Loading...
CC - 03-28-06• C1 MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING ROSEMEAD CITY COUNCIL March 28, 2006 The regular meeting of the Rosemead City Council was called to order by Mayor Imperial at 8:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the City Hall, 8838 E. Valley Boulevard, Rosemead, California. The Pledge to the Flag was led by Councilmember Clark. The Invocation was delivered by Mayor Imperial. ROLL CALL OF OFFICERS: Present: Councilmembers Clark, Nunez, Tran, Mayor Pro Tem Taylor and Mayor Imperial Absent: None APPROVAL OF MINUTES: December 13, 2005 - Regular Meeting Motion by Mayor Pro Tern Taylor, second by Councilmember Clark to approve the minutes. Vote resulted: Yes: Clark, Imperial, Nunez, Taylor, Tran, No: None Absent: None Abstain: None Mayor Imperial declared said motion duly carried and so ordered. 1. COUNCIL REORGANIZATION This is the time for the Council to reorganize by appointing a Mayor and Mayor Pro Tern, respectively. A. APPOINTMENT OF MAYOR - CITY CLERK PRESIDING Motion by Councilmember Clark to nominate Gary Taylor. Motion by Councilmember Nunez to nominate John Tran. There being no further nominations Mayor Pro Tern Taylor moved to close the nominations. CCMIN: 3-28-06 Pave I of I8 L LL-J Motion by Councilmember Clark to nominate Gary Taylor for Mayor. Vote resulted: Yes: Clark, Imperial, Taylor No: Nunez, Tran Absent: None Abstain: None Motion passes by a 3/2 vote with a Newly Appointed Mayor - Gary Taylor. B. APPOINTMENT OF MAYOR PRO TEM - NEWLY APPOINTED MAYOR PRESIDING Motion by Councilmember Tran to nominate John Nunez. Motion by Mayor Taylor to nominate Margaret Clark. There being no further nominations Mayor Taylor moved to close the nominations. Motion by Councilmember Tran to nominate John Nunez for Mayor Pro Tem. Vote resulted: Yes: Clark, Nunez, Tran No: Imperial, Taylor Absent: None Abstain: None Motion passes by a 3/2 vote with a Newly Appointed Mayor Pro Tem - John Nunez. Newly appointed Mayor Taylor gives thanks for his appointment to office and thanks past Mayor Imperial for his year of service. If. PRESENTATIONS A. PROCLAMATION: AMERICAN RED CROSS MONTH Mayor Taylor requested that the Proclamation be mailed as there was no one from this organization in attendance to receive the proclamation. B. PROCLAMATION: NATIONAL DONATE LIFE MONTH Ms. Bernijo was in attendance to accept the Proclamation on behalf of the National Donate Life Foundation. The Proclamation was read into the record and presented by Mayor Taylor. CCMIN: 3-28-06 Pa e2of 18 i 6 Councilmember Tran expressed his gratitude to the family of a young football player who had passed away from a football injury and as a result of the donations of his organs four different lives had been saved. Ms. Bernijo gave thanks to the Council for their support in proclaiming National Donate Life Month in the City of Rosemead and put forth a challenge for April 29'h to increase tissue donation in Rosemead. III. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE Larry Bevington, residing at 8372 Rush Street, representing Save Our Community spoke about the groups four language petitions for a recall election. He explains that over the past month his reply for petition approval from the City Attorney's office has been an exchange of letters where requests for changes have been the focus. SOC disagrees with these requested changes. Mr. Bevington referenced various letters throughout the exchange were the City Attorney asks for compliance with the California Election Code requirements. SOC feels that some of these requirements are impossible to meet. An itemization of requests was given. After taking into consideration the recommendations from the City Attorney's office, SOC feels that the Secretary of State should be asked to get involved and give an opinion. They further request that their petitions be forwarded immediately to the City's translator, the Secretary of State and the Federal Department of Justice for immediate feedback. They would like answers and opinions from the aforementioned groups so that they may decide whether they will or will not continue their petition effort. Linda Jin, residing at 1600 S. Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia, are trying to raise attention to illegal organ harvesting by the Chinese Communist Regime. A facility is being used in North East China to kill and harvest organs of practitioners of the Falun Gong religion who refuse to renounce their beliefs. Mayor Taylor recognized that this is an international problem and that the Council can have an opinion, but questions what they can do about it. He asked about the standing of the National Government on the issue. Ms. Jin explained that it is their intention to expose the problem so that they can eventually get national support. Councilmember Imperial inquired about whether the problem originated out of Mainland China. He has received communications from this group in the past and he has unanswered questions. Councilmember Imperial also questions whether the City Council has a right to argue with the Chinese Government. Mayor Taylor requests that literature be left for Council to become familiar with the issue. Mayor Pro Tern Nunez requests that the speakers be allowed to finish their statement. Ms. Wu explains that Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese meditation practice. She further explains how the harvesting is performed