Loading...
11-24-1975 - Special Meeting - Minutes• • r: SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WEST COVINA AND JOINT MEETING WITH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE NOVEMBER 24, 1975. Mayor Chappell called the special meeting of the City Council in joint session with the Chamber of Commerce to order at 4:34 P.M., in the City Manager's Conference Room of the West Covina City Hall. ROLL CALL Present: Mayor Chappell; Councilmen: Shearer, Miller, Browne, Tice Chamber of Commerce Board Members: John Adams, Alex Goodman, Andy Bogis, Bernie Bergman, Bob Weinreb, Joe Riordan and George Strachan, George Zartman Others Present: George Aiassa, City Manager Lela Preston, City Clerk Michael Miller, Acting Pub. Serv, Dir., Ross Bonham, _ Administrative Ass't. Bill Freemon, Staff Reporter, S.G.U.D.T. JOINT MEETING WITH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE a) REVIEW OF THE 1974- (Council received copies of the Annual 1975 ANNUAL REPORT Report and Financial Statement) _ George Strachan summarized the high- lights of things accomplished in the past gear; the Retail Trade Promotion Program included four major promotions: The Fall Pro- motion, Christmas Promotion, Spring Promotion and the 4th of July Promotion. Stated that approximately S20,000 of the funds ear- marked for these various promotions obtained through the Business License Tax was spent, and in addition 320,000 of matching funds from the merchants or a total of $Ei40,000 was spent in the general promotion of retail trade. Some of the other publicity promotions were: The County Fair Exhibit, winning first prize; Miss Covina : Pageant was also a successful project playing to about a thousand people and getting a great deal of publicity for the City; the Citizen of the Year Program, and the Tourist Promotion Program, in which we were able to schedule some conferences and assist in others that brought additional people to the Valley. Business Development Department: Mr. Strachan stated there is a rundown in the brochure on the work the Chamber did, indicating the businesses brought in during the course of the year; the approval of the Eastland .Area as a Redevelep- ment Project Area; the coordination of the groups connected with the Fashion Plaza area; the Glendora Avenue Improvement meetings to approve plans for refacing of buildings and improvement of parking; and the Undergrounding of Utilities Special Committee. The Economic Analysis - C.B.D. Phase II: As far as growth is concerned the Chamber felt it was substantial CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING WITH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Page Two 11/24/75 over and above the Fashion Plaza and the brochuree, tOLIches on the Priority Planning Areas of South Glendora to the city limits and the Valley -Nogales Area; Eastland Area re land use, circulation and undeveloped land. • The Chamber of Commerce members worked on many projects including circulation, highways and transportation, relating to Freeway Construction and expanded transportation within the City; Garvey Name Change; Vincent Avenue Widening and Commercial Vehicle Parking. In Public Relations and Publications eight major projects Were studied and carried out this year: Economic Development Brochure; Windsor Publication; a brochure on Where to Stay and Dine;,the Annual Report; the Project 175 Ad in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune; Bicentennial Program; the monthly publication re West Covina Business has been enlarged and it has been so Well received that circulation is now approximately two thousand; and in the area of Public Relations and Press Rela- tions special emphasis has been placed; coverage of all Chamber events has been greatly expanded. A few years ago these various publications and brochures were put out in quantities of two to four thousand, now it is running between 159000 and 409000 each. Mr. Bernie Bergman summarized the accounting of monies, most of which is derived from..the Business Improvement Tax, Membership Dues and Special Projects. Referrin`q to the Statement of Operations showing comparisons for the years of 1974 and 1975, listed excess income of 33,752 in 1975 in the Business Improvement Division; 1975 — Special Projects Division in • 1975 a loss of $29840; and Women's Division excess income in 1975 of $9. Councilman Tice noted in the Statement of Operations the City of West Covina license income was down to $1.49000 in.1975 whereas it was $209000 the year before. Mr. Bergman explained the income is expected to be greater for the next year because the budget for the same period was actually $169000 but the monies were not received by June 30th and since this.is on the total basis of cash receipts rather than accrual Of income in this particular category, it will reflect itself in the future year income basis. Mayor Chappell stated the most interesting part is that there were some results from this program in the last year - it was a very good year overall in Chamber relationship with the City and he felt with that as a target to shoot for this year it would,be equally good. Mr. Adams: Mr. Mayor and Council members, we would like to move in on what we have accomplished in 1975/76 starting July 1. We have five major fields of work;(referred to brochure and asked Mr. Alex Goodman to bring the Council current on the issues.) Mr. Goodman spoke of the current promo- tion now going on - the Thanksgiving Day Program; also talked of the • Big Bertha Slot Machine promotion now going on in the City, explained the prizes to be given, the publicity obtained from this, etc., stating it has brought many people in to West Covina to shop. Went on to talk of the Christmas Promotion coming up, the tree will be lighted on the 4th of December, Council will receive letters of invitation to - 2 - SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING Page Three WITH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 11/24/75 attend; Santa Claus will be 'there and will appear at all the srna.l.l.nr shopping areas in the City throughout the month. 