the
unit is going to be at Ramona Alessandro we have any assistance that Kaiser can lend.
Also, maybe talk to the committee and get a list of the affected kids, so that the fIrst
children examined are those who have been displaying symptoms. She stated she
would hate to see the unit come out, randomly take 40 children of which 30 are not
affected, have them tested and say, gee we only have five or six kids. She felt this list
must come from the residents, and working in conjunction with the school, these are
the children who should be tested.
Council Member McCammack asked whether County Health officials should
also be involved.
Mayor Valles stated she would like to summarize where she thought things
stood. Insofar as Mr. Rail and Omnitrans was concerned, the City would be working
through its legal counsel to explore other fueling stations, including the County.
Meanwhile, Mr. Hogo will be following up on the community health fair with the
Asthma Unit that he will be bringing to the community; and for the members of the
community, they will provide the list of the affected children and adults. She asked the
members of the community to coordinate that with Mr. Hogo, so that when the unit
does come, we are absolutely sure that the ones that are tested are those that have
exhibited the symptoms of illness. She asked Mr. Hogo when City staff could expect a
status report on the community health fair.
Mr. Hogo stated that tomorrow when he returned to his office, he would talk to
the staff involved in coordinating the van coming to the school, and then direct his staff
to contact the Mayor's Office.
Mayor Valles stated that she did not want to put Mr. Hogo on the spot, but the
City at least wants to have a commitment of some kind. She stated she would ask Mr.
Gonzalez of her staff to work with Mr. Hogo so the City knows who to contact and
follow-up with on this matter.
One of the community members pointed out that in addition to the children,
some of the elderly and people of different ages also need to be tested because everyone
in the area is affected and they want to make sure that everyone is safe. She requested
that the community be given enough advance notice as to when the van would be at the
school, stating that their contact person would be Marilyn Alcantar.
RECESS MEETING
At 12:07 p.m., Mayor Valles recessed the meeting to the luncheon workshop
being held at the Feldheym Library.
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4/2/200 1
RECONVENE MEETING
Mayor Valles reconvened the joint regular meeting of the Mayor and Common
Council in the Mary Belle Kellogg Rooms at the Feldheym Library.
ROLL CALL
Roll call was taken by Deputy City Clerk Hartzel with the following being
present: Mayor Valles; Council Members Lien, McGinnis, Schnetz, Anderson; Deputy
City Attorney Easland, Deputy City Clerk Hartzel, City Administrator Wilson.
Absent: Council Members Estrada, Suarez, McCammack.
LUNCHEON WORKSHOP - MARY BELLE KELLOGG ROOMS -
COSAND COMPUTER LEARNING CENTER - FELDHEYM
LIBRARY - FREE INTERNET/COMPUTER SERVICES (21)
Mr. McCallian, President, Verizon of California, presented a check in the
amount of $50,000 to Ophelia Roop, Library Director, to be used to support the
computer homework assistance program.
COUNCIL MEMBER ESTRADA ARRIVED
At 1:02 p.m., Council Member Estrada arrived at the luncheon workshop.
Library Director Roop made a presentation regarding the new technology being
used by the library to provide and disseminate information to the public. She advised
that there has been a great digital divide--an economical, racial, generational,
geographical, and educational divide--and the American public libraries are in the best
position to bridge this divide. She noted that in the past, the San Bernardino Library
was not meeting the public's needs; however, as of October 2000 the library has started
to provide new technology services, such as changing from a card catalog to a user-
friendly computer catalog, free access to the internet, index to virtual library, including
a records database, and free computing services/computer classes.
Ms. Roop provided information on the various funding sources available to the
library and a demonstration was provided for the Mayor and Council in the Cosand
Computer Learning Center, where 80 computers are accessible to the public and where
classes are held for those who are not computer literate.
RECESS MEETING
Mayor Valles recessed the luncheon workshop to the Council Chambers of City
Hall.
RECONVENE MEETING
At 2: 11 p.m., Mayor Valles reconvened the joint regular meeting of the Mayor
and Common Council and Community Development Commission in the Council
Chambers of City Hall.
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412/2001
ROLL CALL
Roll call was taken by City Clerk Clark with the following being present:
Mayor Valles; Council Members Estrada, Lien, McGinnis, Schnetz, Suarez, Anderson,
McCammack; City Attorney Penman, City Clerk Clark, City Administrator Wilson.
Absent: None.
Mayor Valles congratulated Ms. Roop and the San Bernardino Library on the
Cosand Computer Learning Center. She stated that she and the Council were very
impressed with the work Ms. Roop and her staff have done in aggressively seeking the
grants needed to enable the library to help combat the digital divide. She encouraged
everyone who is not computer literate to contact the library for their free computer
classes. Council Member McGinnis expressed awe at how fast a T-l circuit can access
the internet, and also encouraged the public to tryout the library's equipment.
RES. 2001-66 - RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF SAN
BERNARDINO DECLARING ITS INTENTION TO ORDER THE
VACATION OF A PORTION OF UNIVERSITY PARKWAY
NORTHEASTERLY OF KENDALL DRIVE AND RESERVING
CERTAIN EASEMENTS THEREIN. (10)
Council Member McGinnis stated that his questions regarding Agenda Item No.
10 had been answered.
Council Member McGinnis made a motion, seconded by Council Member
Suarez, that said resolution be adopted.
Resolution No. 2001-66 was adopted by the following vote: Ayes: Council
Members Estrada, Lien, McGinnis, Schnetz, Suarez, Anderson, McCammack. Nays:
None. Absent: None.
