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CC - Minutes - 02-23-16 MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL AND THE SUCCESSOR AGENCY TO THE ROSEMEAD COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION JOINT MEETING FEBRUARY 23, 2016 Special Closed Session 5:00 PM The meeting of the Special Closed Session of the Rosemead City Council was called to order by Mayor Clark at 5:00 p.m.in the Rosemead City Council Chamber located at 8838 East Valley Boulevard, Rosemead, California. The City Council recessed to Closed Session pursuant to Government Code Section 54957 Public Employment: City Manager The City Council reconvened to open session at 7:02 p.m. at which time City Attorney Richman announced that no action was taken in closed session. Regular Meeting 7:00 PM The meeting of the Rosemead City Council and the Successor Agency to the Rosemead Community Development Commission was called to order by Mayor/Chair Clark at 7:02 p.m. in the Rosemead City Council Chamber located at 8838 East Valley Boulevard, Rosemead, California. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE was led by Council Member/Board Member Alarcon. INVOCATION was led by Council Member/Board Member Ly. PRESENT: Mayor/Chair Clark, Mayor Pro TemNice-ChairArmenta, Council Members/Board Members Alarcon, Low, Ly. STAFF PRESENT: City Manager Allred, City Attorney Richman, Community Development Director Ramirez, Finance Director Ramirez, Interim Public Works Director La, Interim Director of Parks and Recreation Director Soash, and Interim City Clerk Cowley. 2. PUBLIC COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE There were none. 3. PRESENTATIONS There were none. Rosemead City Council and the Successor Agency to the Rosemead Community Development Commission Joint Meeting Minutes of February 23, 2016 Page 1 of 8 4. PUBLIC HEARINGS A. Public Hearing on the Fiscal Year 2016-17 Annual Action Plan for Federally-Funded Programs Recommendation: That the City Council conduct a public hearing and take public testimony on the Annual Action Plan covering the period July 1,2016 through June 30, 2017. No further action is necessary. Community Development Director Ramirez provided the staff report indicating the public hearing is being held for citizens' input into the development of the City's Annual Action Plan for the period July 1, 2016 through June 30,2017. The Annual Action Plan includes the proposed activities, resources and expenditures for the Community Development Block Grant program and the Home Investment Partnerships program. She advised that HUD requires an Annual Action Plan in order for the City to receive federal funds in these two programs. She noted that in past years these funds have been used for a wide variety of activities including housing rehabilitation,code enforcement, social service programs, and various capital improvements. Ms. Ramirez advised that the City was just recently advised by HUD that Rosemead will receive approximately$631,000 in CDBG funds for the year 2016-2017 which is just over a 2.5%cut from its 2015-2016 allocation. The City will also receive approximately$217,000 in HOME funds,which is about an eight percent increase from its 2015-2016 allocation. She advised the City welcomes any recommendations, suggestions, or funding requests on the City's Fiscal Year 2016-2017 Annual Action Plan. She recommended the City Council defer making any recommendations this evening until a summary of all funding requests and staff recommendations are provided for Council's review at a future City Council meeting. Mayor/Chair Clark opened the public hearing at 7:06 p.m. Steve Cooper on behalf of the Rio Hondo Community Development Corporation, expressed the Corporation's pleasure in the partnership it has with the City and hopes it will continue. He advised that the program has been very successful and they appreciate being a part of it. Matt Rayburn on behalf of Family Promise of San Gabriel Valley thanked the City Council and City for its support. He advised Family Promise has been in operation since 2011 and has served 66 homeless families helping them get re-housed and re-integrated into the community. Danay Powers,the Clinical Director of Santa Anita Family Services stated they have been blessed to have worked with the City under the CDBG program for multiple years providing individual family and child counseling. Ms. Powers thanked the City Council for the opportunity and hoped to continue working with the City in the future. There being no one further wishing to speak, Mayor/Chair Clark closed the public hearing at 7:08 p.m. • Rosemead City Council and the Successor Agency to the Rosemead Community Development Commission Joint Meeting Minutes of February 23, 2016 Page 2 of 8 5. CONSENT CALENDAR ' A. Claims and Demands • Resolution No. 2016-08 entitled: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ROSEMEAD ALLOWING CERTAIN CLAIMS AND DEMANDS IN THE SUM OF $1,310,596.52 NUMBERED 91504 THROUGH 91668 INCLUSIVELY Recommendation: Adopt Resolution No. 2016-08 • Resolution No.2016-04 SA entitled: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF ROSEMEAD AS THE SUCCESSOR AGENCY TO