5poke of a future promotion. to, be held on April. 0 in conjunction wi-th the circus that: w-.11 be in town at the same time, explained what is beinq planned. Mentioned briefly the advertising campaign going an in the papers and on the air - 20 commercials a day. The Ch,,..amber purchased 7 • spots and the business community bought the balance of them. Mr. Bergman called attention to the Taxable Retail Sales graph, cony of which Council. had, pointing out the increases since 1969 and that the first 6 months of 1975 topped that of 1974 by nineteen million dollars in sales. Mr. Adams stated the response is very good on the promotions not only from the shoppers but also from the merchants. Membership Activities: It was pointed out the membership went from 281 to 385 and the goal was 500 by July 1, 1976. Mr. Goodman explained what is planned in regard to the Business Booster Breakfasts where new memberships are usually obtained. Also talked of the forthcoming Christmas Party paid for by Home Savings and Loan and held at Home Savings and Loan. Andy Russell and his band will be there and the Chamber hopes to pick up a number of new members. A number'of things are being planned for next year, one of them the "Take a Cop to Lunch" program will be held probably in April;. and a seminar is being planned to help increase membership; also a follow-up on the seminar held in San Diego is planned in order to discuss further the input from that seminar and plans for implementing some of the ideas - this will be sometime after the Holidays. Mr. Bergman, in charge of planning the • various seminars,commented one seminar he had in mind came out of. the San Diego conference and that was a desire to make the community at large familiar with the nature bf the various businesses in the City, how they functioned, etc., and also the relationship of the Chamber of Commerce, and he was trying to arrange a program that would.get this message across to the community at large. Mr. Strachan said the Chamber is committed to seminars covering the field of Income Tax Reporting, Advertising, the'Bad Check Problem and Shoplifting and has the expertise to conduct these seminars and will be doing so in this year. Publications: Mr. Strachan showed the newest brochure - a Buyer's Guide and Civic Directory and explained its contents; will be mailed to every resident in West Covina; the theme will be to keep your dollars at home, do your shopping in West Covina - these are the people that will provide the services and goods you need. Cost is in excess of S3,000. Another brochure - Where to Stay and Dine - fairly new and are out in all the hotels, also included as a mailing piece to people inquiring about moving into the area or locating a business here - about 30 to 40 per week go out on this type of inquiry. And the Business Outlook is being constantly improved in its contents. Explained the advertising in the papers, and showed some of the recent newspaper ads, explained the cost, and pointed out the record of increased sales indicates acceptance • of all of these things. Mr. Adams.commented one other area is Economic Development - this is seeking out and being responsive to inquiries from new businesses and George Zartman and 3 - SPECIAL CIT`l ;iIR,CIL MEETING Page Four WITH CNUIOER OF _COMMERCE � 11./24/75 George Strachzn are involved in this and ;)h.i.1 Wax hecJds the Land Use Committee and a lot of there things are still in the talking stage. Mr. Strachan commented on current viable prospects: a bowline center is still a good possibility; • stated the Chamber is working very closely with City Staff on these various viable ;ar.osp acts, it :3 a cooppralLive effort. Currently working on two hotels, two new restaurants, two banks two paint stores, a specialty food shop, two department stores,, K-Mart is pretty well firmed up, three: public service industries are seriously involved in .locating in West Covina; also the Social Security relocation and also attempting to fill the build- ing they are vacating. Stall working with the.DFIIV and the .response about a week ago was that the plans were out to bid now and they hope to start construction not too long after the first of the year. Also working with a light M-I type industry in a rather sophisticated field of solar energy - trying to work with these people and some property owners in the Orange/Merced Area. This is without the benefit of redevelopment but they are serious so we are trying to work out the details and we will be working with the Planning Staff also. And we are working with a major office space user OF about 20,000 square feet. Currently working with about eight different development companies (mentioned some of them.) • • Mr. Strachan: One of the interesting developments in the past thirty days is that some of these people are becoming more and more interested in taking on shopping centers that need help and are deteriorating and they want to rehabilitate them. We are now work- ing with two major developers that are very interested in this field. So we are hoping to move ahead not only in the Glendora Center Area, which we are deeply involved in, but also in a couple of other areas. And a Foreign Car City Type thing is taking up a great deal of our time and I think this is a very good prospect. Also working with two developers on a high rise office building, hoping to get at least one. And the Transportation Center we are just starting our studies on that in developing something in the field of transportationdevelopment which will act as a catalyst in West Covina to bring about all the various forms of transporta- tion into one Center. The West Covina Center is one of the most exciting things we are moving ahead with now and it is practically a top priority with the possible projection of Garvey Avenue and maybe some redevelopment in that area. These are plans that have been developed as a result of the Williams & Mocine studies and other private studies by West Covina Chamber and City Staff. We have metwith