RES. 2001-67 - RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF SAN
BERNARDINO DECLARING ITS INTENTION TO ORDER THE
VACATION OF A PORTION OF GANNETT PARKWAY,
NORTHEASTERLY OF HALLMARK PARKWAY AND A PORTION
OF MC ARTHUR BOULEV ARD, NORTHWESTERLY OF
GANNETT PARKWAY AND RESERVING CERTAIN EASEMENTS
THEREIN. (11)
Council Member Schnetz stated that he was not so sure that the problem was as
bad as he thought, since he found out that the same property owners own all the land in
this area; however, he stated he was still concerned for future development along
McArthur Boulevard. He stated that there are a lot of industrial parcels of land that
face McArthur Boulevard, and by vacating Gannett and leaving only a 30-foot right of
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4/2/2001
way for emergency vehicles, it could bottleneck a lot of truck traffic in the future. He
stated that he spoke with staff regarding the reason for this, and he didn't know if there
was any solution, but he was still concerned about this. He stated he wouldn't want to
see future development restricted because of action taken at this time.
City Engineer Casey stated that as the project developed there had been some
concerns about the potential for installing a future loop ramp from University
westbound to 1-215 southbound. He stated that the disposition of McArthur Boulevard
was predicated on that--the site had to be designed to provide adequate potential for
future construction of that loop ramp. He stated that any expansion of the emergency
access behind the proposed WalMart building would put at risk the ability to install that
loop ramp. He stated that during discussion of the matter it was noted that most, if not
all, of the industrial traffic that would ultimately use the industrial lots to the rear would
go to the site, deliver their goods, do their turnaround on site, and be able to leave by
the same access that they arrived by.
Council Member Suarez made a motion, seconded by Council Member
Anderson, that said resolution be adopted.
Resolution No. 2001-67 was adopted by the following vote: Ayes: Council
Members Estrada, Lien, McGinnis, Schnetz, Suarez, Anderson, McCammack. Nays:
None. Absent: None.
WAIVE FEES - HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE - CINCO
DE MAYO FAMILY FESTIVAL - MAY 5,2001- $9,179.50 (13)
James Funk, Director of Development Services, submitted a staff report dated
March 26, 2001, regarding a waiver of fees for the Cinco de Mayo Family Festival
being sponsored by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Council Member Suarez made a motion, seconded by Council Member
Anderson, and unanimously carried, that the Mayor and Common Council approve fee
waivers in the amount of $9,179.54 for the Cinco de Mayo Festival.
RECEIVE & FILE - CLASSIFICATION & COMPENSATION STUDY
(14)
Edward Raya, Director of Human Resources, submitted a staff report dated
March 22, 2001, recommending that the Mayor and Council receive and file the
Classification and Compensation Study recently conducted by Johnson and Associates.
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412/200 I
City Administrator Wilson advised that this project was important because it
reflects a commitment to be made by this Council in terms of addressing employee
compensation issues. He stated that the action being requested today is simply to
receive and file the report, which will be used as a basis for negotiations with the
various employee bargaining units.
Mr. Raya provided an overview of the process used to conduct and develop the
Classification and Compensation Study. He advised that the first phase involved a
review of all City non-safety job classifications, involving over 700 employees in 275
job classifications. Once that process was completed, the next step involved the
compensation portion of the study. He noted that II southern California agencies were
surveyed, using 51 benchmark positions; and that the study identified the market
medium for these positions rather than the market average, because the average tends to
be susceptible to market anomalies.
Council Member Lien complimented staff on the methodology, stating that this
would be a real start towards bringing the City's employees in line with other cities in
the area.
Council Member McCammack also complimented staff, noting that the report
would be a very useful tool.
Council Member Estrada asked whether the study compared San Bernardino to
other cities such as Riverside and Ontario, in the area of per capita.
City Administrator Wilson advised that if she was asking about non-safety
staffing to population size--that wasn't really part of this study, but staff should
probably provide that information.
Council Member Estrada stated that she thought this information was absolutely
key to negotiations.
Council Member Suarez stated that the City needs to stay competitive if it is
going to attract quality individuals to its staff, and he wondered what kind of safeguards
were going to be incorporated so the study is kept up to date and to preclude having to
repeat the entire process again in five to ten years.
Mr. Raya advised that ideally studies like this need to be updated on a regular
basis, and this might be addressed during negotiations.
Council Member Schnetz asked at what point in time the recommended title
changes would become effective, and Mr. Raya stated that it was staffs hope to
implement the salary and title changes simultaneously while at the negotiating table.
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4/2/200 I
Council Member Suarez made a motion. seconded by Council Member
Anderson, and unanimously carried, that the Classification and Compensation Study be
received and filed.
APPROVE PROJECT LIST - AB 2928 TRANSPORTATION
FUNDING - AMEND FY 2000/2001 CAPITAL PROJECTS BUDGET
(15)
Ray Casey, City Engineer, submitted a staff report dated March 27, 2001,
regarding the proposed project list for AB 2928 Transportation Funding and an
amendment to the Fiscal Year 2000/2001 Capital Projects Budget.
City Administrator Wilson advised that in July the governor signed AB 2928,
which provided $6.8 billion over the next six years for capital and preservation of
transportation projects throughout the state. He noted that based on the formula that
was set up, the City of San Bernardino's allocation for this fiscal year is approximately
$1.3 million, to be used for street and road improvements anywhere in the city.
