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05-02-1966 - Regular Meeting - MinutesMINUTES OF THE ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL CITY OF WEST COVINA, CALIFORNIA MAY 2, 1966 • The adjourned regular meeting of the City Council was called to order by Mayor Krieger at 7:30 P.M. in the West Covina City Hall. Councilman Gillum led the Pledge of Alle- giance. ROLL CALL Present: Mayor Krieger, Councilmen Gillum, Snyder, Gleckman Chairman McCann, Commissioners Adams, Mottinger Others Present: Mr. George Aiassa, City Manager Mr. Hobert Flotten, City Clerk &.Administrative Assistant Mr. Herman R. Fast, Public Services Director Mr. Harold Joseph, Planning Director 4} Absent: Councilman Nichols Commissioner Travis Mr. Harry C. Williams, City Attorney AZUSA AVENUE EXTENSION AGREEMENT City, County, State • City Manager, Mr. Aiassa: I would like a letter addressed to Mr. Templin, County Road Commissioner from me dated April 29, 1966 spread in full in the Minutes and approved, ratified, and confirmed by the Council. We have a slight conflict with an original agreement be- tween the County and the City and we are going to have an amended agreement. I would like to have this letter clearly expressed in the Minutes. Motion by Councilman Gleckman, seconded by Councilman Gillum, and carried, that the letter to Mr. Templin dated April 29, 1966 over Mr. Aiassa's signature referring to this matter be approved, ratified, and confirmed; that said letter be spread in full in the minutes.. (The following is a letter addressed to Mr. N. H. Templin, Road Commissioner, Los Angeles County Road Department, P. 0. Box #4089, Los Angeles, California 90054 addressed April 29, 1966 signed by Mr. Aiassa:) "Subject: Azusa Avenue from Francisquito Avenue to Amar Road and at Walnut Creek Local. Agency -State Agreement.UE-634+1 Project Dear Mr. Templin: This letter is to clarify any future problems or misunderstandings pertaining to the City of West Covina's share of participation on the subject agreement. An amended agreement will be submitted to the City of West Covina.in which the amount of City participation on this project will be $275,000.00. This is as • per our telephone conversation of April.29, 1966. The City Council will execute the State agreement, as is, and a new agreement will supercede the previous agreement approved by the City of West Covina as outlined above. Thank you for your splendid cooperation in this and other projects." -1- U C. C. 5/2/66 Page Two RESOLUTION NO. 3359 The City Manager presented: ADOPTED "A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WEST COVINA AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CITY CLERK TO EXECUTE A THREE PARTY AGREEMENT FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF A PORTION OF AZUSA AVENUE WITH THE STATE DIVISION OF HIGHWAYS AND THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES" Mayor Krieger: Hearing no objections, we will waive further reading o.f the body of the resolution. Motion by Councilman Gleckman, seconded by Councilman Gillum, that said resolution be adopted. Motion passed on roll call as follows: Ayes: Councilmen Gillum, Snyder, Gleckman, Mayor Krieger Noes: None Absent: Councilman Nichols Said resolution was given No. 3359. ADDENDUM TO AGREEMENT FOR ENGINEERING SERVICES 1964 L.A. COUNTY FLOOD CONTROL DISTRICT STORM DRAIN REGIONAL PROJECT Lockman & Johnson Engineers (Approval of $15,076.08 payment) Motion by Councilman Snyder, seconded by Councilman Gleckman, to approve the payment of $15,076.08 for the flood control district storm drain regional project to Lockman and Johnson Engineers. Motion passed on roll call as follows: Ayes: Councilmen Gillum, Noes: None Absent: Councilman Nichols RETIREMENT STUDY Snyder, Gleckman, Mayor Krieger Motion by Councilman Gleckman, seconded by Councilman Snyder, and carried, that the contract regarding --this matter be referred to the City Attorney and to Mr. Harry Church to check out the proposed contract and also the ordinance and to have this ready for introduction at the meeting of May 9, 1966. SELECT ADDITIONAL DATES FOR COMMISSION INTERVIEWS Mayor Krieger:. I believe there have been fifteen interviews scheduled for -Wednesday evening and we are already beyond our allotted time for interviews so I am suggesting that we schedule at this time an additional date so the staff can notify those peo.p.l.e who went beyond the number that we can handle in one evening to return. I would suggest the evening of May 10, 1966. (No objections voiced.) May the loth will be the evening for additional commission interviews. Motion by Councilman Gillum, seconded by Councilman Gleckman, and carried, to schedule additional interviews on Tuesday, May 10, 1966 starting at 7:30 P.M. -2- C. C. 5/2/66 Page Three GENERAL PLAN UPDATING (Joint meeting with Planning Commission) • Mayor Krieger: Does the staff have any report in addition to the memorandum of April 22, 1966 that they wish to submit to the Council? City Manager, Mr. Aiassa: I think you were going to adjourn this meeting to a study session with the Planning,.Commission. Councilman Snyder: The previous General Plan required first a land use study report which I believe took a great deal of time. Is the updating going to require another