THE ROSEMEAD COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION ALLOWING CERTAIN CLAIMS AND DEMANDS IN THE SUM OF$4,555.00 NUMBERED 10162 THROUGH 10164 INCLUSIVELY Recommendation: Adopt Resolution No. 2016-04 SA B. Approval of Minutes • Minutes of January 12, 2016 • Minutes of January 26, 2016 Recommendation: Approve the Minutes of January 12, 2016 and January 26, 2016 C. Cancellation of the March 8,2016 City Council Meeting Recommendation: That the City Council cancel the March 8, 2016 meeting due to a lack of quorum. D. Approval of Joint Use Agreement with the Garvey School District for the Operation and Maintenance of the Jess Gonzalez Sports Complex Recommendation: That the City Council authorize the Mayor to execute the agreement. E. SB 876(LIU)Homelessness—Preemption of Local Authority Recommendation: That the City Council authorize the Mayor to send letters to state legislators urging their opposition to SB 876 (Liu). F. Adams Ranch Mutual Water company–Deed of Trust and Re-Conveyance Recommendation: That the City Council re-convey and surrender a $150,000 Deed of Trust to Adams Ranch Mutual Water Company for construction and operation of a water well for 10 years and authorize the City Manager to sign the attached re-conveyance document to effectuate such re-conveyance, which has been reviewed by the City Attorney. Rosemead City Council and the Successor Agency to the Rosemead Community Development Commission Joint Meeting Minutes of February 23,2016 Page 3 of 8 ACTION: Moved by Council Member Ly, and seconded by Council Member Alarcon to approve the Consent Calendar with the January 26, 2016 Minutes as amended. The motion unanimously • carried as follows: AYES: Alarcon, Armenta,Clark, Low, Ly. 6. MATTERS FROM CITY MANAGER &STAFF A. Strategic Plan for 2014 and 2015—Report Card Recommendation: That the City Council review and comment. No formal action is required at this time. City Manager Allred provided the staff report explaining that staff is presenting a report card on the Strategic Plan which was for a two year period and concluded at the end of 2015. He advised the report was informational to provide the City Council with the opportunity to review and comment; no formal action is required. Mr.Allred corrected Strategy No. 5, Item D stating the City purchased new propane transit buses for the Dial-a-Ride and fixed-route transit system; not"CNG". Brian Lewin addressed the City Council congratulating the City for a good overall job. He acknowledged a lot of items were completed, a lot have been put into motion and will be completed over the course of this year. He thanked Council for its continuing support of the Beautification Committee's activities and appreciated the support the committee has received from the various departments. He pointed out, the City needs a strong, updated code that is followed and enforced. He mentioned the vacant lot ordinance, which is Strategy No. 3, Item A, because there are a number of eyesores in the City and it would be good to work on that a little more. Strategy No. 1, Item B, the sign ordinance which has been sidelined in favor of some of the development being worked on. He felt the City needed a strong sign ordinance in place for when the development comes. He mentioned American Tire Depot's painted window sign on the corner of Marshall and Rosemead Boulevard. Regarding Strategy No. 3, Item E relating to technology, Mr. Lewin felt the website needed to be updated and felt there was a at of things that can be done to the website to bring it up to date and to make it so fewer people have to come into City He thought the City's idea to take control of the Edison street lights discussed in Strategy No. 6. Item B is wonderful. Mayor Pro TentNice Chair Armenta expressed her agreement with some of Mr. Lewin's comments indicating that Monterey Park requires their vacant lots to be fenced with nice white picket fences. City Manager Allred confirmed Mayor Pro Tem Armenta was talking about commercial code enforcement and added the City Council has made it clear that code enforcement is to be proactive with commercial properties and less proactive on residential properties. He advised code enforcement is continuing its efforts to be proactive with commercial properties; however, he thought Ms. Armenta was addressing the issue of vacant lots where there are some problems. Mr.Allred thought the City needed to be more aggressive relative to that. Ms. Armenta referred to the binder stating code enforcement officers had a binder they used to periodically check on businesses to determine whether they were in compliance with the City's codes. She stated the officers actually took pictures and placed them in the binder for follow up. Rosemead City Council and the Successor Agency to the Rosemead Community Development Commission Joint Meeting Minutes of February 23, 2016 Page 4 of 8 Mr. Allred replied that staff prepared a binder for the Council to see what actions had been taken with respect to Garvey Avenue commercial enforcement and that has not been updated in a few years. Ms. Armenia addressed the website noting that she spoke with Mr. Lewin and his mother about the