Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-10-2009 Minutes CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO 300 N. "D" Street San Bernardino, CA 92418 Website: www,sbcity.org Mayor Patrick J. Morris Council Members: Esther Estrada Dennis J. Baxter Tobin Brinker Fred Shorett Chas Kelley Rikke Van Johnson Wendy McCammack ~ MINUTES MAYOR AND COMMON COUNCIL AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO JOINT ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING AUGUST 10, 2009 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOARDROOM 201 NORTH "E" STREET SAN BERNARDINO, CA The joint adjourned regular meeting of the Mayor and Common Council and Community Development Commission of the City of San Bernardino was called to order by Mayor/Chairman Morris at 5:09 p.m" Monday, August 10, 2009, in the Economic Development Agency Boardroom, 201 North "E" Street, San Bernardino, California, Roll Call Present: Mayor/Chairman Morris; Council Members/Commissioners Estrada, Baxter, Brinker, Shorett, Kelley, Johnson, McCammack; City Attorney Penman, City Manager McNeely, City Clerk Clark, None. Absent: Council Member/Commissioner Estrada left at 5:48 p.m. and returned at 7:21 p.m. 1. Closed Session Pursuant to Government Code Section(s): A, Conference with legal counsel - existing litigation - pursuant to Government Code Section 54956,9(a), 08/10/2009 B, Conference with legal counsel - anticipated litigation - significant exposure to litigation - pursuant to subdivision (b) (1), (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 54957, 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, G, Conference with real property negotiator - pursuant to Government Code Section 54956,8, Note: The Mayor and Common Council did not consider closed session items at this meeting, 2, Budget Adoption Fiscal Year 2009-2010 Charles E, McNeely, City Manager, stated that he was in a position to make some final recommendations to the Council regarding funding for this upcoming year, and they have made some modifications according to what has been approved by the State, one of which is the proposed loan from the Redevelopment Agency (RDA), Mr. McNeely stated that the hit to the Redevelopment Agency has gone up to $11. 9 million, well beyond what was anticipated, As a result of that, staff has had extensive discussions with RDA about the original loan, and he believes they've come to an agreement about what they feel would be a comfortable amount in terms of a loan to the City, He stated that the initial loan amount of $5.4 million has been reduced to $1.3 million; they will participate in the loan program that is being offered by the State, and they have made some other adjustments that they believe have allowed them to balance the budget. Mr. McNeely stated that he is not requesting that the Mayor and Council adopt a budget today, He requested that staff go back and reformat the numbers, and assuming the Council is comfortable with the numbers that reflect the City's action relative to the State's budget, that they place this on the agenda for 2 08/1 0/2009 Monday, August 17, 2009, and direct staff to prepare the necessary resolutions consistent with the Council's direction for final action. He stated that one of the issues that has been discussed is the tow yard operation and that item is also being proposed to be placed on Monday's agenda, He stated that the committee met last week and voted on a recommendation that would impact the budget, so he wanted to gauge whether or not the Council wanted to move forward to include that item as part of the budget, He stated that if the Council were to decide to move forward with that, staff would meet with the City Attorney's office so they could provide legal guidance and then the Council could move forward with final adoption, The following documents were distributed, and Barbara Pachon, Director of Finance, provided a detailed overview of the information contained therein: . Fiscal Year 2009/2010, Preliminary Budget: City of San Bernardino, Charles E. McNeely, City Manager, and Barbara Pachon, Director of Finance, August 10, 2009 (PowerPoint presentation), Staff answered questions posed by the Council members regarding the twenty (20) Proposed Budget Savings Actions that were included as Attachments 1 and 2 of the PowerPoint presentation, Council Member/Commissioner Kelley requested that Measure 1 Fund balance information be provided to the Council. Council Member/Commissioner McCammack stated that the Council should know how much money is in every Development Impact Fee Fund, and requested that that information be provided to the Council in a separate document. Council Member/Commissioner Kelley made a motion, seconded by Council Member/Commissioner McCammack, that the Finance Department provide all Development Impact Fee Fund (DIFF) balance documents to the Council. The motion carried unanimously. Discussion ensued regarding the $1.3 million loan from the Economic Development Agency to the City and how it was going to be repaid, Council Member/Commissioner Kelley asked if the amount of the loan could be a little higher, if necessary, Mr. Marzullo stated that it could be, 3 08/10/2009 Council Member/Commissioner Kelley stated that if they knew the starting salary for one firefighter they could multiply that by 12 to determine how much money they would need to borrow in order to restore the 12 firefighter positions that were cut by the Council. Michael Conrad, Fire Chief, stated that the number they use when they calculate the value of a firefighter is $130-133,000 per year, and overtime is calculated as part of that cost, Staff responded by stating that the cost to restore the 12 positions would be $1.6 million, Fire Chief Conrad stated that if the Council wanted to fund some of those jobs, he would be more than happy to take them; however, he stated that he would want to be assured that he would not be faced with these same cuts six or eight months from now because so far no one has lost their job as all the cuts that have been made have been through attrition, Council Member/Commissioner Kelley stated that many members of the Council had stated that if an opportunity presented itself to restore those positions they would be happy to look at that, Council Member/Commissioner Brinker stated that he was one of the people who said that, but he pointed out that there is a difference between borrowing money to do something like that versus new revenue or an improved financial standing in the budget that would allow the City to do that. Council Member/Commissioner Kelley stated that initially the City was going to borrow $5 million so it shouldn't be a problem, Mr, Marzullo stated that they still do not know what the State is going to do and they are going into a budget season that's as unpredictable as they have had in the last couple of decades. Not knowing where their tax dollars are going to be they are projecting a five percent reduction in tax increment, and that could be more, but it's not likely to be less, He stated that they should know something by the first of the year, City Manager McNeely recommended that the Council adopt the budget as recommended and that they immediately sit down as a Council to talk about what they need to do to restore not only public safety positions, but also other critical positions across the board, 4 08/10/2009 Council Member/Commissioner Kelley made a motion, seconded by Council Member/Commissioner McCammack, that the City borrow just a little bit more money from the Economic Development Agency to restore the 12 fIrefIghter positions, The motion failed. Ayes: Kelley, McCammack. Nays: Baxter, Brinker, Shorett, Johnson. Absent: Estrada. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION R3, Budget Adoption Fiscal Year 2009-2010 Resolution of the Mayor and Common Council of the City of San Bernardino, California, authorizing the funding of various City of San Bernardino Fiscal Year 2009-2010 Public Improvement Expenditures and making findings and determinations as to the benefit to the various Redevelopment Project Areas for undertaking public improvements in connection with various City expenditures and approving other expenditures of Agency funds. (R3A) Note: No back up materials were distributed prior to the meeting, Resolution of the Community Development Commission of the City of San Bernardino, California, approving the Economic Development Agency's budget for the Fiscal Year 2009-2010 with any such amendments, changes and modifications that may be specifically authorized by said Commission, except for those portions of certain budget lines which are related to the Uptown Redevelopment Project Area. (R3B) Note: No back up materials were distributed prior to the meeting, Resolution of the Community Development Commission of the City of San Bernardino, California, approving the Economic Development Agency's budget for those portions of certain budget lines which are related to the Uptown Redevelopment Project Area for the Fiscal Year 2009-2010 with any such amendments, changes and modifications that may be specifically authorized by said Commission. (R3C) Note: No back up materials were distributed prior to the meeting, 5 08/10/2009 Resolution of the Community Development Commission of the City of San Bernardino, California, authorizing the funding of various City of San Bernardino Fiscal Year 2009-2010 Public Improvement Expenditures and making findings and determinations as to the benefit to the various Redevelopment Project Areas for undertaking public improvements in connection with these various City expenditures and approving certain other expenditures. (RJD) Note: No back up materials were distributed prior to the meeting, Resolution of the Community Development Commission of the City of San Bernardino, California, approving amendments to Exhibits "A" and "B", deletion of Exhibits "C-64" through "C-66" and Exhibits "C-87" through "C-89", and addition of Exhibits "C-93" through "C-114" of the Personnel Policies and Procedures for aU employees of the City of San Bernardino Economic Development Agency. (R3E) Note: No back up materials were distributed prior to the meeting, Resolution of the Community Development Commission of the City of San Bernardino, California, approving the Economic Development Agency's (" Agency") analysis and determination of the appropriateness of the planning and administration expenditures of the Low- and Moderate-Income Housing Fund for the Fiscal Year 2009-2010 Agency Budget. (R3F) Note: No back up materials were distributed prior to the meeting, Emil Marzullo, Economic Development Agency Interim Executive Director, stated that this is a very difficult year to project tax increment, it's difficult to project what the State mayor may not do, and it's difficult to tell when the economy might turn in a different direction. He stated that he approached the Council at the end of June with a budget of $109,6 million, but between then and now a variety of things have changed, At that time they had projected and budgeted a $2.5 million take in ERAF by the State, and since then the State has done a Supplemental ERAF that was $9,5 million initially and then changed to $12 million, Mr. Marzullo stated that $12 million is not a number they can realistically plan for, but he believes the State is basically grasping at straws this year, The take is wide-spread and it is impacting every other agency, He stated that they won a legal challenge on the ERAF take last year through the California Redevelopment Association so the State took a slightly different approach and they are taking it by going through tax increment tied to average daily attendance in school districts 6 08/10/2009 within redevelopment areas, He stated that this will be a challenge and he is confident that if there is an impact it will be to the Agency's advantage, He stated that if they do have a $12 million take, they will have several months to deal with it. He stated that the take has been advertised as a two-year take with the majority to come this year, and the secondary piece next year. The Auditor Controller will require them to give a report by mid-March to explain how they will payor not pay, in certain cases, the dollars, He stated that certain dollars are protected, Dollars that are under bonded indebtedness are protected by contract impairment clauses under the Constitution, Mr. Marzullo stated that the State could not touch their bonded indebtedness, but it could interfere with their ability to run a legitimate and thriving agency, If in fact the State does take the $12 million, next year will not only be difficult, it will be devastating, without some very heroic remedial action such as borrowing against their hard assets and maybe looking at some other financing mechanisms in which to survive for a few years, Mr. Marzullo recommended that the Council consider adopting the Agency's $109 million budget at their next meeting, and that staff bring it back in 90 days with recommendations based on the numbers that they know, and come back at least twice this year with modifications so the Council understands where they stand at that point in time and what their actions are, Council Member/Commissioner McCammack requested that the appropriate changes be incorporated into the staff report and provided to the Council. No action was taken on this matter. 4, Public Comments John Vach, San Bernardino, CA, spoke on behalf of tow operators in opposition to the proposed City operated tow yard, He stated that incorrect information had been provided regarding projected revenues, Warner Hodgdon, San Bernardino, CA, stated that he had a difficult time getting his hands on the backup for this meeting and suggested that the agenda and backup be made available to the public at least one week prior to each meeting, 7 08/10/2009 --"-I 5, Adjournment At 7:33 p,m" the meeting adjourned, The next joint regular meeting of the Mayor and Common Council/Community Development Commission is scheduled for 1:30 p,m" Monday, August 17, 2009, RACHEL G, CLARK City Clerk BY~ .Ja;iAfAAul./ Linda Sutherland Deputy City Clerk 8 08/10/2009