land use study report or an updating of the previous one? City Manager, Mr. Aiassa: When the first plan was undertaken we didn't even have a base map. After that, a land use study was made. That is now probably outdated since 1962 and it will have to be brought up to date. I think the staff has discussed this orally with some of the consultants as to the scope of the work that will be involved. You also have a problem of new additional areas that -have been annexed that have not been partof our General Plan.. Councilman Snyder: Since the General Plan is, in effect, a policy statement, my .personal feeling is that the majority of the work should be done by the staff only retaining outside consultants for aid because a.policy statement should be formulated by our staff because they can best reflect the wishes of the Council and the wishes of the peopl.e.in the City. • Mayor Krieger: Y g Do you have any procedural objection to inviting at this stage in our agenda. -the participation of the Planning Commission in our discussion? I know of no necessity that we adjourn to a study meeting if it is the will of the Council that the Planning Commission participate at this stage in this discussion. Is there any objection to this? (No objections voiced.) Councilman Gleckman: On Page 1 the staff comments they feel they are competent to work on the General Plan but to do so with the present manpower would require the setting. -aside of many important projects. Is there some specific project that they are working on that are of such impor.tanc.e that you feel we would-be overburdening them .wi.th. the job? Chairman McCann: Of course, the workload is considerable for the Planni.ng.D.e.partment_.. There is no question about that. Of course, there are several project.s .that... we have been quite interested in ..getting done that we haven't been able to get out because of the workload. .If we super- impo.se...this. we are go.ing...to..take.away.a lot of the work they normally have to perform. Commissioner Mottinger.:. I would agree with Dr. Snyder so far as trying to -get -the Plannin.g...Dep.ar.tment to.do as much of this pr.oj.ect as possible. I think the concept is fine but we have to keep in mind the work load and in this particular matter I think we...are going to have to depend on the City Manager and the Planning Director to determine exactly how much this load is and how much they can handle. • Commissioner Adams: I know we are getting quite a spread between two of the consultants insofar as the time it would take them to do the work. I feel there are certain functions that the staff could do best. They are more familiar at this point with many of the considerations that would..go. into this study.. ...I..would...t.hink if we .can come-up.with.a target date that we would like to be shooting....f.or .t.hen..see if..we...can ,f.it.. the staff .into those areas where they could do the jo.b..as exp.ed.iti.ou.sly.and.p.erha.ps..as. well .or. better than one of the consultants. I would. -like to look at .the overall problem before we assign the particular facets of the work to the staff from the time standpoint particularly. -3- Co C. 5/2/66 Page Four Mayor Krieger: I have been struck by the fact that in the past . when we have retained outside consultants one of their immediatetasks is to become acquainted with the local situation. This is a time-consuming project in -itself and we have a situation here that we want tailor made to our requirements, not so much on the theoretical or philosophical, but a tailor- made proposal for utilitarian purposes in our community. I would tend to think that our own staff, p.ar_t.i.cularly in the Planning Department, ought to be the best equipped, perhaps not in nationwise prestige-, .but familiar with the local situation to the extent that we have confidence in them in matters of day-to-day business and I can't see where this should be distinguished dramatically from day-to-day business. There is the pro.blem...that balancing the requirements of performance with the regular duties that they have to perform regardless.._..Pe.rhaps.at.least in my mind we might be able to accomodate the situation by supplementing the staff itself., even on a temporary basis if it is possible to .accomodate the regular work load that they have .as well.as imposing this additional burden on them rather than to bring in these men from the outside -who -are as you can see from their quotations, expensive and understandably so, but 'I think we would get a better dollar return for our money invested if we were to approach it through our own staff with whatever supplement we needed there and then to bring this complete stranger to the situation which at least in our minds may be unique to the City of West Covina. • U Councilman.Snyder: I would certainly agr.ee..wit.h.that. I am not convinced that we need too many outside con- sultants. In some respects, we already have a base study being..pre.pared which will certainly supplement the General Plan and I am wondering also if just' adding to our Planning Department staff wouldn't answer the question instead of hiring outside consultants. I do feel that one thing the City Council should do before we commence the General Plan is to update what was the old Preamble of the present General Plan. This can be a guideline around which whoever does the work can follow. City Manager, Mr. Aiassa: There are possible funds at the Federal level and I think this should be explored. When we did the first General Plan in 1960 we were able to have a participation between the State and the Federal Government and the.City and it.only cost this City about $6,250.00 plus staff time and we had a $25,000 survey report made. This could be of assistance to us. Councilman Gillum: I agre.e.wi_th Mr. Krieger and Dr. Snyder. I think our planning people in the Planning Department are closer to our problems. This money from a Federal agency is under what -department?. City Manager.,.