website not being user friendly. She added that there are two different emblems being used on different pages of the website and staff needs to make sure that everything is consistent and make sure the website is user friendly so that one does not have to go through several pages to find the calendar or other information. She felt the website should have flashing lights or something that catches the user's attention. She also noted the pictures need to be updated because some of them have been on there for a long time;and links to various forms to make it easier for the public. Mayor/Chair Clark agreed with that issue stating that she wanted to know if there was street sweeping on one of the holidays and she could not find it on the website. She felt that would be fairly easy to have on the website. City Manager Allred thought the website does need updating since it has been a number of years; however, that will require a budget allocation to do that. He stated that staff will take that into account and discuss it in the budget meetings noting the budget forecast for the Council in the upcoming meeting. Mayor Pro TemNice Chair Armenta asked whether the City will be getting a new web designer or have someone on City staff who will manage the website in house. Council/board Member Ly stated it may not be an issue of managing the website. He said there is a difference between content and style and also the user interface with the website. He noted the City has had the website for about ten years, and over ten years,technology and user interface changes, and because of that it the City wants to do more things with the website it might have to be overhauled. Discussion continued regarding the website and Council/Board Member Ly felt that staff would have to look into what is required, it is not something that can be answered at this time. He added this is the reason for the update on the strategic plan;the City is in the process of kicking off the next two years and it sounds like this is something the City Council wants to look at over the next year, the question is to what level,what quality, and to what degree. Mayor Pro TemNice Chair Armenta asked if it was possible to look to see if a web design is needed and whether it was possible to obtain a web company that will give us access to manage it internally. Council/Board Member Ly echoed several of the comments that have been made so far and what has been seen is that staff, the City Council and the residents combined have done a pretty good job over the last two years of accomplishing the goals that were set and then some, including the skate park. He felt a lot has been accomplished in the past two years and also in the past seven years. He reminded the Council that this was supposed to be a ten year process where seven years ago the Council projected what the City would look like in 2010 to 2020 and he felt the City was well along the way of meeting those objectives. Council/Board Member Ly expressed items to consider in the next strategic plan asking if there is a plan for Rosemead City Council and the Successor Agency to the Rosemead Community Development Commission Joint Meeting Minutes of February 23,2016 Page 5 of S restoring Dinsmoor; he would also like to include increasing open space and park space in the City. How do we do that and whether there are innovative ways to do that He also agreed with Council that there needs to be an update on the website. Council/Board Member Ly mentioned that the public talking to staff might be less about the website and more to do with the fact that this Council has always pushed that staff needs to be focused on customer service and the reason why everyone goes to staff is that they feel they get good customer service. He noted that when he is in City Hall he sees that customer service is always present. Mayor Pro TemNice Chair Armenia thanked City Manager Allred for suggesting the Strategic Plan when he first came on board to make sure the City was on the right page and moved the City forward. CounciVBoard Member Low thought it was a very good report and reminded everyone that the report was to show the status and to report on the last two years. CouncivBoard Member Low asked when the next Strategic Plan would be done. City Manager Allred said because it is already 2016, it needs to be done sooner rather than later. Before too much time passes the council needs to schedule a retreat to go over the next two years to determine the objectives. CounciVBoard Member Ly recalled that the process began in April and by then the new City Manager will have been identified. CounciVBoard Member Ly added one more item,developing a set of Council and Commission Norms and Practices as part of the next two year Strategic Plan. CounciUBoard Member Alarcon commented on the buses stating the people and drivers love it and he can no longer hear the buses coming down the street 7. MATTERS FROM CITY COUNCIL None. B. COUNCIL COMMENTS Mayor Pro TemNice Chair Armenia announced she received a scholarship from local Government Commission to attend a New Partners Smart Growth Conference in Portland, Oregon. She highly suggested that the City's