04-26-2001 - Special Meeting - Minutess
MINUTES
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE
WEST COVINA CITY COUNCIL
APRIL 26, 2001
The special meeting of the West Covina City Council was called to order by Mayor Wong at 6:00 pm in
the City Manager's Conference at City Hall, 1444 W. Garvey Avenue, West Covina.
ROLL CALL Mayor Wong, Mayor Pro Tern Touhey, Councilmembers Herfert,
Miller, Sanderson
Others Present: Chung, Alvarez-Glasman, Fields, Fox
I CLOSED SESSION Mayor Wong commenced the closed session at 6:10 pm to discuss
the following matters:
CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATOR: Fox
Pursuant to Government Code § 54957
* West Covina Firefighters' Association
* West Covina Police Officers' Association
* West Covina Police Management Association
The closed session concluded at 7:35 pm and the. City Council
reconvened in the Management Resource Center at City Hall for
the following budget study session.
Additional staff members present: Esquivel, Swink, King, Greene, De Lira, Hatch, Wills, Keating,
Bommarito, Samaniego, Mayer, Fong, Paul, Houston, Briley, Batt,
Yauchzee, Mclsaac, Kirchhoff, Smilowitz, Rodriquez, Dominguez,
Gardner, Hoppe, Morgan, Berry
I PUBLIC COMMENT ON ITEMS ON THE AGENDA
Cookie Nance Cookie Nance, 1236 W. Eckerman, suggested the City use part of
the BIT to subsidize utility bills for less fortunate West Covina
residents.
Royal Brown Royal Brown, 2153 Aroma Drive, concurred with the previous
speaker.
John Scheuplein John Scheuplein, 1800 Aroma Drive #247, spoke against
exorbitant government spending and frivolous waste of money and
urged Council to adopt procedures to stop it.
III BUDGET OVERVIEW STUDY SESSION
Acting City Manager Chung introduced the purpose of the study
session for the evening. He stated that the operating budget was
prepared as a roll over budget and thanked the Departments Heads
for their work in accomplishing this goal.
Mr. Chung introduced Bill Kirchhoff who presented his
study/report entitled An Evaluation of West Covina's Financial
Condition. It was his finding that the City has been well managed
in spite of the fact that West Covina is not a wealthy community
and doesn't have the type of revenue base that generates enough
Council Minutes of 4-26-01
money to provide the services its citizens want. Nevertheless, the
City Council and staff have delivered fundamental services to the
community. Mr. Kirchhoff responded to Council questions and
comments regarding the report.
In response to Councilmember Touhey's concern about
stranded costs from the sale of the water department, City Engineer
• Mayer explained the distribution of the eleven employee positions.
Additionally, the explanation would be provided to Council in
writing.
Operating Budget Overview Interim Finance Director Esquivel presented the Preliminary FY
2001/2002 Operating Budget summaries and referred to the budget
overview document.
Councilmember Miller requested a copy of the "transfers in
and transfers out" spread sheet.
Revenues Controller Swink discussed the detailed revenue sources and funds.
He explained the one-time revenues budgeted for the next fiscal
year. He also discussed the differences between the current and
next fiscal year's projections and that staff is not expecting much
of a change overall.
Expenditures Interim City Finance Director Esquivel presented the overview of
anticipated expenditures for the next fiscal year, noting any
differences from this year's projected expenditures. Department
Heads responded to comments and questions relative to their own
department budgets.
Councilmember Miller requested more information regarding the
BKK Enhancement Fund — how much has been brought in and
what's been expended so far.
He also asked about the age and condition of the City's
communication equipment. Communications Director Keating
responded to the age of the current equipment and that the CIP
includes money to address the needs within two years.
On another matter, Mr. Miller suggested that the various
updated elements to the City's general plan be conducted
separately with the most critical elements completed first.
Unmet Needs Assistant City Manager Fields stated that the entire list of unmet
needs, as identified by each department, is charted on the walls and
that staff was desirous of a prioritization of the projects and
programs by the City Council. Some funding was available using
the $1.4 million of recurring revenues discussed earlier by Mr.
Esquivel. The list included capital equipment, but not specifically
identified as such.
Councilmember Herfert suggested that staff take notes on
Councilmembers' unmet needs and then the City Council could
discuss all of them next time. In the meantime staff would prepare
the analysis of all the items brought up.
Councilmember Herfert commenced his listing of issues:
I) All new programs listed on the chart proposed by the Com-
munity Services Department be included in the budget.
2) The most recent Henderliter/de Llamas & Associates
Report to be forwarded to him.
3) Control attorney costs from outside legal counsel.
4) Conduct a philosophical discussion on street resurfacing.
5) Explore a Park Ranger Program where an employee
assumes the maintenance responsibility for an individual
park.
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Council Minutes of 4-26-01
6) Would like a report on:
*
Franchise tax projections.
*
Pursuing the Risk Management as a separate dept.
*
Revenue projection for South Hills Homes.
*
The status of the Neighborhood Watch Program.
*
School district funding for SRO's.
• *
*
Support level the City gives to each school district.
Pay raises for part-time workers, including crossing
guards.
*
Revising the City Manager ordinance.
*
A review of the tow -truck franchise fees, perhaps
changing to a per/vehicle amount rather than annual
one lump sum currently.
Councilmember Sanderson listed her ideas:
* Change the name of Code Enforcement to a more positive
name and review the policy of responding to anonymous
complaints.
* Review L.A. Works parks program for students at risk for
possible implementation at West Covina.
* Favored Councilmember Herfert's Park Ranger idea.
* Check with other cities as to how they maintain their parks
and park equipment.
* Concerned about the slurry sealing on some streets that
should have been cracked sealed first.
Councilmember Miller addressed the following:
* The pros and cons from switching some time ago to
contract park maintenance from City park maintenance
(grounds and facilities).
* The importance of maintaining the City's communication
and emergency equipment.
Mayor Pro Tem Touhey concurred with the statements made by
the other Councilmembers and offered the following comments:
* Relative to code enforcement, he agreed with changing the
name to something like Community Enhancement. He
suggested looking at the need to maintain four officers. He
suggested a community based appeal committee to address
code enforcement issues.
* Perhaps an evening street market to replace the current
Saturday morning street market and schedule it to run in
conjunction with the Summer Concert Series.
* He asked for a status report on the Park & Ride funding,
particularly in respect to outgoing funds to subside out of
city residents.
Recess Mayor Wong called a recess at 8:25 pm. Council reconvened at
8:30 pm with all members present.
Mayor Wong primarily addressed unmet needs listed on the charts:
* Most of the communication equipment is listed under C1P,
• but he would like to see a plan for the replacements.
* The new Community Services programs look worthwhile.
* Updating the general plan is important and perhaps the
elements should be done one at a time and the most
important ones first.
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Council Minutes of 4-26-01
Further discussion on code enforcement led to a directive to staff
to provide statistics of the anonymous complaints vs legitimate
complaints and the workload level of the department.
Building Official Yauchzee stated that just such a study is
being prepared for the Planning Commission at this time.
• On another issue, staff will give Council more information
regarding the funding of Fire's requested analyst position.
In regard to the new financial payroll system, a status report is
forthcoming at the very next City Council meeting.
ADJOURNMENT Mayor Wong adjourned the meeting at 8:47 pm.
Attest:
City Clerk Janet Berry
•
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Mayor Be?*iiin Wong
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