He stated that staff had developed a list of recommended projects based on
where they see the most need. He noted that this item was referred to the Ways and
Means Committee, and they reviewed it and recommended that it be brought forward to
the full Council for adoption. He also noted that there will be additional appropriations
until the year 2006.
Council Member Estrada asked how the City deals with businesses that cause
more than the average deterioration to our streets, or if we deal with them at all. She
particularly noted the area around Second Street, Fourth Street, and the Mt. Vernon
bridge.
City Administrator Wilson advised that as part of every new development a
traffic study is done and staff begins to assess traffic mitigation factors; however,
currently the City does not have a mechanism in place for charging a business for
excess wear and tear.
It was suggested that maybe this should be negotiated at the time the businesses
are making plans to move into the City. Mr. Wilson stated that James Funk, Director
of Development Services, might have some ideas on this.
Council Member Schnetz stated that one of the largest single sources of revenue
the City receives is our share of the vehicle license fee from the state, and he knows
that large trucks pay a huge license fee. However, he was not sure whether it was
handled the same as cars, where a percentage of the fee is funneled to the cities.
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4/2/200 1
City Administrator Wilson stated that the City is also in the process of trying to
get the pavement mapping system up and running, and the Council should soon see a
request to award a contract to a firm to begin to assess on a citywide basis the condition
of our streets, which will help to prioritize how to spend our limited dollars.
Mayor Valles advised Mr. Wilson to make a note of the points brought forth by
Council Member Estrada, because the vehicle license fees have always been there for
the taking for some of the state legislators--they have tried to take it away before, and
since we want to make sure we don't lose it, this would be an excellent argument for us
to keep those funds.
Council Member McCammack stated that in addition to heavy truck traffic
beating up the roads, she has been concerned that the City goes through the process of
repaving a road and then a year or two later a utility cuts it up and never returns it to
the condition they found it. She also pointed out that in addition to state monies, other
funds generated by truckers and set aside for roads are the federal taxes that the
truckers pay for gross tonnage.
Council Member Anderson made a motion, seconded by Council Member
Schnetz, and unanimously carried, that the Mayor and Common Council approve the
Pavement Rehabilitation Projects list attached to Mr. Casey's staff report dated March
27, 2001, and direct the Public Works Division to proceed with the associated project
design and bid document preparation; and that the Director of Finance be authorized to
amend the Fiscal Year 200012001 Capital Projects Budget and appropriate $500,000
from the undesignated/unreserved AB 2928 Traffic Congestion Relief Fund balance for
the citywide Pavement Rehabilitation Project as outlined in said staff report.
APPROVE CONTINUANCE TO AUGUST 6, 2001 - FINAL MAP -
TENTATIVE TRACT NO. 14193 - SOUTHEAST CORNER - OHIO &
OLIVE A VENUES (Continued from October 2, 2000) (16)
James Funk, Director of Development Services, submitted a staff report dated
March 27, 200 I, requesting that the Mayor and Council approve the continuance of the
Final Map for Tentative Tract No. 14193 to August 6, 2001.
Council Member Anderson made a motion, seconded by Council Member
Suarez, that the Mayor and Common Council approve the continuance of the Final Map
for Tentative Tract No. 14193 to August 6, 2001. (Note: The vote was taken
following the discussion.)
Council Member McGinnis expressed concern about the number of times this
item had been continued and inquired as to which committee would be responsible for
setting some rules relative to continuances such as this. He stated he would be voting
"no" on this, because he does not agree with continuing things for years at a time.
36 4/2/2001
City Administrator Wilson stated that it would be up to the Council whether
they wanted to refer it to Ways and Means Committee or Legislative Review
Committee; however, the Council might want to hear from the property owner or his
representative prior to taking such an action.
Council Member Lien stated that Mr. McGinnis made a good point; however, in
this particular case, the letter dated March 21, 2001 from the law office of Singer &
Silvergleid, Inc., stated that by August 2 they will either record the final map or forfeit
the entitlements on the current map approval.
Council Member Suarez stated he had been in contact with the developers and
the owner of the property, and he has been assured that they are either going to go
forward or bail out. He stated that he told them there has to be a point where this
continuing must stop--that if the project is not done within this year, then no more
continuances.
Council Member Estrada stated that she has often seen projects that have been
on the books for a long time, and a lot of times some of the reasons they don't move
forward is due to economic conditions at the time, or someone has brought a complaint
against the interested party, etc. She stated that it was her belief that the issue is really
much larger than merely terminating a permit.
Council Member Suarez stated that he would like to see the motion amended by
the maker to include a statement that this would be the final continuance.
Council Member Schnetz stated he was not sure he could agree to the condition
stipulated by Council Member Suarez, since this is the last problem remaining with
CFD 995. He noted that on this deal there were some defaulted property taxes which
have been brought current, there are payments which are being made on this item, and
in restructuring this deal, the property owner got stuck in the middle of Finance District
995; and he believes everybody forgets the problems that have plagued this project
when it keeps coming back before the Council. He noted that once the deal is done it
will be the last of the problems out in that area, and he still believes that the cost to
develop in Verdemont is completely overpriced, and that is why this project can't sell,
because the fees are so huge and it has this huge assessment still on it.
Mr. Schnetz noted that this was the only property owner in the whole area who
made his payments--everybody else defaulted and left the City holding the bag. He
advised that this owner is trying to get the market to where it is strong enough to pay
for the land, and it just hasn't been there. He stated he hoped the owner is able to do
this, because if the map expires, he will not be able to pay the City.