-Mr...Aiassa: It.probably would come under one of their urban renewal or urban redevelopment programs. I think the first money was 701 & 702 monies. There were no strings attached. Mayor Krieger: I would be interested in knowing about the availability of such funds, not that we might use them, but I think the fact should be in evidence if it is a fact that such monies are available. Chairman McCann: I have a lot of confidence in the staff but it is a matter of. .workload--and.-how-expeditiously. this updating should be done. If it is to be done with any dispatch, I. think it requires supplementing the organiza.tion_to..do .it_.. Commissioner Mottinger..:.....__ It seems to me we need to establish what the perimeters of this pr.ojec.t would be. We had a rather well developed comprehensive General Plan a few years back and in that case this would be in the nature of upgrading. At least you have a format upon which to work. -4- C. C. 5/2/66 Page Five Commissioner Adams: I would like to see a statement of work pre- pared by the staff outlining the program as they see it, the work to be accomplished, and a realistic time schedule within which they think they could do the work that would be brought to the Commission as to discussions on this. I think if we could honestly make a recommendation that we felt the staff had the time and could do the work we could certainly recommend such a program to the Council. Public Services Director, Mr. Fast: The staff made a basic recommendation to go to a consultant. We did not make a study in depth on a statement of work or schedule for.the mere fact that we made an assumption that the General Plan should be turned out in a period of 12 to 18 months. In a 12-to-18- month period in order to do it in the house it would probably require in order to keep the everyday business going in the City from the Planning Department standpoint, it would probably require the acquisition of two to four personnel. The retention of two to four personnel for a year to two years is not too easy a task to do. On the basis of a realistic time schedule and turning it out in a time that will be a timely fashion and also facing the realistics of getting additional personnel, for this reason we recommended the consultant. If the Commission feels so strongly -about doing this in house I think that we can certainly.---turn-out a.p.lan which.wi.l.l..show the impact on our currently. p.ro.pos.ed._px.iorities__and.. how..we-would . recommend .that this General Plan then be done in house with.some supplementation from the outside. in areas where we felt we needed support ...... Ther.e. i.s one. point and that is that we feel after having talked to certain .p.eo.p.l.e_.who ..are interested in the fi.eld.....and.havi.ng...lo.oked at it in de.p.th.and loo.king..a.t where the City.wa.s..i.n...19..60....and.where. *the City. is in 1966 and what we have to look forward to, we feel the idea of updating.the General Plan • is out of the realm o.f realism. We went from.ten square.miles at that time to about twenty square miles for this General Plan. The population projection under the old General Plan.was 66,000 and now we are looking at 125,000 or more. All these things point towards a starting from scratch except for the fact that the staff certainly is very familiar with the community and very familiar with our hopes in regard to expansion. City. Manager,.Mr.. Aiass.a: I think the concept of starting.from scratch is. a little out of line.. I would say we have a Large..p.er_ce.n_ta.ge..o.f...work...done.as far as data, et cetera. I feel this is something the Planning Commission and the staff should get together and make a specific proposal to the Council. Mayor Krieger: I would feel the Council should give some indication to the Planning Commission as to which avenue it would prefer to have them:approach this so that they could take whatever steps the Council desires as an advisory body of this Council along such lines rather than operate in somewhat of a vacuum as to whether the Council wants an in-house proposal or not. Might not we this evening indicate to the Planning Commission what the thoughts of the Council are in the broad concept of approach and then leave it..to t.he.Pl.anning._Commiss.ion as our .advisory body to work with the staff .and bring back to the Council at, I hope, an early date how the policy or philosophy of the Council. in this regard ..mig.h.t..b_e. imp.l.emen.ted?. Councilman Gleckman: May I suggest. that the recommendation given to us by the staff exclude A and go directly • to B where the staff prepare a.scope of work setting.forth.,suggested objectives of. the planning program? Then .we could go. -immediately to D after they and the Planning Commission would work together to give -us some idea of the-wo.r-k.loadand how they propose to_adop.t.s.ame..and then -at that time. the City Council .and Planning Commission both look at.this .p.r_io.r.to. the Planning..Commission taking..it.apart with the Planning. Department..and.maybe at that time we will have a better idea as to what could be done, what time schedule, and what we would ask the Planning Commission to do at that time. -5- • C. C. 5/2/66 Page Six Mayor Krieger: In referring -to Step. B..and the initial step, did you intend to suggest that in preparing the scop.e.of work they give consideration to who is going to do the work? Councilman Gleckman: I was talking about strictly in shop. I feel I would rather have staff take a shot at it .and propose things to us with the idea of in shop and if at such time we feel it is getting out of hand we could..discuss it.amo.ng_..the..Co.uncil,..Commission and staff. Councilman Snyder: Having gone through the other General Plan, I feel certain that the staff can do the majority of the work but I think they are going to have to have a limited outside help. However, perhaps the staff can bring back under Step B a schedule showing whether they can".do it all by themselves or an alternate schedule showing a combination of staff and outside help. Mayor Krieger: I do have some positive recollections of instances in the past where we have retained outside consultants and somehow the threads of responsibility got lost as to where they fit into the big picture. I would hope if ultimately there is the vesting of the responsibility in the staff for this project in shop that any consultant work that the staff needs, requests.and is approved then by the Planning Commission and by the Council is with the understanding that this responsibility is the staff's to get out the work and we are not dealing with outside consultant as the policy -making body but dealing with them and their work project is their responsibility and they are responsible to us for the work product. Councilman Snyder: That is exactly what I said.. I am not convinced with the present -personnel it can be done by the staff and that they can obtain adequate additional personnel to do it purely in shop. Councilman Gleckman: I would like to see them ...get started and let them tell us what they feel after they outline it rather than us suggesting to them prior to any work being.done. Councilman Snyder: But they should be providing us also with an alternate. Mayor Krieger: Direct the staff to prepare.a scope of work outlining the..pro.s.pec.tive objec.tive:s of the p.l.anning...p.ro.gr_am...bo.th. _in__.sho.p__an.d_.any combination of in shop and outside consultants, and to pe.rpare and to submit jointly to the Planning Commission and the City Council such.a prospectus and for the Planning Commission and the City Council to review such proposal and to make a decision based upon the proposal.. Councilman Gleckman: Might I add that keeping in mind that we would like to progr.es.s...o.n.,.this..a.s ..r-a.p.idly as possible. Mayor Krieger: I was going to sugges.t...a..mo.t.io.n_.be framed by one of you -outlining these -proposals as policy and a date for a return and this date would be a concurrent date .for another joint • meeting with the Planning. -Commission... Councilman Snyder: City Manager, Mr. Aiassa: How long will it take to preparesuch a schedule? We could .probably do it in a couple of weeds. Thirty days would be more than adequate. -6- C. C. .5/2/66 Page Seven Motion by Councilman Snyder, seconded by Councilman Gleckman,.and carried, that the staff prepare a scope of work.and schedule setting forth the expected objectives of .the.planning program both .with alternate proposals all done by staff with additional • personnel hired or all done in combination with the consultant and staff with possible additional personnel to be returned by June 6, 1966 at which time there will be a joint meeting with the Planning Commission. CITIZEN BLUE RIBBON COMMITTEES Mayor Krieger: This was held over from our regular meeting of last week. There are two items I would like to have Council approval on. One is to implement the.program in broad outline that I discussed with the Council at our organizational.meeting and that is to empower the Mayor to organize a citizen blue ribbon committee within our community in the areas of interest that I outlined to you with the understanding that I will specifically discuss with the Council in bank the areas of immediate interest before extending the invitations and constituting the blue ribbon committees.. The second item is to request authority from .the Council for me to prepare and to send throughout this community a letter from the office of the Mayor advising the community at large that these committees are being formed and asking the citizens of West Covina to indicate their interest for interviews or participation in the constituency of these committees. Councilman Snyder: One reservation with the committees, it is • .going to take time to form them and inform them and then it is going