HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Min 2000-07-24
7-10-00 / 7-24-00
The Council reconvened at 8:52 p.m. with Mayor Campbell
calling the meeting to order. The City Attorney reported the
Council discussed the item identified on the agenda, no
action was taken.
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ADJOURNMENT
Consensus of the Council was indicated to adjourn the meeting
until July 24th at 6:30 p.m. to meet in Closed Session. By
unanimous consent, the meeting was adjourned at 8:52 p.m.
t Clerk and
the City of
clerk
Approved:
~dXicW~t~~
f),,~iJ);( ~
City Clerk
Attest:
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Seal Beach, California
July 24, 2000
The City Council of the City of Seal Beach met in regular
adjourned session at 6:31 p.m. with Mayor Campbell calling
the meeting to order with the Salute to the Flag.
ROLL CALL
Present:
Mayor Campbell
Councilmembers Boyd, Doane, Yost
Absent:
Councilmember Larson
Councilman Larson was present however out of the City Council
Chambers.
Also present: Mr. Dorsey, Acting City Manager
Mr. Steele, Assistant City Attorney
Ms. Yeo, City Clerk
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CLOSED SESSION
The City Clerk announced that the City Council would meet in
Closed Session to discuss the items identified on the agenda,
personnel matters pursuant to Government Code Section 54957,
and a conference with legal counsel relating to existing
litigation pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9(a).
The Council adjourned to Closed Session at 6:32 p.m. and
reconvened at 6:49 p.m. with Mayor Campbell calling the
meeting to order. The Assistant City Attorney reported the
Council had discussed the items identified on the agenda and
that no reportable action was taken.
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ADJOURNMENT
It was the order of the Chair, with consent of the Council,
to adjourn the meeting at 6:50 p.m.
o
clerk
I
Approved:
YJ~~
Attest:
Seal Beach, California
July 24, 2000
The City Council of the City of Seal Beach met in regular
session at 7:08 p.m. with Mayor Campbell calling the meeting
to order with the Salute to ~he Flag.
ROLL CALL
Present:
Mayor Campbell
Councilmembers Boyd, Doane, Larson, Yost
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Absent: None
Also present: Mr. Dorsey, Acting City Manager
Mr. Steele, Assistant City Attorney
Mr. Whittenberg, Director of Development
Services
Mr. Badum, Director of Public Works/City
Engineer
Chief Sellers, Police Department
Ms. Beard, Recreation and Parks Director
Ms. Yeo, City Clerk
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Councilman Boyd requested that Item "K" be removed from the
Consent Calendar for separate consideration, Councilman Yost
requested Item "J" be removed, and a member of the audience
requested Item "I" be removed. Yost moved, second by Boyd,
to approve the order of the agenda as revised.
AYES:
NOES:
Boyd, Campbell, Doane, Larson, Yost
None Motion carried
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
Councilman Boyd announced the passing of Buster DuBrock, a
member of Seal Beach Fire Department from its inception and
then the Orange County Fire Authority with service credit of
thirty years, an active participant in this community,
services in his memory to be held on wednesday. Councilman
Boyd requested that this meeting be adjourned in memory of
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Stanley "Buster" DuBrock. Mayor Campbell announced again the
mailing of the survey to College Park East residents on July
1st, the request was that they be returned by July 14th
however due to late delivery asked that they continue to be
returned to City Hall.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
Mayor Campbell declared the Public Comment period to be open.
Mr. Thomas Lazarak, judge advocate for the American Legion
and member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, spoke with regard
to the flag pole at the head of the municipal pier and the
inability to lower the flag without the use of a fire truck
and tall ladder, that evidently due to the potential for
theft or vandalism when the flag pole was put in place. Mr.
Lazarak informed the Council that there is now a lanyard lock
available that could be installed at the base of the pole
which is lockable and would allow tpe.lowering of the flag to
half-staff when necessary, and requested that the Council
take action to place a lanyard on the pole and purchase the
lock for same. Mr. Lazarak was informed that the Council
could not take action on a non-agendized issue, however
inquiry was made as to information and cost of the device.
Mr. Lazarak responded that he could provide that information,
the Acting City Manager also agreed to look into the request.