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412/2001
City Attorney Penman pointed out that Mr. Schnetz was absolutely right insofar
as the situation with the property is concerned. He stated he could understand the
frustration of having to continue a matter indefinitely; however, it is not costing the
City any money to do so. He stated that if someone challenged it some day, the court
might say that it was continued too many times and they were going to throw it out;
however, until the conditions are such that the owner can get a buyer and sell the
property, it isn't going to get sold. He suggested that the Council look at what they
stand to gain and what they stand to lose. He noted that if this project goes under and
the owner walks away, the City is going to pay some money, and by continuing it, we
probably will not have to pay.
Council Member Lien stated that although she brought up the letter which was
attached to the staff report, which stated that it was not their intention to request any
additional extensions of time, she did not think it needed to be included in the motion.
Council Member Suarez stated that if they were going to take the wording in the
letter to mean they would not seek additional continuances, he would withdraw his
request for an amended motion.
Council Member Schnetz pointed out that although it is not their intention to
seek an additional extension, things have been happening and the market is volatile. He
stated that the worst thing that can happen for this City is that the deadline comes and
goes, they don't record the map, the City takes a stiff stand, the deal falls apart, and
there is $7,000 per lot owed in back taxes.
Council Member Anderson stated that the City has been more than
compassionate on this project; that it has come before the Council nine different times
and they have been understanding. She agreed, however, that we really don't want to
take this property back.
Dave Mylnarski, MAPCO, 164 W. Hospitality, San Bernardino, CA, advised
the Council that they are currently in escrow, which should close in 30 days, and so it
is not their intention to come back anytime in August and ask for an additional
extension. He added that Council Member Schnetz is correct that if market conditions
warrant this property not being sold, such as an increase in interest rates or something
like that, it would create a burden to the project. He stated that he believes they have a
real buyer at this point in time who has been meeting with City staff and is anxious to
come in with his architectural package. He stated that their goal is to break ground this
summer.
Council Member Estrada stated that if the Council were to ask for a list of all
the projects that have been on the books prior to 1998 and are still on the books, there
would be a lot of them. If the Council is going to start taking a hard line position on
one project, then they will have to start taking that position with all of the projects.
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4/2/2001
Council Member Suarez withdrew his request to amend the motion.
Council Member McGinnis stated he wanted to reiterate that the one project the
City has been having a big problem with and that has taken a lot of discussion, started
back in 1982. Now they get to build their project under conditions established back in
1989, and the City cannot even change its mind now because they can hold on to a
project forever.
Council Member Schnetz advised that every time a project comes up for a
review, staff reviews it to see that it meets today's current development standards.
City Attorney Penman confirmed with Deputy City Attorney Empeiio that the
City had sued this developer for delinquency of the Mello Roos payments, and there is
a settlement agreement in effect. This agreement provides that if the property owner is
allowed to develop the property, then the City is paid back the past due delinquencies
plus approximately $497,000 totaling about $600,000. If the City does not continue the
Final Map and the map expires, then it reverts back to acreage and there is no tentative
map on the site and it would have to start all over. So the City would get the property
back free and clear, but with no tentative map on the site; and with no tentative map the
property value is considerably diminished. City Attorney Penman advised that the best
thing the Council could do is to keep continuing the Final Map.
The original motion made by Council Member Anderson, seconded by Council
Member Suarez, that the Mayor and Common Council approve the continuance of the
Final Map for Tentative Tract No. 14193 to August 6, 2001, carried by the following
vote: Ayes: Council Members Estrada, Lien, Schnetz, Suarez, Anderson,
McCammack. Nays: Council Member McGinnis. Absent: None.
TERMINATE CONTRACT - AVILA CONSTRUCTION - STREET
IMPROVEMENTS - ART TOWNSEND DRIVE & OTTO GERICKE
DRIVE - SAN BERNARDINO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - PLAN
NO. 9479 - AUTHORIZE PAYMENT OF APPROXIMATELY
$30,300 TO AVILA CONSTRUCTION FOR WORK COMPLETED -
AUTHORIZE DIRECT PURCHASE OF l2-INCH & l6-INCH
WATER LINE PIPE & FITTINGS CURRENTLY STORED AT SITE
FOR $125,000 SUBJECT TO VERIFICATION OF ACTUAL
VENDOR INVOICE & REASONABLE HANDLING COSTS
(Continued from March 26, 2001) (18)
Council Member Lien made a motion, seconded by Council Member Estrada,
and unanimously carried, that the matter be continued to the Mayor and Council
meeting of April 16, 2001.
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4/2/200 1
RES. 2001-68 - RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF SAN
BERNARDINO AUTHORIZING ITS INTENTION TO APPROVE AN
AMENDMENT TO CONTRACT BETWEEN THE BOARD OF
ADMINISTRATION OF THE CALIFORNIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES'
RETIREMENT SYSTEM AND THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO.
(3% @ 55 FOR SAFETY MEMBERS) (20A)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MAYOR AND COMMON COUNCIL OF
THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO AUTHORIZING AN
AMENDMENT TO THE CONTRACT BETWEEN THE MAYOR
AND COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO
AND THE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION OF THE CALIFORNIA
PUBLIC EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM. (3% @ 55 FOR
SAFETY MEMBERS) First (20B)
City Administrator Wilson advised that the action today would implement the
agreement made by the Council and the respective bargaining units regarding the 3 % @
55 retirement benefit effective July 1, 2001, for all safety members. He noted that the
annual cost of the benefit would be approximately $1.6 million.
Council Member McGinnis made a motion, seconded by Council Member
Suarez, that said resolution be adopted; and that said ordinance be laid over for final
adoption.
