07-12-2004 - Special Meeting - MinutesMINUTES
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE
WEST COVINA CITY COUNCIL
July 12 and July 13, 2004
• Mayor Miller called to order the special meeting of July 12, 2004 at 7:10 pm in the City Hall Council
Chambers, 1444 W. Garvey Avenue, West Covina, California. Mayor Miller led the Pledge of
Allegiance.
ROLL CALL Mayor Miller, Councilmembers Herfert, Hernandez, and Wong
Absent: Mayor Pro Tem Sanderson
Others Present: Pasmant, Freeland, Swink, Devera, Nichols, Tedesco, Houston,
Wills, Paul, Yuasa-Wang, Chung, Lee, Gardner, Samaniego,
Hoppe, Ballard, Bachman, Durbin, McDonald, Fields, Yauchzee,
Taylor, Bommarito, Berry
PUBLIC COMMENT ON ITEMS ON THE AGENDA
John Scheuplein, West Covina resident, commented on an article
in the San Gabriel Valley Daily Tribune, encouraged Councilmem-
bers to stop interfering with the forward movement of projects, and
that Winco will only bring in $800,000 annually.
Cookie Nance, West Covina resident, commented on the recent
postcard campaign to try and get Trader Joe's to come back into
the City of West Covina. She felt it was deceptive to the citizens.
2004/2005 FISCAL YEAR PRELIMINARY BUDGET PREVIEW
Finance Director Bachman began this evening's session reviewing
the City Council Adjustments to the Preliminary Budget. He noted
that the subject matter of reducing/cutting the School Resource
Officer program had been held over for resolution towards the end
of the budgetary process.
Police Chief Wills addressed the SRO program and the discussions
he held with the Covina Valley Unified School District and the
West Covina Unified School District. He responded to questions
and comments.
Original motion Motion by Miller and seconded by Wong, for discussion purposes,
to reduce the SROs from five to two positions and to have the
Police Chief reassign the SROs as appropriate. Further, if the
Sheriff Baca Half -Cent Sales Tax Initiative gets approved by the
voters in November, then the SRO program should come back to
the Council for reconsideration.
Councilmember Wong expressed concern about cutting the
SRO at South Hills High School when the CN.U.S.D. is willing to
• pay for half the salary for the school year.
Councilmember Hernandez could not support eliminating
the GREAT Program.
Amended motion Motion by Wong and seconded by Miller to amend the motion to
take each of the three alternatives separately. Motion carried 4-0.
Motion by Wong and seconded by Miller to approve Alternative
No. 1 (SROs at WCUSD schools, eliminate the GREAT program
Council Minutes of 7/12/04 & 7/13/04
at elementary schools — reducing two positions). Motion failed 2-2
with Herfert and Hernandez voted no.
No motion offered for Alternative No. 2.
No motion offered for Alternative No. 3.
The lack of votes for the above alternatives resulted in keeping the
full amount of $612,867 in the budget for the SRO Program.
• Lollie Bergman, West Covina resident, spoke of the SRO program,
particularly the impact of it at West Covina High where she said
the demand is greater there than for any other school.
Two SROs eliminated Motion by Herfert and seconded by Hernandez to eliminate two
SROs: one at West Covina High School and one at Coronado Con-
tinuation School and retain the GREAT program at the elementary
schools. Motion carried 4-0.
Finance Director Bachman continued with proposed budget
balancing proposals.
Councilmember Wong suggested a study session with the
survey company. Council concurred and staff directed to schedule
that study session for the near future.
CDC Director Chung discussed economic development, noting 14
potential projects. He responded to Council questions.
Finance Director Bachman continued the balancing budget pro-
posals including restructuring and merging some of the depart-
ments. As he began the explanation of 13% cuts, Council ques-
tioned the purpose of supplying the Council with the list if they
were not recommended cuts.
City Manager Pasmant stated that the City Council had
requested staff to provide a balanced budget based solely on cuts,
if for no other purpose than to understand the level of cuts
necessary to balance the budget and the impact on City services if
there were no increases in taxes.
Recess Mayor Miller called a recess at 8:47 pm. The City Council recon-
vened at 8:55 pm with all members present except Councilmember
Sanderson.
John Scheuplein John Scheuplein, West Covina resident, said with the information
just provided to Council it is imperative that generating revenues is
the way to go.
