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12-19-1973 - Regular Meeting - MinutesMINUTES OF THE ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL CITY OF WEST COVINA, CALIFORNIA DECEMBER 19, 1973. The adjourned regular meeting of the City Council called to order at 4:30 P.M. in the West Covina Council Chambers by Mayor Jim Lloyd. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Councilman Ken Chappell. ROLL CALL - Present: Mayor Lloyd; Councilmen: ,Young, Shearer, Chappell Absent: Councilman Russ Nichols Others Present: George Aiassa, City Manager Lela Preston, City Clerk, George Wakefield, City Attorney Ken Larson, Administrative Analyst, Jr. Mark Volmert, Administrative Analyst, Jr. Mike McDonnell, Staff Reporter - S.G.V.D.T. George Zimmerman, Public Service Director Leonard Eliot, Controller Mieh'ael' Miller, Plannhg Director CONSENT CALENDAR Mayor Lloyd explained the procedure of the Consent Calendar and asked if there were comments on any of the following items: 1. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS a) JOSEPH S. PROVENZA Re when Vincent Avenue will be repaired. 1053 N. Marbury St., (Refer to staff for follow-up) WestCovina b) WEST COVINA CITY Re rescheduling of Open Examination for EMPLOYEES ASSOC., Tree Trimmer Leadman to Promotional only. (Refer to staff and City Attorney) 2. CLAIM FOR DAMAGES FILED WITH CITY CLERK:, Robert I.Kronick on behalf of Anthony L. and Christopher S. Finch, minors, in connection with death of father, Merritt Donald Finch, on or about 9/14/73. (Deny and.,.refer to City Attorney and Insurance Carrier) 3. ACCEPTANCE OF SIDEWALK IMPROVEMENTS & RELEASE OF BOND PRECISE PLAN OF DESIGN LOCATION: Northwest corner Glendora #k640 Avenue and West Covina Parkway ACCEPT sidewalk, driveway approach and curb and gutter improvements and authorize release of cash deposit in the amount of $2,000. (Staff recommends acceptance and release) 4. ABC APPLICATIONS Chief of Police recommends NO PROTEST. Francis A. Hubert dba Woodland Ranch Market 1838 Valinda, 522 E. Vine Avenue La Puente Mr. Joe Woodford, Staff Representative of the California League of Cities, Employee Associations, here representing the W.C.C.E.A., stated he was interested in Item l(b); Mayor Lloyd suggested Item ..;' i CITY COUNCIL CONSENT CALENDAR Page Two 12/19/73 1(b) be discussed after the approval of the Consent Calendar items. Motion by Councilman Shearer, seconded by Councilman Young, that the Consent Calendar items be approved with the exception of Item 1 (b). Motion passed on roll call vote as follows: AYES: Young, Shearer, Chappell, Lloyd NOES:. None ABSENT: Nichols Mr. Woodford Mr. Mayor and members of Council. I CLOCEA trust you all have copies of the letter sent to you. (Mayor advised they had.) Essentially what this relates to is that an examination has been scheduled for the position of Tree Trimmer Leadman and the examination is scheduled as an Open/Competitive examination and we feel the City should conduct a closed Promotional examination. We feel that this item, as provided for in the Municipal Code, should properly go back to the Personnel Board for approval and while this is taking place the examination should be held in somewhat of a limbo state until it is decided whether it should be an Open/Competitive or a closed Promotional, or the two combined examinations, which are the three types provided for in the Municipal Code. The real contention here is the examination. The code provides examinations may be specified by the Personnel Officer with the approval of the Personnel Board as Promotional Only or as Open only, or as both Open/Promotional. At the present time we are not aware that this thing has ever gone to the Board for consideration. It is our understanding it did not and we feel the Personnel Board should have an opportunity to rule on this and at the same time have the people present at the meeting present their feelings on it. In order to prevent any undue hardships we feel that the rest of the examination process should be held up until this matter is resolved. Thank you. Councilman Shearer: Mr. Mayor, I have a question. Item No. 3 in the letter signed by Mr. Mayer, stated there are a sufficient number of fully qualified candidates. Can someone tell me, based on the job classification we have attached here how many candidates would qualify presently employed by'the City - approximately? Mr. Woodford: At the present time the only ones I am aware of are five candidates. That indication was given to me by some of the people out in the yards and they hadn't had an opportunity to find out how many exactly would be qualified at this time. As you know from the date of the letter we had to move very rapidly to get this matter before the Council. Councilman Shearer: That is close enough. Mr. Aiassa, with regards to the personnel procedure - I am not entirely familiar with the City's. If you have an examination that is both Open/Promotional is there a priority given to the Promotional list over the Open list? Mr. Aiassa: This is the matter„the City Attorney and I were discuss- ng° prior to the Council meeting and this was the suggestion of the City Attorney that we have an Open/Promotional examination but we would have to value them both the same.... Councilman Shearer- I don't believe you have to, Mr. Aiassa, because I am familiar with the State ruling on this and the Promotional - 2 - CITY COUNCIL Page Three CONSENT CALENDAR 12/19/73 list always takes priority over the Open list and it apparently is legal because we have been doing it for years. I don't know if that is the City's ruling or notb.,at the.Promotional list has to be cleared first even if the guy on the Open list has a score of 110 and a guy on the Promotional list has a score of 78, the 78 comes first. What does