Ms. Dorothy Whyte, College Park East, questioned the number
of trees being taken down on Seal Beach Boulevard where
seventy percent were to have been saved, said the Mayor has
claimed to be against this development and campaigned for
open space, only open space is what there now is. Ms. Whyte
claimed that since 1992 the Mayor campaigned for open space
and no commercial, then mentioned a series of meetings held
at City Hall where she alleged discussion with Bixby for an
all commercial use of their property, said Bixby was given
guidelines for size and areas of development, Target,
Walmart, or K-Mart not a consideration, so how did the City
get a Target, Bixby then presented conceptual site plans for
review, when leaks of information to the people of College
Park East were perceived the meetings stopped, at a town hall
meeting it was said there was no truth that the Council
representative was engaged in talks with Bixby for commercial
development of their property, then a letter in July of 1996
from the Council representative to the Bixby Ranch Company
related to the review of information pertaining to commercial
development of two parcels of Bixby land, to which she
claimed even made reference to an automart. Ms. Whyte
accused the Council representative of falsehoods while others
were being accused of being on the Bixby payroll. With
regard to Mr. Till, Ms. Whyte said even if he was not liked
the majority of the Council has left the City in the hands of
a non-professional, even though she felt the Acting Manager
would do a good job, also a parking control employee is now
the Assistant to the Manager, this is a City Manager run City
however there are two members of the Council who want to run
the City. Ms. Sandra MacSween, north Seal Beach, stated she
had the opportunity to purchase a residence in the north of
Seal Beach just a block from a golf course, but now she will
be a block from a Target, that will be an impact on her
property value, the Council seems to focus on their area of
the community, the north of Seal Beach has its own way of
life, there was open space with the golf course and Navy
base, there are many children in that area, it will no longer
be safe to allow them to walk for ice cream. Ms. MacSween
said that the recent appeal for the trees and changing the
driveway locations was an insult to the residents. She said
every day she will have to look at the Target symbol just one
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block from her house, also, the Mayor will leave her position
being known as the 'Target' lady rather than the 'tree' lady,
and accused others of making false statements to her as well.
A recess was called',at 7:28 p.m. The Council reconvened at
7:30 p.m. with Mayof Campbell calling the meeting to order.
Ms. Seretta Fielding, Seal Beach Boulevard, nearly seventeen
year resident, responded to the previous comments that if a
Target were built in the 200 or 300 blocks of the Boulevard
there would be revenue to do something to that area of the
community that has looked terrible for a number of years.
Ms. Fielding said she realizes that the proposal for trees,
etc. for Ocean Avenue is to be done with private funding but
she would not want any funds diverted from the possibility of
improving the most in-need street in town which it has been
for at least seventeen years, it is time, barring the Musso
project, the beautification of Ocean or any street, that the
most in-need streets be taken care of, and requested that the
members of the Council become creative and find a way to do
that which has not come about in all of these years. Mr.
Riley Forsythe, Seal Beach, said he had hoped to create some
clever speech to convince the three members of the Council to
give Mr. Till his job back, however he is not a speech writer
or public speaker, merely a concerned citizen. Mr. Forsythe
said he and his wife chose to make Seal Beach their home some
twenty-one years ago and have watched it change, mostly for
the better, but keeping Seal Beach the wonderful little town
they discovered has always been a struggle, which it should
not be, the question is why is it a struggle, that is when
the elected officials are not working in the best interest of
the town, when their actions become self-interest. Mr.
Forsythe stated that the record shows that Mr. Till has been
good for the town, he turned finances around, he has been
tough, some employees did not like him, but tough is what was
needed, he may have been tough with the Council as well, now
the Council can bring in an easy, compliant City Manager,
someone who will not be honest with the Councilor argue if
he feels the ideas brought forth are too far out, who will
not rattle the employees, in his opinion it is not the job of
the Council to get involved with disgruntled employees, that
is not serving the City. Mr. Forsythe claimed that the
members of the Council fired Mr. Till for all of the wrong
reasons, for doing what he was hired to do, run the City
cheaply and efficiently and keep the Council on the right
path, serving Seal Beach, now, the Council is free to run
into trouble and the citizens will watch the destruction, the
only recourse is recall but all know what a difficult and
costly process that is. He said now it is time to return to
the struggle, there were eight easy years, but it is time to
prepare for battle, expressed his pride in Councilmembers
Doane and Yost for not joining this effort, his hope is that
Councilman Larson will drop the self-serving majority and
join the Seal Beach serving majority. Ms. Pam Sheldon,
College Park East, said she lives in Seal Beach because she
likes it, whatever is going on regarding the Boulevard is
going to happen and the people will have to live with it,
hopefully they will not have to look at dirt much longer, and
from earlier comments it appears there have been falsehoods.