the property owners in the Glendora/ Vincent area and they are in agreement that things must move ahead and have taken a favorable.step in approving the plans basically as presented. These, I think, are the major things we.are involved in.. We are involved in a Tot of smaller things also. further) (Explained Mr. Adams:. I certainly want to recognize George Zartman and Phil Wax as two of the people time and effort on Economic Develomenth�tifav`'pent a lot of like to comment? P You gentlemen would - 4 - SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL. MEETING Page Five WITH CHAMBER. OF COMMERCE 1.1./24/75 Mr. Zartman: The New Business Devci opment Committee is a small committee which we are pur- posely keeping small so we can zero in on.the3e new business prospects. We decided this year one of the things we would do is get a data bank on what we need .in the line of businesses in this city - what wehave and what we don't have. • Someone is now working on that, itemizing all. business in the city and those that we don't have and want to get. The Land Use Planning Committee headed by Phil Wax is vital to our group. We feel in our. Committee that it isn't what you did last year but what are you going to do for me tomorrow, and what we want to do is try and fill up every vacant piece of land in the city with a viable business. Phil Wax: All I can add is that We are now waiting for the leadership at Council level. lifter two or three years of hard work and professional studies and effort on the part of Chamber members - well I think there are three or four excellent proposals lined up now for the City to take leadership on. The Chamber is ready to stand in back of you but I think we have done all that we can and now it is up to Council to take the leadership on implementation. Mr. Adams: We are not. really here to blow our horn but to express our appreciation to the City Staff for their representa- tion on all of our committees, they have contributed a lot and we look to them for their expertise which we don't have on our committees. We certainly get Council par"ticipation.and support in all of our activities and these things we do appreciate. This • completes our reporting Mr. Mayor and Council. We have enjoyed the opportunity to do it and we know we have a commitment to do it per our agreement but we look more to it as a pleasure to come before you and tell you what we are doing and trying to do and ask for your comments and help. Councilman Tice: Mr. Mayor, a comment. I said this several months ego but I think it should be repeated - your staff and Board of Directors are doing one heck of a fine job and should be commended. Mayor Chappell: I know Council is very pleased with the relationship because we are continuing with our contract. There is one thing I would like to mention since we are a. business board - is the rumors that are going on in our City, in this instance with regard to the Fashion Plaza. This is killing.us. There was �:-i meeting prior to this one with the Center people and our Police Department to discuss and make .sure that we are doing everything possible to make all of our Centers safe, not only the Fashion Plaza and Eastland. We hope that you get out to your membership that none of these rumors are true. rf we could only figure out a way to reach these_ people and nip the rumorw in the bud; we can't constantly be going to the press and having them say West Covina is a great place, etc. etc. (Commented at further length on the • untrue rumors and what might be done to stop those rumors.) We are meeting with our law enforcement and safety people to make sure that everything is being done that is possible.. But this is something we have to work-out at the business level because employees are making.these statements on - S - SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING Pa(--) Six WITH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ll/' 4/75 occasion, and the leaders of the community are making these statements. One of them made ,--i statoment to my partner today a businessman in our community. Ue are all doing to have to work on this together, not with ballyhoo and advertising but word or mouth saying "let's cool. it, it hasn't happrnud, and we are doing everything in our power to make sure it doesn'i happen. So if you • can get the word out to the membership that these things havenot happened and we are doing our best to make sure they don't happen. Today we released a news item to the papers saying — lock your car, close your car windows, etc. If the Chamber has any ideas or thoughts of how we can improve this communication to our citizenry to let them know we are not having these troubles, that they are not true. Mr. Wax: Fir. Mayor, I would only add that maybe you should have a Rumor Control Committee made up of people like the Mayor, Mr. Strachan, the President of the Chamber, good strong people, and if you hear of a rumor someone of high level should call on that person who said they heard that from somebody else and so on — first .check the rumor out and get the facts to make sure these instances are not true and then call on the person relating the rumor. This should be a Committee that you can check back with — but when you have the true story these people should be called on and advised of the true facts. , Mayor Chappell: That might be an approach to make. We can kick that around and see if we cad do something with it. I don't think this is something that will be happening just now but that it is something that we have to live with in our society of today. • So if anybody has an ideas or solutions let's hear about them because it is something I think we are going to have to keep owrking on. We thank you for your report. You are doing a marvelous job, keep it up. =f Council is now to take some of these things under advisement get them to Council so we can study them and make decisions. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Councilman Tice, seconded by Councilman Browne and carried, to adjourn meeting at 5:25 P.M. •