The motion carried and Resolution No. 2001-68 was adopted by the following
vote: Ayes: Council Members Estrada, Lien, McGinnis, Schnetz, Suarez, Anderson,
McCammack. Nays: None. Absent: None.
CITY ATTORNEY PENMAN & CITY ADMINISTRATOR WILSON
EXCUSED
At 3:02 p.m., City Attorney Penman and City Administrator Wilson left the
Council meeting.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AGENCY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
V AN OSDEL & SPECIAL COUNSEL SABO ARRIVED
At 3:02 p.m., Economic Development Agency Executive Director Van Osdel
and Special Counsel Sabo arrived at the Council meeting.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSIONISAN
BERNARDINO JOINT POWERS FINANCING AUTHORITYISAN
BERNARDINO PARK ACQUISITION JOINT POWERS FINANCING
AUTHORITYISAN BERNARDINO ASSOCIATED COMMUNITIES
FINANCING AUTHORITY - JOINT REGULAR MEETING
40 4/2/2001
At 3:02 p.m., Chairwoman Valles called to order the joint regular meeting of
the Community Development Commission/San Bernardino Joint Powers Financing
Authority/San Bernardino Park Acquisition Joint Powers Financing Authority/San
Bernardino Associated Communities Financing Authority and Mayor and Common
Council.
APPROVE - AMENDMENTS - STATE OFFICE BUILDING -
CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT - PHASE II
(Continued from March 19, 2001) (R22)
Council Member Schnetz advised that although this item does not directly
involve a matter he is working on (303 West Third Street), it is mentioned in the item;
therefore, he would abstain from voting on Agenda Item No. R22.
Gary Van Osdel, Agency Executive Director, submitted a staff report dated
March 28,2001, regarding amendments to the State Office Building Agreements (Phase
II).
Mr. Van Osdel, Agency Executive Director, advised that this particular item
affects and links two different projects--the State Superblock at 4th and "E" Streets and
the old State building at 303 West Third Street. He stated that the developers of the old
State building, who will restore that building for private use, are on the verge of closing
escrow for its purchase, and if escrow closes and the proceeds go to the State of
California, the State is required to pay the Agency for Phase II of the Superblock. He
noted that the construction agreement with the State on the Superblock requires that
once the land is paid for they have 180 days in which to start construction of the second
tower; and in fact, if they can't meet that deadline, there is a reverted clause that would
enable the Agency to repurchase the site from the State for approximately $1. 7 million.
Mr. Van Osdel advised that this item was taken to the Redevelopment
Committee, and the Committee recommended that the Community Development
Commission extend the deadline for construction of the second tower by five years. He
noted that the State of California rejected that concept and requested that the Agency
eliminate any reference to a time frame in which to build the second tower, eliminate
the size of the tower, and eliminate the reverter clause. In the absence of these items,
they will not close escrow on the 303 West Third Street building. He stated that there
have been conversations with the State and a Letter of Understanding had been
developed; and staff received the State's response to this letter just an hour before this
meeting. He advised that they had requested a couple of changes, which would be
discussed by counsel. He stated that the Agency is clearly in a situation where if they
want to move forward with restoration of the 303 West Third Street building, then they
will be required to meet the State's request with regard to the issues on the Superblock.
41
4/2/2001
Special Counsel Sabo outlined the changes being requested by the State as
follows: They would like the letter to be addressed to the correct person by name, Mr.
Michael Courtney; in the third to the last paragraph they inadvertently deleted the
words, "the Agency" in the 8th line; and the other change they made was deletion of the
next to the last paragraph, which talks about what happens in the event the agreement is
determined to be unenforceable, that we would revert back to the original agreement.
He noted that whether we say that or not, that is what would happen. He stated that he
had no questions or concerns about the changes they were proposing.
Council Member Lien questioned whether it was such a great loss that we would
not get a new building at this time, but rather we would get the restoration of the older
building.
Mr. Van Osdel stated that professionally speaking, he did not have a problem
moving ahead without any time frame in which the State would build a tower, because
staff realized when they built the first tower that a lot or privately owned buildings went
vacant. He stated that the Council could anticipate that when the time comes and the
second tower is completed, that the 30,000 square feet at the old Mervyn's will
suddenly become available because they have moved into the second tower. He stated
that, in his opinion, when they build these massive towers it is a detriment to private
enterprise.
Council Member Lien asked whether the proposed location of the second tower
was where they are currently providing a kind of natural landscaping, and Mr. Van
Osdel answered in the affirmative. She stated she could not tell how many complaints
she had from people about that--only because our City has so many vacant lots that they
can't appreciate that area from a landscaping perspective as open space. To these
people it looks like a vacant lot, and she thinks we need to have some discussions with
them relative to rethinking that landscaping. Only a couple of people have said they
like it, and almost everybody believes that they just don't take care of it.
Council Member McGinnis stated that basically the State is just going to hold us
hostage if we don't meet their terms, and inquired whether there was any way to sue
them to complete their process.
Mr. Sabo stated that it was his understanding from a conference call that Mr.
Van Osdel had with some representatives from the State that the removal of this
condition is going to be a condition of their extending the 303 West Third Street escrow
any further--that they want this all wrapped up as part of one comprehensive transaction
where they will allow the 303 building to be sold, they will allow the monies to come
back to us to pay down the debt, and at the same time they would be relieved of this
obligation.
42
4/2/2001
Council Member McGinnis again asked whether the City could sue them.
