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Meeting Notes Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007 Regular Council Meeting by Marylynn & Sharon Wolff Tonight's meeting began at 6:30pm with Mayor Bud Leonard adding to the agenda a conference with real property advisors about the Scotia Annexation. Attendance was taken afterwards, with all of the council members except for Marc Barsanti being present. The city staff was in full attendance with John Miller, Jim Hale, Graham Hill and Stephanie Beauchaine present. After the Pledge of Allegiance there was a moment of silence to commemorate former President Gerald Ford and his recent passing. The Ceremonial Matters started off Mayor Leonard reading a proclamation in recognition of the Scotia Band. Formed in 1935, they include members from all over the Humboldt County area and perform at various local events. After the proclamation, the newly re-elected council members Julie Woodall, Melissa Marks and Mike Dunker were sworn in together by City Clerk Karen Dunham. The Consent Calendar was read by Mayor Leonard. Melissa Marks asked if they would pass as a block, to which the mayor answered yes. Julie Woodall said that she would like to pull the CDBG resolution so that they could be considered separately. Julie Woodall had a question on the loan committee wording on delaying loans. Interim City Manager John Miller stated that other cities use the city staff as a loan committee, and that when the council meets there are rules governing them, such as the Brown Act. Melissa Marks said that she thought that the city manager is fine, but there should be one or two council members on the committee as well so that the council will stay informed. John Miller replied that such a committee might still be effected by the Brown Act. The mayor than said that he thinks the council should have a say on where the money goes, and that this is why they changed to the this system. The City Manager is going to look into it. The check register was approved, as was the proclamation extending the local water emergency through January 16th, 2007. The Annual Activity Report was also approved, along with the amendment to the contract agreement with Adult Day Health Services of Fortuna for transportation services. The approval of the CDBG Program Housing Rehabilitation Guidelines was pulled for a later meeting. There were no special presentations, so the meeting went straight to the Ordinances and Special Resolutions. The resolution accepting the certification of the votes from the General Election was approved. Then came the resolution involving the Painter Street right-of-way. John Miller described the various actions since 1980 on returning the property. Apparently Jim Box, the owner of the property on the east side of the overpass on Painter Street. John Miller then said that the city may be looking at asking other Painter St. homeowners if they would accept the return of the property in order to get rid of the other right-of-ways. Jack Thompson asked about the timeline, and if there might be a thirty day wait. John Miller replied that the council can, under certain circumstances, just give it back. Melissa Marks moved to accept it, Mike Dunker seconded, and the vote was unanimous. Next was the approval of the Eel River Disposal Solid Waste and Recycling franchise agreement. It's a ten year term from 2006 until 2016. There will be an increase by $2.10 for recycling and an increase of $1.10 for a single can. The franchise fee goes from 3 to 5%. Mike Dunker moved, and Melissa Marks seconded the motion. It was unanimous. After the approval of that resolution, the council members and John Miller discussed amending a budget resolution in order to transfer miscellaneous CDBG revenue for the City Manager hiring costs. John Miller has made recommendations on a job search for a new city manager, since apparently this hasn't been done. Advertising and the like haven't been initiated at all, not even for show. Dunker made a motion to approve this resolution, Marks seconded, and it passed unanimously. With the Special Call Items, an approval for the closure of the city office on January 18th and 19th for office cleaning, moving and reorganization was passed. It's a day that has been needed for awhile now, and it means that the doors would be closed, except for emergencies, in order to do various housekeeping and handyman jobs. Apparently there is a termite problem on the police department side of City Hall, and one of the floors in the bathrooms has been eaten away. City Hall also needs a new roof, but no one's sure how much work will be accomplished in the two days. Woodall moved to approve it, Marks seconded and again, the vote to pass it was unanimous. Next was the approval of the grant application to CalTrans for Safe Routes to School Funding. Marks asked who was on the traffic commission. Chief Hill said that by default he's the chairman, but he doesn't know who else is on the committee. Woodall said that she is on the committee, and Marks mentioned that it would be something she would be interested in. Woodall made a movement to approve it, and Marks seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. Next on the agenda was the appointment of three new Planning Commissioners to