She too applauded Councilmembers Doane and Yost, questioned
how one could learn enough about a person in a forty-five day
period to release them from employment, how many times did
Councilman Larson have conversations with Mr. Till, if on a
leave of absence maybe Councilmember Larson will reconsider
his decision and take the time to look at what that City
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Manager, whether he is personally liked or not, did for the
City professionally in the last three to five years, then
bring him back to finish the job he started. Mr. John
Unrath, Dogwood Avenue, referred to the letter previously
mentioned and identity of those who participated in meetings
in 1996, pointing out that Mr. Till was present at all of
them, instead of calling the new shopping area the Target
Center possibly it should be the Keith Till Towne Center.
Mr. Unrath made reference also to the letter supporting Mr.
Till authored by former mayors, citing his accomplishments
relating to water quality, beach maintenance, lifeguards,
Measure M monies, not much of which is seen for the much
needed resurfacing of Lampson, restructuring of water and
sewer, which increases the bills to the residents for many
years, Marina bridge, beach sand, refurbished pier restrooms,
removal of Bolsa Avenue power lines, most of which is for the
Old Town and Hill areas, not much for College Park East in
those accomplishments that Mr. Till was allegedly responsible
for. Mr. Unrath expressed his opinion that the Council did a
good job by allowing the Manager to leave with honor. Mr.
Gordon Shanks, Surf Place, said he would hope that the town
would get back together with some degree of unity, the
average life span for a city manager is about five years,
managers do most things properly and accurately and should be
commended for them but they must also maintain the respect of
those they report to, over the past couple years it has been
obvious that two members of the Council have not felt they
were being given the respect of leadership of following their
directives from Mr. Till, the Council changed, the new member
had been on the Planning Commission and was not unaware of
City politics given his experience as having been a city
attorney in a number of cities plus many other government
positions over the years, he is not unknowledgable of what it
takes to get support. Mr. Shanks expressed his opinion that
what is needed is five people who work together and have
confidence in a city manager, a manager that works with them
equally so that the Council feels they are a part of and have
equal access to the manager and city government, in this case
there were three people who felt they were not getting that
kind of support. Mr. Shanks stated that the community will
get through this, if Mr. Till is a good city manager there
will be good people under him that can carryon whether or
not there is an Assistant City Manager or Acting Manager,
that is part of leadership, if there was not that backup then
he would not have been good and deserves to be fired. He
asked that people work towards pulling the City together.
Mr. Ron Bennett, thirty-three year resident, mentioned that
some thirty years ago Lee Risner was fired, he went to La
Habra, was there for some twenty-five years, five years may
be the average but La Habra had the benefit of Mr. Risner's
abilities for twenty-five, the city manager before Till took
over the position of Mr. Risner in La Habra and hopefully he
too will be there for a long time. He noted that the Council
who voted out Mr. Risner was recalled or left town within a
short period, one stayed, in this case he can understand that
one Councilmember wanted more control, he does not understand
the Mayor, he is disappointed with the new member of the
Council as he felt he would be a great hope given his
background, experience, and abilities, being a city manager
is not a popularity contest. Mr. Bennett said he has heard
over and over that the treatment of the former Finance
Director was one of the reasons for releasing Mr. Till, and
explained in some detail his experiences with the then
Finance Director where he had done a project on Main Street,
was obligated to five installment payments for in-lieu
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parking, the first paid before the issuance of a certificate
of occupancy, subsequent payments due a year apart however no
billings for the payments were ever received, it was he who
approached the City to make the payments, at one point he was
questioned as to whether he had made the payments to which he
produced the canceled checks. Mr. Bennett said it was the
City's accountant that won the national recognition award
that never billed him and towards the end was not certain if
he had even paid, that would not be the case in another city,
if he was not getting billed how many others were not getting
billed. He concluded that if the removal from employment of
the Finance Director was one of the reasons to remove Mr.
Till, that was a mistake, a business can not be run that way.
There being no further comments, Mayor Campbell declared
Public Comments to be closed.