Mr. Sabo stated we could always sue them, as they will soon be in default under
the five-year provision under the 1996 agreement, but if we do that, we will not have
the 303 building unless we would just take a risk that they would still go ahead with the
303 building while we're trying to resolve issues on the 1996 agreement. He added
that the 303 building is not ours, but we receive a good portion of the proceeds from
that, plus that is what we already committed for the 108 loan. In addition, once it is on
the tax rolls, there will be well in excess of $100,000 of tax increment coming back to
the Redevelopment Agency, so we do have some motivation to move forward with the
303 building to get that back on the private tax rolls.
Council Member McGinnis asked Mr. Sabo if he thought the State had this in
mind all along when they agreed to all of the things that the City was going to get, and
then all of a sudden we are held hostage and have to remove all those things.
Special Counsel Sabo stated that back in 1995-1996 when that construction
management agreement was being negotiated, he was part of those discussions; and he
thinks they truly did believe that there would be the initiation of the second phase
building within the next few years once they completed the first phase. The
construction drawings had been started for the second phase building, and they had
always hoped that they could find enough other tenants that could be relocated into that
second building. Even five or six years ago they were still looking for the EDA to
sublease maybe one or two floors and perhaps have the County sublease another floor,
because there was always the concern of whether they would have enough credible
mass to warrant a six story, 200,000 square foot, second office building. He stated it
was his belief that they intended in good faith back in the mid-'90s to try and put
together the makings of a second building with enough tenant mass.
Council Member McGinnis stated that it is obvious that somebody intends to fill
up the 303 building, so they are not worrying about building another tower because this
building is going to fill up with tenants.
Mr. Van Osdel pointed out that per the agreement with the 303 LLC, the
purchasers of the 303 building are precluded from putting State tenants in that tower, so
that wouldn't be an issue. In talking to the State, Mr. Nyland informed him that if
today they thought there were enough State employees in this general area to justify the
second tower, it would be five years before you would ever see the beginning of
construction. They don't have anywhere near the volume of State employees to justify
making a move at this particular point in time, and they don't know when it would be
and they don't want to continue to be hanging on an arbitrary type deadline. Secondly,
relative to the size of the building, Mr. Nyland indicted to him that if today they found
they could justify development of 150,000 square feet and wanted to get going based on
43
4/2/2001
the arbitrary agreement calling for 195,000 square feet, they could not proceed. So
they basically want to get rid of those arbitrary sizes and deadlines and base the
ultimate construction at a point in time when a number of State employees in and
around the community justifies its construction.
Mr. McGinnis asked that if the State winds up building a State building in
Ontario, or a State building in Riverside, would that not be a State building that could
have been built here?
Mr. Van Osdel stated that according to the conversations staff has had with the
State, with Mr. Nyland, and a year ago with State representatives in the Mayor's
Office, they have confirmed and committed to us that they have no intention of going
anywhere else with a State building--that when the need arises they intend on fulfilling
what they made as an obligation to build that second tower.
Mr. Van Osdel reiterated his personal, professional opinion that some members
of the Council may think that the tower is a great thing and want to hold them to it and
sue them, but you're just going to end up with more empty buildings around downtown.
Mayor Valles asked what the implications were for the other Caltrans building
insofar as the demolition and making room for the new courthouse--whether there were
any implications with that.
Executive Director Van Osdel noted that the agreement with Caltrans is a
separate agreement. He advised that they are in the process of going through the
environmental remediation--primarily the archeological and cultural. They have
discovered many artifacts, and they have asked that we consider amending the
agreement we have with them to extend the deadline by which they would transfer that
building to us. The agreement now would have them turning title to that property over
to the Agency by the end of this year, free and clear of the structure, and ready to
build; however, they have asked that the time be extended to late fall of the year 2002.
Council Member McCammack stated that she believed the Council had more to
gain by going forward with the proposed form motion and she would make that motion
to amend the agreement, with the changes that Mr. Sabo had presented to the Council.
She stated that she thought the City had more to gain than we have to lose in terms of
getting the 303 building remodeled and filled, and if the State needs additional office
space, we've got plenty of empty office space that they can fill.
Council Member McCammack made a motion, seconded by Council Member
Lien, that the Community Development Commission approve the form of the attached
Letter Agreement to be executed by the Chairperson on behalf of the Agency to amend
the 1996 Construction Management Agreement between the Department of General
Services and the Agency to delete the requirement for the construction of the Phase II
44
4/2/2001
State Office Building, with the following changes to the letter: address the letter to Mr.
Michael Courtney, insert the word "Agency" in the third to the last paragraph where it
was inadvertently omitted, and omit the next to the last paragraph.
Executive Director Van Osdel stated that by moving ahead with the 303
building, the Council will be taking a vacant building that is lying dormant, it will be
totally restored and occupied again. It will hopefully draw people downtown and put
the building back on the tax rolls. As Mr. Sabo indicated, it will create another
$100,000 per year tax increment to the Agency, which is income desperately needed by
the Agency.
City Attorney Penman stated that he wanted to indicate for the record, that his
office is conflicting off on this--that as general counsel at EDA there could be the
appearance of a conflict since one of the partners in this is Mr. Martin Matich who has
been involved in fund raising for various campaigns Mr. Penman has been involved in.
The motion carried by the following vote: Ayes: Council Members Estrada,
Lien, Suarez, Anderson, McCammack. Nays: Council Member McGinnis.
Abstentions: Council Member Schnetz. Absent: None.