to take time for them to reach decisions. I am wondering oft some of these items suggested for these committees if we have the time to wait for these committees to work. Councilman Gleckman: I might suggest that you keep in mind within these committees that we do the same with the Council as we have with our commissions and that is to give specific assignments to the particular Councilmen involved to more or less work in liaison with these committees so we all participate in what we want done in this City. Mayor Krieger: I think this is a valid point and certainly the account of the Mayor in soliciting their participation was not to be interpreted as exclusive jurisdiction. I had hoped Without going into specifics as to the formation of these committees, with the':widest Possible base.participation within the community and then the designation of in- dividual Councilmen as you suggested to work within the framework of the constituted committee so as to utilize the staff in briefing these committees and making available to them the information.that is already at hand on the subject matters under consideration. Going to your point, Dr.. Snyder, there was some comment that this ought to wait until the fall but I don't believe so. I think there is a great deal of urgency to a number of programs throughout the City now before us and I feel that we can during.the month of May make great progress in forming these committees.and encouraging them, operating.within the narrow bounds of a specific subject to move ahead in.these areas and in fact we are already in the process of one of these which was authorized by the past Council and that is the Central Business District group meeting at the City Hall next Wednesday evening. Motion by Councilman Snyder, seconded by Councilman Gleckman, and carried, that the City Council authorize the Mayor to form blue ribbon committees and send out letters inviting participation in such committees as per his recommendation this evening. -7- C. C. 5/2/66 Page Eight Mayor Krieger: I will present to the Council at our regular . meeting on May 9th a form letter which I intend using or would suggest that we should use. Secondly, a priority list for your acceptance or modification or revision as to the committees which should be implemented under this program will be ready for the meeting._of.May.9th. Councilman Snyder: I think it should be stated in the areas in which these committees are suggested that Council should not just lay these projects aside. We should continue to work on them. POLICE DEPARTMENT REMODELING REPORT City Manager., Mr. Aiassa: I would like to hold this over to the 9th. Motion by Councilman Snyder, seconded by Councilman Gillum, and carried, that this matter be held over to the regular meeting of May 9, 1966. COUNCIL COMMITTEE REPORTS LEAGUE REPRESENTATIVE Councilman Snyder: Thursday night is Russ Nichols' testimonial dinner and also the League of California Cities. I have a ticket to the testimonial dinner. We need representation at the League. meeting..... . . Motion by Councilman Gillum, seconded by Councilman Gleckman, and carried, that the staff be authorized to send representation to the City Selection Committee Meeting and the League of California Cities Meeting on May 5, 1966. TAX...RESOLUTION Councilman Snyder: I am a member of the Revenue and Taxation Committee and. I .have_a ..petition. from the Leg.islativ.e.Ac.tion Committee of the Santa.Monica Taxpayers Association and they are asking_-t.hat._._we... sign. .a....petit.ion__1imi.t.ing.._.the...pr.o.pe.r..ty...tax_.t.o.2%_.o.f_.the maximum fair market value. My own feeli.ng...i.s_,..and it. is the feeling ..._of.._the .Revenue and Taxation Comm.ittee..of the League.,....t.hat.._this. is._.a_..go.o.d....idea..but_unworkable. In other words, how do.yo.0 .split the 2% between the different jurisdictions? My recom- mendation would be that we don't sign this petition. I brought it up because it was mailed to me. EASTERLY ANNEXATION DISTRICT NO. 194 Councilman Snyder: What is this Easterly Annexation District No.'194 withdrawal all about? C. C. 5/2/66 Page Nine Planning Director, Mr. Joseph: This is.an acre served only by County streets • and we couldn't get any of the neighbors to join in it. The Local.Ag.ency..Commis.sion staff recommended against it and rather than be turned down the applicant decided to withdraw it without prejudice hoping at some future date to get his neighbors to join with him. This is only one acre at the east end of town. COMMISSION COVERAGE Mayor Krieger:. _._..... I would like to thank the newspaper for carrying the announcement as far as the vacancies on our commissions and boards. I hope they will continue to give prominent coverage of this particular item. FIRE SERVICE DAY Motion by Councilman Gleckman, seconded by Councilman Gillum, and carried, to waive the rules of the Council so as. to entertain a proclamation by the Mayor. Mayor Krieger: We.have a request to proclaim May 7th as Fire Service Day. If there are no objections, I will so proclaim. (No objections voiced.) So proclaimed. There being no further business, Motion by Councilman Gleckman, seconded by Councilman Gillum, and carried, that this meeting be adjourned at 8:35 P.M. ATTEST: CITY CLERK APPROVED MAYOR