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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Min 2004-06-07 5-24-04 / 6-7-04 Larson moved, second by Antos, to fill the vacancy by the appointment process, using the timeframe outlined by the City Manager. AYES: NOES: ABSTAIN: Antos, Larson, Ybaben, Yost None Doane Motion carried I PRESENTATION Mayor Yost presented Councilman Doane with a Seal Beach City Plaque and an engraved glass piece expressing the City's appreciation for his service from 1998 to 2004. Councilman Larson pointed out that Councilman Doane would be missed, he has been a beacon of history of Seal Beach and historically of what should be done correctly by the Council. ADJOURNMENT It was the order of the Chair, with consent of the Council, to adjourn the meeting in honor of Councilman Bill Doane, until Monday, June 7th, budget study session at 6: 00 p.m. By unanimous consent, the meeting was adjourned at 8:20 p.m. clerk I APP<OV'd'~ ~ Mayor Attest: ~d4 ~ l/)c0u . City Cerk Seal Beach, California June 7, 2004 The City Council of the City of Seal Beach met in regular adjourned session at 6:00 p.m. with Mayor Yost calling the meeting to order with the Salute to the Flag. ROLL CALL Present: Mayor Yost Councilmembers Antos, Larson, Ybaben None One I Absent: Vacancy: Also present: Mr. Bahorski, City Manager Mr. Barrow, City Attorney Mr. Whittenberg, Director of Development Services Mr. Danes, Director of Public Works/City Engineer Ms. Arends-King, Director of Administrative Services Ms. Yostuya, Assistant City Manager 6-7-04 Chief Sellers, Police Department Captain Pounds, Lifeguard Department Ms. Gonzalez, Accounting Manager Mr. Cummins, Associate Planner Mrs. Devine, City Clerk BUDGET WORKSHOP I Presentation - Proposed Budget Fiscal Years 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 The City Manager outlined the process for adoption of the budget as required by the City Charter, by law the budget needs to be adopted by June 30, 2004. The Manager mentioned that a Town Hall meeting had been held, staff briefed the local newspapers, the proposed budget was posted on the website, copies were available for review in the libraries and the City Clerk's office, and available for purchase at the Finance Department. A powerpoint presentation of an overview of the budget was the same shown at the Town Hall meeting, all budget documents and presentations on file in the Clerk's office. The Manager stated the proposed budget . seeks to address the need for a street improvement, a significant concern of residents, yet maintains fiscal stability, the proposed budget absorbs retirement increases and State revenue cuts without a loss of services. He advised that reduction of the Utility User Tax to six percent would cause a loss of $2.1 million and could only be accomplished through significant reductions in programs, services, personnel, and require shifting funds dedicated to street improvements to other areas to cushion the initial loss of revenues. It was noted that a public hearing would be held on the proposed budget prior to adoption. The Manager discussed the General Fund Five-Year Undesignated Fund Balance and the Analysis with Utility Tax Reduction Projections up to 2009. The three General Fund revenues are Utility User tax, Property Tax, and Sales Tax. The three expenditures are fifty-seven percent to Police and Fire and twenty-three percent Public Works Projects. Staffing numbers at the City level after the hiring freeze was dropped down to the seventies, question was raised as to the projected number of employees that would be hired by 2009, the Manager responded that there are no plans for increase in full time City staff, some part time maybe hired, new hires would be primarily in the Police Department, also, the City has been able to contract out some services the last few years. Another question was what has been the savings for contracting out and for what services, also, could the Council adopt a different retirement system for new hires in the Police Department. The City Manager explained that in regards to the retirement the City would need to meet with the employee associations to negotiate an agreement and the cost savings. I Utilitv User Tax Status Report The Director of Administrative Services gave a brief overview of the Utility User Tax, noted that according to the Ordinance it needs to be reviewed each time there is a new budget. The Director indicated that the amount of revenue is reduced every year because more seniors qualify for exemption under the income level of $37,676.00 or below and age 65 or older. The Utility Tax is the largest revenue source, about twenty-two percent, the projection is through historical data, and usage varies according to the weather and the utility use by residents. With a reduction to six percent I --..',.... 