RES. CDC/2001-14 SAN BERNARDINO ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT AGENCY RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING AN
AMENDMENT TO THE CONTRACT. (PERS Retirement Contract-
2% @ 55 for Agency Employees) (R23)
Executive Director Van Osdel advised that in September the Mayor and Council
approved amending the Agency's retirement contract to make available to the Agency's
employees the 2% @ 55. Last month the Mayor and Council adopted the resolution of
intent, and today they are being asked to adopt the final resolution necessary in order
for the amendment of the contract to be complete. The cost of this change will have no
impact on the Agency's budget or cash flow--it will be paid for out of the surplus PERS
funds already on hand with PERS--approximately $209,000.
Council Member McCammack made a motion, seconded by Council Member
Suarez, that said resolution be adopted.
Resolution No. CDC/2oo1-14 was adopted by the following vote: Ayes:
Council Members Estrada, Lien, McGinnis, Schnetz, Suarez, Anderson, McCammack.
Nays: None. Absent: None.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AGENCY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
VAN OSDEL & SPECIAL COUNSEL SABO EXCUSED
At 3:20 p.m., Economic Development Agency Executive Director Van Osdel
and Special Counsel Sabo left the Council meeting.
45
4/2/200 1
CITY ATTORNEY PENMAN & CITY ADMINISTRATOR WILSON
RETURNED
At 3:20 p.m., City Attorney Penman and City Administrator Wilson returned to
the Council meeting.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
(24)
Jay Lindberg, a resident of San Bernardino, spoke regarding the past practice
of disposing of nuclear waste at the former Norton Air Force Base, and a "Baby Teeth
Study," started sometime during the '50s which led to the termination of atmospheric
testing. He stated the circumstances surrounding the study are basically the same as we
might be seeing here from the dumping of nuclear waste, which then works its way
back into the food supply and is found as a cancer causing agent in children's teeth.
AUTHORIZATION TO SIGN ON TO PLEADINGS RELATIVE TO
PERMISSION GRANTED BY THE CALIFORNIA PUBLIC
UTILITIES COMMISSION TO PG&E AND SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA EDISON TO DEFER WORK ON RULE 20A
UNDERGROUNDING PROJECTS AS PART OF THEIR RATE
STABILIZATION PLANS (NBl)
City Attorney Penman advised that an e-mail was received today in the City
Administrator's Office requesting that the City join in filing some pleadings with the
City of San Francisco relative to the California Public Utilities Commission. He stated
he would like to ask that the item be considered as a matter that arose after the posting
of the agenda.
Council Member McCammack made a motion, seconded by Council Member
Anderson, and unanimously carried, that the matter arose subsequent to the posting of
the agenda.
Mr. Penman stated that basically the California Public Utilities Commission
recently granted to PG&E and Southern California Edison permission to defer work on
Rule 20A undergrounding projects as part of their rate stabilization plans. The City of
San Francisco just recently learned that PG&E was seeking to defer Rule 20A projects
and they were one of only a few jurisdictions that submitted comments. He noted that
there was going to be a conference call on Tuesday, April 3, at 9 a.m. to discuss the
legal arguments and the pleadings and San Francisco had received calls from
jurisdictions interested in submitting joint pleadings.
46
4/2/200 1
Mr. Penman stated that he thought the City had a project that would be affected
by this at the north end of town, and if the City was interested in signing on to the
pleadings they could be submitted bye-mail on official letterhead. They would be
looking to file two pleadings--an application for rehearing and an emergency motion to
prevent the utilities from deferring the projects.
City Administrator Wilson added that there are actually three projects that are
under consideration in the City which would be affected--the project on 40th Street, the
Mt. Vernon undergrounding project, and a project about to start on Third Street around
the depot.
Council Member McCammack made a motion, seconded by Council Member
Suarez, and unanimously carried, that the Mayor and Common Council authorize the
City Attorney to sign on to the pleadings relative to permission granted by the
California Public Utilities Commission to PG&E and Southern California Edison to
defer work on Rule 20A under grounding projects as part of their rate stabilization
plans.
CLOSED SESSION ANNOUNCEMENT - CITY ATTORNEY
PENMAN (Discussed earlier & later in the meeting - pages 1 & 49)
(1)
City Attorney Penman announced that during the morning closed session the
following additional case had been discussed and would be discussed again during the
afternoon closed session, under Agenda Item No. lA, Conference with legal counsel -
existing litigation pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9(a):
Alvarez & Associates, et al. v. City of San Bernardino, et al. - United States
District Court Case No. 00-03048 GHK (RCx).
Mr. Penman also announced that the Mayor and Council would be discussing a
possible lawsuit against Omnitrans relating to the presentation heard earlier today under
Agenda Item No. 1C, Conference with legal counsel - anticipated litigation - initiation
of litigation pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9(c).
RECESS MEETING - CLOSED SESSION (Discussed earlier & later
in the meeting - pages 1 & 49) (1)
At 3:29 p.m., the Mayor and Common Council and Community Development
Commission recessed to closed session for the following:
Pursuant to the Government Code Sections listed as Agenda Item Nos. 1A
through 1G on pages 1 through 3 of these minutes, plus the additional items announced
by City Attorney Penman, as indicated above.
47
4/2/200 1
CLOSED SESSION
At 3:29 p.m., Mayor Valles called the closed session to order in the conference
room of the Council Chambers of City Hall.
ROLL CALL
Roll call was taken by City Clerk Clark with the following being present:
Mayor Valles; Council Members Estrada, Lien, McGinnis, Schnetz, Suarez, Anderson,
McCammack; City Attorney Penman, City Clerk Clark, City Administrator Wilson.
Absent: None.