Mayor Miller presented a list of items that he felt would help
balance the budget. At the seventh of thirteen items, Council -
member Herfert took exception to the Mayor's presentation of
solutions onto the other Councilmembers, as he wasn't prepared to
bring his solutions to the table. Councilmember Herfert objected
to the Mayor's continual discourse against the BLD project
financial projections.
• Councilmember Herfert left the meeting at 9:10 pm.
Mayor Miller continued discussing the charts regarding Big
League Dreams.
Councilmember Hernandez objected to the charts presented by the
Mayor.
Councilmember Wong suggested that Mayor Miller's infor-
mation be duplicated and distributed at the next meeting.
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Council Minutes of 7/12/04 & 7/13/04
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•
Lollie Bergman Lollie Bergman, West Covina resident, stated that she was shocked
that a Councilmember would criticize another member of the
Council from expressing his/her own views. She found that
particular Councilmember's demeanor at the end of the meeting
petty, embarrassing, and insulting to the remaining Council -
members and the citizens of the City as well. She expressed her
opinion on some of the 13% cuts and encouraged Council to not let
anyone get in the way of expressing their opinion.
ADJOURNMENT Motion by Hernandez and seconded by Wong to adjourn the
meeting at 9: 27 pm to Tuesday evening, July 13 at 7:00 pm in the
Management Resource Center, Room 314 at City Hall. Motion
carried 3-0.
Special Meeting of July 13, 2004
Mayor Miller called to order the special meeting of July 13, 2004 at 7:13 pm in the Management
Resource Center at City Hall, 1444 W. Garvey Avenue, West Covina. He explained that this was a
continuation of July 12`h budget study session.
ROLL CALL Mayor Miller, Mayor Pro Tem Sanderson,
Councilmembers Hernandez, Herfert, and Wong
Others Present: Pasmant, Alvarez-Glasman, Bachman, Swink, Houston, Tedesco,
Wills, Taylor, Gardner, Hoppe, Elliott, Ballard, Janis, Durbin,
Fields, Yauchzee, McIsaac, Devera, Paul, Morgan, Berry
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS Cookie Nance, West Covina resident, reminded Council of her
desire that no public safety personnel be cut from the budget.
Ian Jones, West Covina resident, encouraged Council to treat each
other with common courtesy. He noted that the City budget
couldn't be balanced solely on its reserves.
John Hughes, West Covina resident, requested Council to not
shorten the Fourth of July celebration/MDA fundraiser to one day.
John Scheuplein, West Covina resident, felt it was prudent to cover
the Wal-Mart issue that had been planned for the former BKK
landfill site and opined on the matter.
2004/2005 FISCAL YEAR PRELIMINARY BUDGET PREVIEW (continued from 7/12)
Councilmember Herfert commented that this 2004/05 FY Budget
is going to be a fluid budget. It will take surplus property sales and
general fund revenues to balance the budget, and it should be
looked at almost every month to see how we have reduced the
deficit. He suggested a thermometer behind the Council to show
the residents how well the City is doing with it.
Finance Director Bachman reviewed the budget slides. Mayor
Miller requested Council to address his list of proposed cuts and
alternative sources of funding.
Combine Fire Truck Company and Engine Company
Newly appointed Fire Chief Elliott addressed this proposal
and explained how it would cause significant operational diffi-
culties, although the savings would amount to $1,832,641.
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Council Minutes of 7/12/04 & 7/13/04
Motion by Herfert and seconded by Sanderson deny the
proposal. Motion carried 5-0.
Sponsoring Events
Mayor Miller suggested the City solicit sponsors for the
following: a) Holiday Street Lights, b) Summer Concerts, c)
• Community Events, and d) Movies in the Park. There was no
support by the other Councilmembers. Councilmember Herfert
stated that he likes these kinds of events, which create a sense of
community, and if these are eliminated then the staff that puts
these events on need to be eliminated as well.
Reduce Senior Citizen Center Hours
After discussion, staff was directed to begin surveying the
Senior Citizens Center during September as to the level activity,
personnel, events, etc., as to whether or not reductions would be in
order.
Discover West Covina
Staff was encouraged to use all available media (website,
corkboard, etc.) to disseminate information to the community.
Motion by Hernandez and seconded by Herfert to go out to
RFP for a quarterly newsletter as well as a bimonthly newsletter.
Motion carried 5-0 with the caveat that in the meantime the
Discover West Covina be produced on a quarterly basis.