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CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEMS "A" thru "K"
Boyd moved, second by Larson, to approve the recommended
action for items on the Consent Calendar as presented, except
Items "I, J, and K", removed for separate consideration.
A. Approved the waiver of reading in full of
all ordinances and resolutions and that
consent to the waiver of reading shall be
deemed to be given by all Councilmembers
after reading of the title unless specific
request is made at that time for the
reading of such ordinance or resolution.
B.
Approved warrants numbered 28403 through
28636 in the amount of $758,042.65,
payroll demands numbered 8257 through 8463,
27691, payroll accounts numbered
9000320 through 9000332 in the amount of
$322,103.60, and authorized warrants to be
drawn on the Treasury for same.
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C. Approved the minutes of the regular adjourned
and regular meetings of June 26th, 2000, and
the regular meeting of July 10th, 2000.
D. Approved the First Amendment to Agreement No.
26745 for Animal Control Services between the
City of Long Beach and the City of Seal Beach
extending the term of the Agreement for one
additional year to June 30, 2001.
E. Received and filed the Building Department
Activity Summary for April, 2000.
F. Received and filed the Home Improvement
Program Status Report from Civic Stone dated
June 22, 2000.
G.
Received and filed the quarterly report from
the Police Department relating to the Daytime
Curfew Ordinance.
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H. Adopted Ordinance Number 1465 entitled "AN
ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SEAL BEACH ADDING
A NEW CHAPTER 20A TO THE CODE OF THE CITY
OF SEAL BEACH RELATING TO TREE PRESERVATION.
By unanimous consent, full reading of
Ordinance Number 1465 was waived.
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AYES:
NOES:
Boyd, Campbell, Doane, Larson, Yost
None Motion carried
ITEMS REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT CALENDAR
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ITEM "I" - ORDINANCE NUMBER 1466 - CODE ENFORCEMENT -
CITATION AUTHORITY
Mr. Joe Ribal, Seal way, said he believes that all agree that
safety and health issues come up on occasion that require
immediate attention in terms of resolution. Mr. Ribal said
he had some questions relating to this item, Councilman
Larson did not give a reason for his vote to not approve the
first reading, his belief is that sometimes people have good
reason to worry about a process that is simply reduced to a
citation and the potential of jail in the event of some
misunderstanding, lack of clarification, or other issues,
that might not happen but care needs to be taken to assure
that constitutional rights are preserved in this kind of
issue, not just hand a piece of paper to someone and call it
a citation and they do not demand to go before a
commissioner, when talking about misdemeanors they are
serious violations where there needs to be some protection
for those who may be accused. Mr. Ribal suggested there be
some community education as to the problems that usually
occur in terms of Code enforcement, as president of the Old
Town Rental Improvement Association since 1984, he continues
to be the chancellor of its funds as well as those of the
Seal Way Improvement Group, those funds still exist, none
have been spent, therefore he believes that he represents
some of the concerns of the Seal Way people where sixty-five
parcels exist, that area often a focal point of Code
enforcement attention, is true there are a number of problems
associated with these properties, a high level of absentee
ownership, a lot of things too that are not the personal
product of negligent owners, they are people that need to be
informed as to what is wrong. Mr. Ribal recalled that the
Mayor had requested some form of appropriate warnings. He
said this proposal is a powerful tool, in a democratic
society it needs to be watched carefully, people can not be
accused of misdemeanors and not have that recognized as a
criminal violation, his belief is that there needs to be some
type of process that provides in the final analysis some
judicial adjudication of. any differences, that could even
mean differences in interpretation of instructions to the
Planning Commission, differences that may involve negligence
on the part of City personnel in designating what should be
done. Mr. Ribal said in conferring with the Apartment
Association of Orange County the need is to develop a greater
community sense in terms of how to enforce areas of serious
violation of health and safety standards, and requested that
this item be held over for the period of a month to allow the
Old Town Rental Improvement Association and the Seal Way
Improvement Group to go over this proposal with City staff,
also try to enlist the Homeowners Association, this is
important, the desire is to have a city that conforms to
health and safety issues, rather than going about this in a
punitive spirit the attempt should be to gather community
support of a process that is reasonable and provides proper
oversight in the event of an employee that may go forward in
a direction that may not be consistent with the wishes of the
director, possibly this citation process should not be
relegated to a new employee but be signed by the director of
the planning and building departments. Mr. Ribal asked that
this item be held over until September, in the meantime
should there be health or safety issues they should be dealt
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with to protect the people, there are many violations in this
City, some may have been inadvertently created by the Council
itself and people that approve projects, it is known there
are things that do not purport to the Building Code, some
occurred due to the lack of diligence and competence of
inspection personnel. Ms. Reva Olson, Seal Beach, stated her
belief that the City has violated more of its own Codes than
have others, her concern is with civil rights issues, this is
typical to a police state, people should be allowed to
improve their properties, there are properties that are not
well kept and that should be corrected, she had no idea that
the proposed ordinance was so strong, the residents are not
aware of it, they have a right to know, Code enforcement has
been a controversial issue, so there should be more time for
review.