serve three year terms. There were originally 5 applicants for the three open positions but one person requested their name be removed from the list. The applicants were; Dave Gonzales, Jerrald Soho, Denise Sweaney and Susan Davis. Both Gonzales and Sweaney addressed the Council and spoke of their interest in the position. Davis was present but was unable to speak due to health. The Council had some confusion over the voting process since there were three open positions but they proceeded with voting for one position at a time. Gonzales won the first round of votes with Sweaney and Davis close behind. They will serve along side current members Jack Thompson and Alice Millington. *look for the posted meetings of the Planning Commission. Some Council members have spoke of their desire to make the planning commission a more active role in the city planning. *to address issues like the non-subdivision at the end of Painter St. hopefully. Notice that there are no roads or driveways for the people living off of May St. in the second row of identical houses. Not a very nice addition to the Gateway Project. The matter of electing a Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem was next and quickly resulted in no change to the current make-up of the Council. Mayor Bud Leonard retains his position with Council Member Julie Woodall acting as Mayor Pro Tem. The discussion of the disposal of surplus city property was next with Miller presenting. Miller stated that due to the state of the city budget and the bills they city has yet to pay, the city is going to have to find some more income from somewhere. The recent reappearance of the Mintz lawsuit settlement was a final nail in a coffin long in the making. *The issues arises from a lawsuit that the city lost many years ago. Then acting Mayor Julie Woodall had approved the paying of the settlement along with the Council in a documented meeting way back when. It seems that then Mintz was impossible to find to make the settlement to. The current city attorney, David Martinek, was the attorney at that time. Hopefully Mr. Martinek has full documentation of his efforts under Due Diligence of his attempts to find Mr. Mintz and make the settlement payment. Now that Mintz has enforced his claim, the city has to pay up and I don't know about any fines or interest. Now the city doesn't have the money to make the payment and selling off city land would only raise a portion of the needed money. Miller has examined the city holdings and presents two properties as potentially "surplus" and able to be sold off quickly. Marks questioned the need to proceed on this immediately, especially in light of the soft market. Miller stated that the process takes time and they needed to begin soon for debts they know they have to pay (see video clips above). There is a lot approximately 1-1 1/2 miles outside of town, up Monument that used to be the city springs. It is roughly five acres and forested. Miller is going to look into whether it is better for the city to log the property prior to selling or sell it as timber land. The other property is approx. 1.2 acres of panhandle lot off of Bellevue. The property could be divided into four lots. The questions from the council included whether the city should develop the property prior to selling. Miller stated that it would inappropriate for the city to enter into the property development business. Miller also stated that further means to raise revenue would have to be looked at as well. That could include raises in fees and rates. (Times Standard article 1-4-07) There were no speakers at public presentations so the meeting proceeded to the staff reports. Jim Hale from Public Works stated that his department was finishing up 2006 projects. They are continuing to work on the Memorial Board across from City Hall as well as clean up work from the recent storms. Acting City Manager John Miller reported that the city is progressing on their website and will soon have email access of council members. He reiterated that even will the sales of city property, there has to be other ways to increase the revenue to the city. Chief of Police Graham Hill stated that Rio Dell experienced a fairly "uneventful New Years Eve." The training for the new Officers was going well and two cars have recently been painted. Melissa Marks asked the staff if the recent Car Amnesty Day event wound up costing the city more than the $1,000 the Council has approved for it. Miller replied that there would be an update on the Amnesty Day at the next council meeting but both Miller and Beauchaine agreed that it did cost more than the $1,000. The Council then adjourned into their closed session. There were only two items on that session's agenda; Personnel-Interim City Manager Potential Litigation-Mintz vs. Rio Dell
January 2nd, 2007 Meeting Agenda
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Full Meeting 256K
Full Meeting 128k
Just the Audio of the Full Meeting about 1 hour and 30 Minutes Interim City Manager John Miller talks about selling city property to pay debts 256K Interim City Manager John Miller talks about selling city property to pay debts 128K about 15 minutes long
Just the Audio of Interim City Manager John Miller |
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