the City Ordinance provide for? 41 Mr. Wakefield: Mr. Mayor and members of City Council, the City's Ordinance generally accords preference to the Promotional list in the sense that list must be exhausted before the appointing authority has the right to go to the Open list. It is the same as the State rule; however under the provisions of the Municipal Code I think it is possible as the Ordinance now stands with the approval of the Personnel Board to have both an Open and Competitive examination and a Promotional examination and in effect combine the lists. The other way is also possible. Councilman Shearer: Did the Personnel Board review and approve this? Mr. Wakefield: Councilman Shearer, it is my understand- ing that they did not. Councilman Shearer: Would that in your opinion then be a violation of Section 2418 of the Municipal Code? Mr. Wakefield: Yes, at least as a minimum in'connection with this particular examination that the matter needs to go back to the Personnel Board for review and consideration. Motion by Councilman Shearer that this matter go back to the Personnel Board and that the examination filing date be held open until such time as the Personnel Board makes their ruling. Seconded by Councilman Young. Mayor Lloyd: Any discussion? I have a question. Actually then what you are saying, Mr. Wakefield, is that this is not a debatable issue, what they are asking for is what they should have gotten in the first place? Mr. Wakefield: Insofar as the approval of the Personnel Board as to whether the examination should be Promotional, or Open/Promotional, the Personnel Board should have considered the matter and either approved or disapproved the staff recommendation. Mayor Lloyd: And even though the Personnel Board may hold a recruitment examination and they find someone that scores higher than the one already hired the person hired takes precedence? The way I interpret this is that they have asked that consideration be given primarily or first to those eligible already hired by the • City prior to going to an Open recruitment? Mr. Wakefield: Yes, that is correct. Mayor Lloyd: And according to what you said and the way I understood what you said, that is what we have to do anyhow under our Ordinance - is that true? - 3 - CITY COUNCIL Page Four CONSENT CALENDAR 12/19/73 Mr. Wakefield: Under our Ordinance ass.it now stands the Personnel Of.fider:may recommend either a Promotional examination exclusively, an Open/Promotional or an ,;Open competitive examination, as an appropriate procedure with reference :to trrc'~-':-- ',ling of a. particular class of vacancies. The Personnel Board has the opportunity to review that recommendation and to either approve or disapprove before the examination is actually given. Now what has happened thus far is the examination has been scheduled as an Open/Competitive examination on the basis apparently that there are not sufficient qualified candidates within the existing City service to obtain a suitable eligible list on a promotional basis. However, under our Ordinance this matter should have been reviewed by the Personnel Board and either approved or disapproved before the examination was actually scheduled. The motion that has been proposed comports to the requirements of our existing Ordinance. Mr. Aiassa: Mr. Mayor, may I add a word? I think the important thing in this matter when it goes to the Personnel Board is that at the NAACP meeting we had minority representation, and as Council recalls we discussed this matter and that this is part of our Personnel Rules and Regulations, so when the times came for competitive examinations the minority people would have an opportunity to apply and this is one of the elements that brought about the Open/Competitive examination. I would like the record to show that this is one of the areas that I think we could be criticized on, having a closed examination, if one minority race is not represented. Councilman Shearer: That is a point well taken, Mr. Aiassa; however, the code still says that decision is left up to the Personnel Board, and I think that is the contention right here, the Board didn't make that decision someone else did and the code doesn't provide for that someone else to make it. .If the Personnel Board comes to the same conclusion based; -on the staff report, which may very well include your suggestion and I am sure Mr. Woodford will be present to present the other side of the picture, and if they still make the same decision at least the due process has fully taken place and that really is all my motion was intended to do. If we change the Ordinance - fine, then maybe next time around the matter won't have to go to the Board if we make that change. Mayor Lloyd: As I understand it, we must now consider these five people, if there are indeed five, prior to anyone else, so long as all qualify and if that being the case then there would be a vacancy which if we are talking about minority groups would be afforded to them also. I don't know - I am actually just speculating and I guess I shouldn't be doing that. Motion carried'on roll call vote as follows: AYES: Young, Shearer, Chappell, Lloyd NOES: None ABSENT: 'Nichols iCITY ATTORNEY RESOLUTION NO. 4817 The City Attorney presented: ADOPTED "A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WEST COVINA AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION OF CRIME LAB LEASE OF SPACE BETWEEN THE CITY OF WEST COVINA AND THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE." - 4 - CITY COUNCIL Page Five City Attorney - Cont'd. 12/19/73 Mr. Wakefield: Mr. Mayor, and members of the Council, the City Council approved the lease with the State Department of Justice some months ago and it now turns out the State requires an adoption of a Resolution approving the