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Mayor Campbell advised that this is the second reading, the
issue has been researched, in fact there have been many
complaints because there has not been Code enforcement, this
will do something to resolve that. At the invitation of the
Mayor, the Director of Development Services noted the concern
with a violation being a misdemeanor, yet a violation of the
Code is presently a misdemeanor, this would establish an
infraction process with issuance of a citation, a lesser type
violation that allows a different avenue to achieve
enforcement rather than the current process of working
through the City Attorney's office on enforcement issues when
there is a difficult situation that is not easily resolved,
most Code enforcement issues are resolved fairly quickly,
unfortunately not all people respond in a timely manner when
the City brings an issue to them, those are the ones that
this process will aide in resolving sooner, also, the office
of the City Attorney has worked with the Council on this
issue for some time. Councilman Yost inquired as to the
judicial or appeal process if someone does not agree with the
infraction process. The Assistant City Attorney stated that
every violation of the Code goes through the last chance
process, that would be violations that are so egregious or
on-going that they can not be settled amicably, whether it be
an infraction or a misdemeanor it must go to municipal court
for judicial review, what is proposed is a different step in
the process to get to the municipal court stage, today in
Code enforcement situations if the Planning Department has a
difficult case that requires legal recourse the office of the
City Attorney is requested to file an infraction or
misdemeanor complaint with the municipal court, the complaint
is served on the violator, then there is a court appearance
to seek resolve. The Assistant City Attorney explained that
this proposes a different start to the process which allows
the Code Enforcement Officer or Building Officials to issue a
citation, similar to that for a traffic violation, it is a
notice to appear in court, but by no means is it a conviction
of a misdemeanor or infraction, it is an initial step in the
process to get to court, in most instances issues are
resolved before they finish the court process, again, the
citation is a determination of probable cause and notice to
appear. Councilman Yost mentioned that at present if there
is a violation it is necessary to request the services of the
Police Department, that is a much more heavy handed approach,
it was hoped that this process could be eased by allowing a
member of the Planning or Building staff to issue citations.
Ms. Olson mentioned that in the opinion of the Apartment
Association once a house is built it is in violation of the
Uniform Building Code. Councilman Boyd pointed out that the
City Code, the rules under which the City is run and does
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business, for years when there is a violation the process is
to take the individual to court with the expenditure of legal
fees to enforce compliance with the Code provisions, it is
felt this is a much simpler process, similar to receiving a
parking ticket, a means of enforcing the City Code without
bringing a police officer into the situation and utilizing
the services of the City Attorney's office. Councilman
Larson explained that he had voted no on the first reading
for reasons similar to those expressed by Mr. Ribal, there is
no rush to create easier ways to enforce the law, most people
who are dealing with a building or zoning problem think they
are running afoul of the criminal law, rather, it is merely a
civil problem with a building ordinance, to make sure that
the rights of people are protected you go with procedures
that are expensive some times, he has no problem using the
Police Department, they are trained, know how to handle
violation situations, how to address people, his concern was
that the Ordinance specified that anyone designated by the
City Manager could do this which could mean any number of
people having the ability to issue citations as that is much
easier than talking and trying to work out the problem.
Councilman Larson moved to hold this item over for a couple
of meetings to allow review by the people concerned.
Councilman Boyd seconded the motion.
AYES:
NOES:
Boyd, Campbell, D9ane, Larson, Yost
None Motion carried
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Mayor Campbell suggested that Mr. Ribal meet with the Acting
City Manager and the Director of Development Services.