Also present: Senior Assistant City Attorneys Carlyle and Simmons and
Administrative Operations Supervisor Anderson, City Attorney's Office; Economic
Development Agency Executive Director Van Osdel and Special Counsel Sabo.
COUNCIL MEMBER McGINNIS EXCUSED
At 3:56 p.m., Council Member McGinnis left the closed session.
MAYOR VALLES EXCUSED
At 4:06 p.m., Mayor Valles left the closed session.
CITY ATTORNEY PENMAN, SENIOR ASSISTANT CITY
ATTORNEYS CARLYLE & SIMMONS, & ADMINISTRATIVE
OPERATIONS SUPERVISOR ANDERSON EXCUSED
At 4:16 p.m., City Attorney Penman, Senior Assistant City Attorneys Carlyle
and Simmons, and Administrative Operations Supervisor Anderson excused.
ADJOURN CLOSED SESSION
At 4:24 p.m., the closed session adjourned to the Council Chambers of City
Hall.
RECONVENE MEETING
At 4:24 p.m., Mayor Pro Tern Schnetz reconvened the joint regular meeting of
the Mayor and Common Council and Community Development Commission.
ROLL CALL
Roll call was taken by City Clerk Clark with the following being present:
Mayor Pro Tern Schnetz; Council Members Estrada, Lien, Schnetz, Suarez, Anderson,
McCammack; Senior Assistant City Attorney Carlyle, City Clerk Clark. Absent:
Council Member McGinnis, City Administrator Wilson.
48 4/2/2001
CLOSED SESSION ANNOUNCEMENT - CITY CLERK CLARK
(Discussed earlier in the meeting - pages 1 & 47) (1)
City Clerk Clark announced that the following action had been taken by the
Mayor and Common Council in closed session:
Council Member Anderson made a motion, seconded by Council Member
Estrada, that as a result of the seven (7) count Felony Complaint filed by the San
Bernardino County District Attorney's Office against Jaime Alvarez, Marisela Alvarez
Labistida, Eunice Alvarez, Elena Alvarez Labistida, Gina Alvarez Bosch, Adrienne
Christine Holes, Hector Labistida, and Jason Omar Bosch, the related Declaration In
Support of Complaint And Warrants Of Arrest, and the related Search Warrant And
Affidavit, Alvarez & Associates has committed defaults and breaches of the
Acquisition, Rehabilitation Resale (ARR) Agreement by and between the
Redevelopment Agency of the City of San Bernardino and Alvarez & Associates which
are so pervasive and pernicious that they cannot be cured, corrected or remedied.
Accordingly, the Executive Director of the Redevelopment Agency ("Agency") of the
City of San Bernardino is hereby directed and authorized to forthwith terminate said
ARR Agreement effective immediately and to so notify Alvarez & Associates in
writing, attaching copies of said seven (7) count Felony Complaint, related Declaration
In Support of Complaint And Warrants Of Arrest, and related Search Warrant And
Affidavit to such written notification. The Executive Director shall also terminate the
ARR Agreement pursuant to the thirty (30) days notice under Paragraph 501(a) and so
notify Alvarez & Associates in the same letter.
Notwithstanding the immediate last sentence in the preceding paragraph the
Executive Director is further directed and authorized to notify Alvarez & Associates in
writing that as a result of such pervasive and pernicious defaults and breaches, the
Agency is canceling the six (6) HUD Escrows which are open and which would
otherwise have been required to have been closed if this termination had been without
default or breach.
The Executive Director is finally directed and authorized to notify Alvarez &
Associates in writing that as a result of such pervasive and pernicious defaults and
breaches, any properties identified or "bid on" by Alvarez & Associates for future
purchases will not be honored by the Agency and such properties will be placed back
on the "market" for other ARR contractors or participants to consider.
The motion carried by the following vote: Ayes: Council Members Estrada,
Lien, Schnetz, Suarez, Anderson. Nays: None. Abstentions: Council Member
McCammack. Absent: Council Member McGinnis.
49 4/2/2001
Council Member Anderson made a motion, seconded by Council Member
McCammack, that the Executive Director of the Redevelopment Agency ("Agency") of
the City of San Bernardino is hereby directed and authorized to forthwith notify in
writing all ARR contractors or participants who have entered into such ARR
Agreements with the Agency that, effective immediately, the Agency will not approve
any loan applications and/or release any checks involving the Mortgage Assistance
Program ("MAP") until it has conducted an independent examination of all documents
associated with such loan applications, including. but not limited to, one-on-one
conversations with each such loan applicant and external verification of all [mancial
data so submitted in connection with such requested loan assistance. These new
procedures will also be applicable to anyone else who wishes to avail themselves of any
loan assistance under the Mortgage Assistance Program.
That anytime a loan is made it will be reviewed by a loan underwriter
independent from the Agency, using standard and generally accepted principles of loan
underwriting.
The motion carried by the following vote:
Lien, Schnetz, Suarez, Anderson, McCammack.
Member McGinnis.
Ayes: Council Members Estrada,
Nays: None. Absent: Council
ADJOURNMENT (25)
At 4:29 p.m., the meeting was adjourned. The next joint regular meeting of the
Mayor and Common Council and Community Development Commission will be held
on Monday, April 16, 2001, in the Council Chambers of City Hall, 300 North "D"
Street, San Bernardino, California.
RACHEL G. CLARK, CMC
City Clerk
By !-'JA. ~ (/.4:f
Linda E. Hartzel
Deputy City Clerk
No. of Items: 26
No. of Hours: 8.5
50
4/2/2001