leasing. • Motion by Councilman Shearer, seconded by Councilman Chappell and carried, to waive further reading of said Resolution. Motion by Councilman Shearer, seconded by Councilman Chappell, to adopt said Resolution and carried on roll call vote as follows: AYES: Young, Shearer, Chappell, Lloyd NOES: None ABSENT: Nichols MAYOR'S REPORTS Mayor Lloyd: The only item I have is with regard to the Youth Advisory Commission. We are ready to go with our Youth Commission. As you know we made certain changes which are being incorporated with regard to Juniors and 'Seniors, etc., and now we need to readvertise and will be ready to consider applicants by mid -January. We will have the new Ordinance ready for submission and resolution on the 14th of January. I think we ought to make preparation at this time for interviews with the candidates. What is your pleasure gentlemen, assuming we will adopt the Resolution on the 14th. (Council discussed further; Mayor Lloyd asked if it were necessary to pass the Resolution prior to interviewing the candidates.) is Mr. Wakefield: The resolution will be effective upon its adoption; so if it is adopted on the meeting of the 14th of January then anytime thereafter or even that meeting you could go ahead and make the appointments. (Council discussed manner of interviewing and date; at present there are 17 to be interviewed with the list possibly increasing; Mr. Aiassa suggested the interviews might be handled on Monday, January 21 and the appointments made on January 28th. Councilmen were not all available for January 21; decided on January 16 and 17th starting at 4:30 P.M.) THE CHAIR RECESSED THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING AT 4:55 P.M., FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONDUCTING THE REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY MEETING ._ THE PARKING AUTHORITY MEETING. CITY COUNCIL RECONVENED AT 5:07 P.M. COUNCILMEN'S REPORTS/COMMENTS APPROVE ATTENDANCE Motion by .Councilman Shearer, seconded by AT LABOR RELATIONS Councilman Young, to approve expenditure of INSTITUTE $150.00 for Councilman Chappell to attend the Labor Relations :Institute in San Diego. Motion carried on roll call vote as follows: AYES: Young, Shearer, Chappell, Lloyd NOES: None ABSENT: Nichols • Councilman Chappell: Mr. Mayor, it has been our pleasure in the past to recognize a Sierra League Champion in football or other sports if it comes from the City of West Covina. South Hills High School won the Sierra League Championship with a 9 to 0 record and I think we should prepare the appropriate resolution and present to their team and head coach as we have done in the past, and I so move and that it be perma plaqued. /1`� ` . ' 1 }` ' - 5 - LJ • CITY COUNCIL Page Six Councilmen's Reports/Comments 12/19/73 Seconded by Councilman -Young and carried on roll call vote as follows: AYES: Young, Shearer, Chappell, Lloyd NOES: None ABSENT: Nichols Councilman Shearer: Mr. Mayor, I have two items. Both of these will require investigation and report back by staff. Number 1 - a situation has been pointed out to me and I have passed it every day for the past number of years but actually never noticed it - at Cameron and Holly Place a half street with a vacant piece of property next to it - waiting for the street to be widened when the property is developed. It creates a rather difficult situation, there is hardly room for one car, and a problem particularly in the rainy season to get in and out and it is rather a main access into a large residential tract. I would like a report back from staff as to what could be done in the way of getting that street widened. I am not concerned at this time with Cameron, Cameron is also shy of curbs in that location but at least it has adequate width to move traffic on. And number two, the investigation of some modification on our traffic signals in town. .This is with regard to the energy crisis. My suggestion includes deletion where possible of pedestrian signals, also the possibility of signals at certain times operating in flash rather than constant operation which would cut the consumption of electricity in about half. I would like a report back on those two items. Councilman Young: they went on school that by the Mayor Mayor Lloyd: to win defeated to the Councilman Young: A couple of things. I think it would be nice if the Mayor wrote a letter of congratulations to Los Altos High School, the CIF play off,: and South Hills is the only Los Altos all year I think a nice letter champions would be very appropriate. alongthat line is being tions open with Covina way in all three areas Mr. Aiassa: Councilman Chappell: started by now but it our next meeting. • ADJOURNMENT Without objection I will take care of it. (no objections) I noticed an article in the Tribune about Covina moving apparently into paramedics. I trust that our own statement of intent implemented and that we are keeping communica- and Azusa hopefully to get this program under- - is that going on, Mr. Aiassa? Yes. I will have a progress report for you. One further request, Mr. -Mayor. I would like to have the information on the widening of Citrus near Cortez. I thought it was to be hasn't been so I would like a report on it at Christmas Eve; and that December 24th to declare regular meeting would be (The City Attorney stated it would be appropriate to adjourn to the next regular meeting of January 14, 1974, due to the fact the regular meeting of December 24th fell on the City Clerk or someone could be present on that due to the lack of a quorum the next January 141 1974.) CITY COUNCIL Adjournment Page Seven 12/19/73 Motion by Councilman Shearer, seconded by Councilman Chappell and carried, to adjourn this meeting at 5:15 P.M. to January 14, 1974. • ATTEST: CITY CLERK i APPROVED: MAYOR