ITEM "J" - COASTAL COMMISSION COMMENT LETTER - BOLSA CHICA
PROJECT
Councilman Yost announced that the Bolsa Chic a project will
be heard by the Coastal Commission at their August 9th
meeting in Huntington Beach, a major issue to Seal Beach, to
further develop the mesa could impact Seal Beach in a number
of ways. Mayor Campbell mentioned that a similar letter of
support of lesser housing units was recently sent to Governor
Davis from the City, that in response to a Bolsa Chica Land
Trust newsletter request, of which she is a member.
Yost moved, second by Boyd, to authorize the Mayor to sign
the proposed comment letter to the California Coastal
Commission regarding the Bolsa Chica project, specifically to
limit residential development on the lower bench of the Mesa.
Councilman Larson mentioned that he would be voting no for
the reason that he has no confidence in the California
Coastal Commission.
AYES:
NOES:
Boyd, Campbell, Doane, Yost
Larson
Motion carried
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ITEM "K" - RESOLUTION NUMBER 4822 - INVESTMENT POLICY AND
GUIDELINES - 2000/2001
For information of the public, Councilman Boyd mentioned that
each year the Council is requested to establish policy with
regard to the investment of idle funds, the objectives of
this policy is to ensure the safety of principal investments,
liquidity, and define yield, also authorizes the types of
investments, and each month a report is provided summarizing
the activity of the investment pool in which funds are
invested. He noted that the Council sets policies on-going,
that is the reason he brought forward the concept of a
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Council policy manual, this is the type of information that
should be made available to the public at each counter or
over the internet.
Boyd moved, second by Larson, to adopt Resolution Number 4822
entitled "A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
SEAL BEACH, CALIFORNIA, ADOPTING AND FILING THE ANNUAL
STATEMENT OF INVESTMENT POLICY AND GUIDELINES FOR THE FISCAL
YEAR 2000/2001." By unanimous consent, full reading of
Resolution Number 4822 was waived.
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AYES:
NOES:
Boyd, Campbell, Doane, Larson, Yost
None Motion carried
CITY ATTORNEY REPORT
There was no report from the Assistant City Attorney.
CITY MANAGER REPORT
There was no report from the Acting City Manager.
COUNCIL COMMENTS
In response to a comment by a speaker with regard to the
Towne Center, Councilman Yost stated that the issue of an
upscale shopping center related to Lowe's, it was frustrating
to lose that tenant, the reason it was lost was due to the
City of Los Alamitos, Rossmoor, and the Rossmoor Shopping
Center lawsuit and where Lowe's would not continue the
process under that situation, said he personally is not
totally satisfied with the Center, what will be there is good
but it could have been better, the project is smaller than
initially proposed, there are a number of traffic mitigating
measures, the uses along the Boulevard and Lampson are less
than had been proposed, the golf course is enlarged, there
will be a buffer between the homes and Rossmoor Highlands and
the commercial center. Councilman Yost expressed his
displeasure with the removal of the trees as well, seventy
percent were to have been saved, it looks like just the
opposite and he would ask that the City Manager verify that,
also ensure that those that are left will remain and be
watered. Councilman Yost said he has been in a difficult
spot for some time, he understands his fiduciary
responsibilities to the City and role as a councilmember, the
primary responsibility is to the taxpayers, something he
takes seriously. After the last meeting he pondered what he
could do to support the City Manager, whom he felt did a good
job, former mayors also felt he had done a good job, that led
to the preparation of the letter signed by the four mayors
citing the accomplishments of the Manager, intended to be
somewhat of a resume, however as with any collaboration
things often turn out to not be what was intended, in this
case the negative comments did not come from him yet his name
is on the letter, for that he offered apology. Distressful
also is the association between the leave of absence of the
City Manager and the issue surrounding the former Finance
Director, the two are juxtaposed, he reported having
discussed divulging this information with the City Attorney,
he would not be doing his job as being duly elected without
doing so, he did not vote for settlement because he felt the
City Manager did anything wrong, in fact he did not think he
did anything wrong, he voted to settle the matter because it
was necessary to litigate that particular issue and he had
been given information that the litigating party knew what
was transpiring in closed sessions, down to the dollar
amounts being discussed, the situation created was such that
he felt there could be several lawsuits including lawsuits
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against the City Council, his decision was that the least