staff attend next year. The conference was all about economic development and smart growth, including how to transform brownfields into property that can be developed. She advised that gas stations and dry cleaners are considered brownfields and apparently there are more toxins in dry cleaning businesses than there are in gas stations. She mentioned some of the sessions she attended and said she will share the power points with Council when she receives them. City Manager responded to Mayor Pro Tem Armenta's question regarding training for staff to prevent occurrences that were brought up at the prior meeting, advised that the employee was sent to driver training in addition to receiving discipline. He noted there is a driver training program for CSO's. Rosemead City Council and the Successor Agency to the Rosemead Community Development Commission Joint Meeting Minutes of February 23, 2016 Page 6 of 8 Mayor Pro TemNice Chair Armenta thanked the Chamber of Commerce for the beautiful Lunar New Year celebrating the year of the monkey. Council/Board Member Low learned about a transportation bill at the League of California Cities Board of Directors meeting,which if it passes the City could receive funding for infrastructure. She asked staff to watch for this bill. Council/Board Member Low has heard from several cities, especially the City of Los Angeles, recognizing the need for economic development and has seen some PowerPoints about Los Angeles'parallel processing to speed up their process when it comes to getting permits. She felt that was something the City could learn from other cities to see how the Rosemead can speed up its process to make it faster for developers. Mayor/Chair Clark commended Gary Garola for bringing to the City's attention a panhandler that has been on San Gabriel many times. She was told by Mr. Reyes that hopefully it has been taken care of. She explained the issue was very dangerous when someone goes out to a car. The driver thinks they are helping this person but they could be rear-ended because they're stopped where traffic could be coming up behind them and they are not helping the person in the long run. Gary Garola addressed the City Council explaining that he exits the freeway at San Gabriel pretty often and there is this older man there that people feel sorry for. However, after talking to one of the tenants in the commercial building on the corner,the man gets dropped off on a regular basis so he is a commercial panhandler. He advised that when he sees traffic stopping in both directions reaching out to hand him money, he worries about the man's safety and the safety of the cars. Mayor/Chair Clark commented on Mayor Pro Tern Armenia's comments about gas stations being toxic explaining the reason is because the underground tanks were leaking gasoline into the soil all of those years. That is why virtually every city has abandoned gas stations because the toxic soil has to be removed before a building can be constructed in that location and that is why she is so passionate about doing the ground water cleanup and the storm water issues correctly. She said the biggest"I told you so" in her life was when the Air Quality Resources Board wanted to put MTBE in the gasoline to clean up the air and we knew it was going to get into the ground water. Almost all of Santa Monica's water wells had to be shut down and it has only been in the last couple of years they began cleaning it up and it is costing multi-million dollars that could have been used for the environment. For her,that was an epiphany that the regulators don't always talk to each other and they don't always know what they are doing. Mayor pro temNice Chair Armenta added that it is also being found that when they do dig in to remove the tanks there is more tanks underneath. Mayor pro TemNice Chair Armenta also mentioned there is an encampment at the old Duff School site on Del Mar just north of Emerson Place, between the sidewalk and the school property. She asked if staff would please look into the matter. Rosemead City Council and the Successor Agency to the Rosemead Community Development Commission Joint Meeting Minutes of February 23,2016 Page 7 of 8 9. CLOSED SESSION "- The City Attorney announced the City Council will be going into closed session for Real Property . Negotiators pursuant to Government Code 54956.8 as follows: Property: 7830 Dorothy Street, Rosemead, CA 91770 Agency Negotiator: Jeff Allred, City Manager Negotiating Party: Garvey School District* Under Negotiation: Price and terms of payment The City Council reconvened at 9:15 p.m. at which time the City Attorney announced that no action was taken in closed session. 10. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the City Council, Mayor Clark adjourned the meeting at 9:15 p.m. The next regular City Council meeting is scheduled to take place on March 22, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. in the Rosemead City Hall Council Chamber. Gard)Cowley, m City C , a APPROVED: Margaref C�, Mayor Rosemead City Council and the Successor Agency to the Rosemead Community Development Commission Joint Meeting Minutes of February 23, 2016 Page 8 of 8