Streetscape Signs and Banners
Motion by Wong and seconded by Miller to eliminate the
banners for a savings of $60,000 to be placed in the General Fund.
Motion carried 4-1 with Herfert voting no.
Fourth of July
Mayor Miller noted the total cost of this event to the City is
between $60,000 to $70,000. Motion by Miller and seconded by
Wong to have a single celebration on the Fourth of July, charge an
entrance fee - perhaps a dollar per person - and seek sponsors to
help defray the costs. Motion failed 2-3 with Herfert, Hernandez,
and Sanderson voting no.
Delete the Waste Management/Environmental Quality Commission
Motion by Hernandez and seconded by Sanderson to sus-
pend the commission, via a resolution, to save an annual cost of
$6,000. Motion carried 5-0.
Reduce Communitv Services Commission from 10 to 5
Motion by Miller and seconded by Wong to reduce the
number of positions on the commission. Discussion followed,
including the possibility of utilizing alternates. Motion failed 2-3
with Herfert, Hernandez, and Sanderson voting no.
Reduce the Senior Citizens Commission
Motion by Herfert and seconded by Sanderson to reduce
the number of seven positions to five, eliminating the two positions
• that are appointed by the Commissioners. Motion carried 4-1 with
Wong voting no.
BLD — Long Term Financial Commitment
Discussion ensued regarding this project and the numbers
supplied by staff regarding projections.
Motion Motion by Sanderson and seconded by Herfert to receive
and file the report. Discussion ensued.
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Council Minutes of 7/12/04 & 7/13/04
Councilmember Wong requested a copy of the figures
presented by RDA Manager Lee, and Mayor Miller requested that
the spreadsheets and all other financial data be dated so that the
reader knows that the information is as current as of that date.
Councilmember Herfert stated that the Big League Dreams
. was never a drain on the budget. He suggested as one solution to
help balance the budget was to sell the property at the lower
portion of Shadow Oak Park, which could bring in about $3
million.
Action on motion Mayor Miller asked for a vote on the motion to receive and file the
report. Motion carried 3-2 with Wong and Miller voting no.
Split Retirement System for Public Safety
Mayor Miller explained that a split system would allow the
City to implement another retirement system (or level) for new
hires, but retain the current system for those already covered by it.
He asked staff to look into this and see what kind of a savings it
would provide.
Council Budgetary Comments Councilmember Herfert stated that he would like to move forward
with the cuts that have been determined up to this point. Revenues
can be generated through land sales to about $3 million and the
remaining budget deficit of $2 million can come from reserves. He
suggested too that the Council place on the next Council ballot a
measure to increase the Hotel Occupancy Tax, which hasn't been
raised since he's been on the Council. Currently that tax is at 10%
and could be raised to 12%, increasing the General Fund by
$170,000. The Westcove Theatre could be a valuable piece of
property to sell.
Councilmember Hernandez commented on the economic oppor-
tunities coming to the City in the next year, year and a half. He
stated that he couldn't support making cuts when the council hasn't
done all it can to bring in revenue.
Councilmember Wong suggested Council discuss the items on the
13% cut list. Motions were taken on the following various 13%
cut items:
1) Motion by Wong and seconded by Miller to reduce each
Councilmember's expense account by $1500. Motion
failed 2-3 with Herfert, Hernandez, and Sanderson voting
no.
2) Motion by Wong and seconded by Miller to leave the
currently vacant secretary position in the City Manager's
Office vacant. Motion failed 1-4 with Herfert, Hernandez,
Sanderson, and Miller voting no.
3) Motion by Wong and seconded by Herfert to direct staff to
reduce a total amount of $30,000 from Community
Development Commission Department Items 22 (No new
promotional items), 26 (No marketing materials —
economic development shows), and 27 (No City of West
• Covina advertising). Motion carried 5-0.
Motion by Herfert and seconded by Sanderson to reduce Item 29
(No longer fund Chamber of Commerce operations) by $25,000 to
$50,000. Motion carried 3-2 with Miller and Wong voting no.
Police Chief Wills responded to Councilmember Wong's question
regarding the Traffic Sergeant. Since the position is not vacant, it
was taken off the table from consideration.
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Council Minutes of 7/12/04 & 7/13/04
ADJOURNMENT Motion by Herfert and seconded by Hernandez to adjourn the
meeting at 9:40 pm. Motion carried 5-0.
C J
Attest:
City Clerk Janet Be
ol
•
ayor Michael Miller