6-7-04 I the loss of revenue would be about $2.1 million, once reduced the Council could not increase the tax without a vote of the people under Prop 218, pointed out that the City did go to the people for street sweeping and tree trimming fee increases however they failed along with the opposition to parking meters, and cuts would need to be made to the budget before the Utility Tax could be reduced. Question was raised as to what other cities include in their Utility Tax, to which the Director responded that water and sewer was applied to their Utility Tax and reduced percentage of Utility Tax with added water and sewer would not be a savings to the residents. Capital Improvement Prooram - CIP Presentation The Director of Public Works/City Engineer gave the Council a brief report on the five-year Capital Improvement Program (CIP) projects completed in 2003 and the Master Plan/Condition Assessments. The Director explained the next five-year proposed improvements and stated that the majority of funding allocated to both water and street/transportation are grant-funded projects while the water utility now has an adequate funding stream to provide capital replacement for its failing infrastructure. Regarding funding sources, sixty percent will come from outside sources, only one percent will come from the General Fund and five percent from the Redevelopment Agency. I Pavement Manaoement Svstem Report The Director of Public Works/City Engineer presented the Pavement Management System Plan, pointed out that the City maintains approximately forty-three centerline miles of roadway that equals about two hundred twenty-five football fields. Sixty percent of the roadways are residential while the remaining forty percent are multilane arterial roads. The Director provided a chart that showed the percentage of pavement area and another chart that included the arterials, the majority of pavement area within Districts Three and Four, when arterials are subtracted Districts One and Four each have a third of the street area while Districts Two and Three comprise the other third, alleys were not figured into any resurfacing. Seventy-eight percent of the streets are surfaced with regular asphalt and seventeen percent use an asphalt/rubber hot mix. For a number of years the City did not perform any preventative maintenance such as Blurry seal, this was re-established in 1997, fifty-two percent of the money was invested in District Four, thirty-three percent in District Three, and twelve percent in District One. It would cost $80 million to replace or reconstruct the City's entire street network. The City Manager's office has proposed dedicating $1.86 million towards local streets in the next two years, this would advance the program by twelve and half years, streets are selected and grouped by areas for cost effective projects, using an alternative program for Old Town streets would save a considerable amount of money. The backlog cost, using the proper application of slurry seal, overlays, and reconstruction, it would cost approximately six to ten million dollars to bring all the streets up to good condition. The Council made brief clarifying comments. I Mayor Yost declared a brief recess at 7:09 p.m. The Council reconvened at 7:20 p.m. with Mayor Yost calling the meeting to order. 6-7-04 Buildino Facilitv Report The Director of Public Works/City Engineer explained that the Facility Condition Assessment is a detailed inspection and review of building conditions including mechanical, electrical, structural, architectural systems, and access for people with disabilities, incorporated into a Master Plan, the full Assessment Report was prepared by TEC Engineering Inc. is on file at City Hall. The Director mentioned that the City owns nineteen facilities, of that maintains eleven, the other eight are leased, the tennis facility was also assessed. Each facility was evaluated for building construction replacement value, deficiencies, Maintenance and Repair System (MARS), and cost estimates (Work Program). A good facility would be the Police Station, less than ten percent cost for repairs, a poor facility would be Zoeter School built in 1948 and would cost more to repair than its value. The City must maintain good facilities while repairing poor facilities. The Work Program is for infrastructure repair, bringing up to current Code and liability reduction, the Program is not for serious remodels or fancy upgrades. Available funding from the General Fund for the two-year period is $62,600 for recreational and park sites, funding from Proposition 40 per capita and Roberti Z-berg totals $286,684. The preliminary figures estimate replacement value of the facilities at eighteen to twenty-two million dollars, and estimates backlog repairs at two to three million dollars, priority repairs relating only to fire, life/safety, and electrical would cost about three hundred thousand dollars, that does not include Zoeter School which would alone equal one million dollars in repair costs. At the conclusion. of the presentation the Director pointed out that although a backlog exists a steady course of maintenance repair needs to continue, a policy discussion needs to occur regarding the Zoeter School site, additional information from the Engineering Department will be provided at a later date, staff will also pursue grant funding to repair the community centers. One concern of Council was the amount of asbestos in the old Zoeter buildings and the need to have that assessed before any decisions are made. Upon conclusion of comments by the Council, Mayor Yost declared Public Comments open from the public, this is intended to be an informal forum, each person limited to three minutes, and the Council is seeking input from the community. I I PUBLIC COMMENTS Ms. Ellery Deaton, Seal Beach, stated her main concern is pavement management, police and fire services are the most important but infrastructure should be the next priority, even though the City is a service orientated business it cannot ignore the streets in Old Town that have gone beyond ugly streets to dangerous streets, this is a costly liability to the City. She questioned the cost of contracting for services and would like the Council to keep in mind the needs of the residents before they make any cuts, this would include police, fire, infrastructure, as well as lifeguards and beaches. Mr. Jim Caviola, Seal Beach, urged the Council to dissolve the Redevelopment Agency, also stated his concerns about the condition of curbs and gutters, the lack of funding from the City for trees, loss of potential funds by not participating the "pay to play" rezoning program of the State, and the fact that Ruby's is building another restaurant on Second Street at Pacific Coast Highway in the City of Long Beach. Ms. Sue Corbin, Seal Beach, questioned funds set aside last year for meetings with the public that did not happen, the pUblic needs to have a chance to give I ".