expensive way to deal with the issue and the least
destructive to the City was to settle, otherwise he felt that
the City would have been in chaos as well as being very
expensive. Councilman Yost again stated his understanding of
his responsibilities, it is the people for whom he is
working, and will continue to do so. Mayor Campbell spoke to
public accusations that had been directed towards her. She
said during her first election she stood by her decision on
the Planning Commission, the Commission turned down the
residential project, after the election Bixby indicated
intent to close the tennis club and develop that site, the
people living on the west end of College Park East were
concerned that it would be commercial development, the City
Manager suggested a zone swap, seven acres of the tennis club
site which was zoned R/G for seven acres on the Boulevard,
that would have given Bixby seventeen acres of commercial,
discussions were held, Bixby came back with sixty acres of
development, then there were the accusations of secret
meetings, to that she said there were discussions for the
purpose of negotiating but there were no secret meetings,
other things said are also not true. She noted that a
speaker referred to her as the tree lady, some weeks ago she
noticed that the trees at the American Bank building were
gone, then a letter in the newspaper questioned where the
tree lady was when she was needed, yet nothing can be done
about people cutting trees down on private property, and when
the Bixby project was going through the process she tried to
save the trees on the Boulevard, she had spoken to the City
Attorney firm with regard to an appeal however the City
Manager assured her that it could be worked out, a later
attempt to save more trees and relocate driveways was also
overruled. To the comment that she wanted commercial all
along, the Mayor again stated that is not true, it is
unfortunate that some people go in the direction they do, she
has never told untruths to the people of College Park East
and there is no intention of starting now. Councilman Boyd
reminded that the meeting would be adjourned in memory of
Buster DuBrock.
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CLOSED SESSION
The Assistant City Attorney announced that the Council would
meet in Closed Session to discuss the items identified on the
agenda, a conference with the City's labor negotiator,
personnel matters pursuant to Government Code Section 54957,
and a conference with legal counsel relating to existing
litigation pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9(a).
The Council adjourned to Closed Session at 8:25 p.m. and
reconvened at 9:22 p.m. with Mayor Campbell calling the
meeting to order. The Assistant City Attorney reported the
Council had discussed personnel matters pursuant to
Government Code Section 54957, the Council granted a
temporary salary increase to the Acting City Manager to an
amount of $8,200 per month, and with regard to the matter of
existing litigation the Council gave direction to staff and
took no reportable action.
ADJOURNMENT
It was the order of the Chair, with consent of the Council,
to adjourn the meeting until Thursday, August 3rd at 4:00
p.m. By unanimous consent, the meeting was adjourned at 9:23
p.m. in honor of Buster DuBrock.
7-24-00 / 8-3-00
. y Clerk and
of the City of
clerk
Approved:
~~j~pjJ
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Attest:
Seal Beach, California
August 3, 2000
The City Council of the City of Seal Beach met in regular
adjourned session at 4:00 p.m. with Mayor Campbell calling
the meeting to order with the Salute to the Flag.
ROLL CALL
Present:
Mayor Campbell
Councilmembers Boyd, Doane, Larson
Absent:
Councilmember Yost
Councilman Yost arrived at 4:03 p.m.
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Also present: Mr. Dorsey, Acting City Manager
Mr. Barrow, City Attorney
Ms. Yeo, City Clerk
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Doane moved, second by Boyd, to approve the order of the
agenda as presented.
AYES:
NOES:
Boyd, Campbell, Doane, Larson
Yost Motion carried
PUBLIC COMMENTS
The City Attorney advised that to comply with the Brown Act
the City Council should provide an opportunity for the public
to speak on any items on the agenda at this time. There were
no public comments presented.
Councilman Yost arrived at 4:03 p.m.
CLOSED SESSION
The City Attorney announced that the Council would meet in
Closed Session to discuss the items identified on the agenda,
a personnel matter pursuant to Government Code Section 54957
and a matter of existing litigation pursuant to Government
Code Section 54956.9(a). The Council adjourned to Closed
Session at 4:04 p.m. and reconvened at 5:08 p.m. The City
Attorney reported that the Council met in Closed Session to
discuss the items previously identified, and in Closed
Session accepted the resignation of Mr. Keith Till effective
as of 5:30 p.m. this date, no other action was taken.
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