~~,~.....:f''j. ;~':f.~'.v..;, 6-7-04 I their input on all issues, the City needs to be more responsive to the public. Ms. Corbin stated she believes there are too many urgency agenda items, that City Hall works in codes to hide things from the public, the Council is responsible to know what is happening with the contracts and check all warrants being paid, should also conduct a personnel cost analyst. Mrs. Barbara Barton, Ocean Avenue, said she would like to make a plea to the Council to seriously consider the streets and curbs in Old Town and have the Main Street merchants be responsible for cleaning the sidewalks. Ms. Joyce parque, Seal Beach, said that most of the tax money the residents pay goes towards the pensions for the Police and Fire Departments and other City personnel expenses, the Council needs to evaluate where the money should go such as repair of streets, picking up trash and cleaning the beach, and water the trees on Main Street. Dr. Robert Goldberg, Seal Beach, provided a letter to the Council outlining his opinions regarding the budget, he praised the staff for the comprehensive, well organized, and clear written documents, expressed his support of the City Manager's recommendation to not lower the Utility Tax at this time, and allocation of $2.4 million from the General Fund to Capital Improvements. He suggested that the Council consider the following objective information in selecting which unfunded projects will be done of the forty-five projects listed; a) a complete description of the project, b) a discussion as to why the project is necessary or desirable, c) a listing of the consequences to the City for failure/delay in completing project including risk of harm to person, increased future costs, and non-compliance with regulations, and d) there is potential for funding with grants, enterprise funds, State bonds, or other non-General Fund sources. There being no other speakers, Mayor Yost closed Public Comments. I I COUNCIL COMMENTS Mayor Yost explained that the Council had a choice of going over the budget page-by-page, department-by-department or just asks specific questions of staff. The Council made a few comments then decided to take additional time to review the Pavement Management document just received, an opportunity to think about the presentations and comments made, and to not review line by line but look at the big picture. Mayor Yost also mentioned that the City has a vacancy on the Council at this time and should schedule a team building session to ascertain what the needs are for all of Seal Beach before giving direction to the City Manager, and before adjourning requested that staff bring back a short report in response to some of the concerns stated by Council and the public. The. City Manager explained that the Council has the ability to pass the budget then make amendments thereto as changes take place, this is a living document, somewhat flexible, and the one decision that will have to be made is in regard to lowering of the Utility Tax that could make a significant difference in the budget. Councilmember Larson said after review of the budget document he has changed his decision to reduce the Utility Tax at this time. Mayor Yost advised that the Council will again discuss the budget at the next session, the public is welcome to attend and there will be time for comments. ADJOURNMENT It was the order of the Chair, with consent of the Council, to adjourn the meeting to Tuesday, June 8t~, 2004 at 6:00 6-7-04 / 6-8-04 p.m. to continue the budget workshop. By unanimous consent the meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m. >t. ~ ilu~/ c~~}~rK an ex-officio clerk of the City of Seal Beach I Approved: wtt:: ~tf!, ~(~4C1 Attest: Seal Beach, California June 8, 2004 The City Council of the City of Seal Beach met in regular adjourned session at 6:03 p.m. with Mayor Yost calling the meeting to order with the Salute to the Flag. ROLL CALL Present: Mayor Yost Councilmembers Antos, Larson, Ybaben None One I Absent: vacancy: Also present: Mr. Bahorski, City Manager Mr. Barrow, City Attorney Mr. Whittenberg, Director of Development Services Mr. Danes, Director of Public Works/City Engineer Ms. Arends-King, Director of Administrative Services Ms. Yostuya, Assistant City Manager Chief Sellers, Police Department Captain pounds, Life Guard Ms. Gonzalez, Accounting Manager Mr. Cummins, Associate Planner Mrs. Devine, City Clerk BUDGET WORKSHOP I The City Manager and the Director of Public Works responded to some of the issues brought up at the Budget Workshop Session on June 7th: . Ruby's Restaurant update plans are being looked at by the Coastal Commission . Zoeter.Place full staff report regarding the third amendment transfer will be presented at the June 28th Council meeting