on live people and compares the practice to a concentration camp. She asks the Council to adopt a resolution asking Congresswoman Hilda Solis to petition President Bush to investigate this atrocity and demand an end to this practice. Councilmember Clark indicated that the Falun Gong group has requested proclamations in the past regarding freedom of religion where the Chinese government responded with a letter asking the Councilmember to stay out of their business and not encourage freedom of religion. CCMIN: 3-28-06 Page 3 of 18 • Marlene Shinen, residing at 8447 Drayer Lane, South San Gabriel, would like to make the Council aware of an incident that took place on Wednesday, March 22°d at approximately 11:30am on Delta Street involving a diesel truck with a crane in front of a neighbor's residence. Ms. Shinen proceeded to call Councilmember Clark on her cell phone to inform her of the violation. She also called the City Manager's office where Assistant City Manager Wagner said he would come out. Ms. Shinen took pictures of the truck loaded with huge concrete blocks. Later that day she again met with another diesel truck on Delta coming toward her. The truck driver flagged her out of the way but Ms. Shinen refused to move her vehicle. She called the Sheriff's department. A Delta neighbor saw the situation and got into Ms. Shinen's vehicle for support. The truck driver cursed the two in the vehicle. A man claiming to be the owner approached the car and ordered them to move. A deputy arrived and was very safety conscious and asked Ms. Shinen to move her vehicle. She complied with the request. City Manager Lazzaretto phoned Ms. Shinen the day after the incident and they discussed violations on condition 68. City Manager Lazzaretto assured Ms. Shinen that the trucks would abide by the California Vehicle Code. Ms. Shinen believes that the conditions set forth in the EIR should trump the vehicle code. Ms. Shinen asked Assistant City Manager Wagner if he had actually gone to the site as he indicated he would following her phone call to him. He responded that he had not been able to do so. Ms. Shinen submitted photos of the diesel trucks on Delta. Councilmember Clark responded to Ms. Shinen's call to her cell phone by placing a call to Assistant City Manager Wagner who contacted the Sheriff s department, planning and engineering departments. A public works inspector responded by going to the site. Councilmember Tran asked the City Attorney to clarify what the condition states. City Attorney Wallin indicated that there is not a prohibition on trucks on Delta but rather a mitigation monitoring provision included in the EIR that reads that "to the extent possible all construction activity will enter the site on Walnut Grove Avenue. Also, a condition for a fence to be erected in 60 days had to be met. As a result of the gate there will be certain activities that will have to done from Delta. Wal-Mart has been asked to report what activities they anticipate taking place on Delta. It is a condition of operation. Mayor Taylor would like to get a legal opinion from the City Attorney that trucks can drive on Delta. Ms. Shinen asked if the City was going to put the signs up. Mayor Taylor indicated that it would be a joint effort with the County and restated that the City was going to get a legal opinion of delivery trucks having a right to access for delivery as it is in the state law. Councilmember Tran believes that the residents have a right to protest the trucks in the area. He also believes that the time of construction needs to be monitored for daily start and finish times. Mayor Taylor stated that this was the first time that he had heard about a problem regarding time of construction. Councilmember Tran had spoken to the City Manager regarding the time problem. Mayor Taylor asked if there had been any documentation. City Manager Lazzaretto responded that he had gotten information from Councilmember Tran regarding the issue but that there was no documentation. Mayor Taylor replied that if we are going to have a court issue out of this someone needs to have documentation. Councilmember Tran agreed to bring documentation to the Mayor. Mayor Pro Tem Nunez asked Planning Director Johnson about violation of trucks lining up to access the site at 5:30am on a Saturday morning. Planning Director Johnson indicated that every CCMIN: 3-28-06 Page 4 of 18 • • time a type of call like this from the public or a Councilmember is received the site Superintendent is immediately contacted. The Superintendent did indicate that for the delivery of iron or steel from the Midwest they did have an early delivery on that one occasion. The City was assured that it would not happen again. A few weeks ago there were complaints about activity starting before 7am and as a response Planning Director Johnson and Assistant City Manager Wagner went to the site for four consecutive mornings at the site at 6:45 am and did see some trucks starting there engines at that time. The Superintendent responded by locking the construction gates to the site. This seemed to resolve the problem of early start times. City Manager Lazzaretto also met with the site Superintendent who assured him that special attention would be paid to this problem of disturbing the residents in the early morning. Mr. Lazzaretto informed the Council that the issue of truck weight limits is due to be reviewed by the Traffic Commission the first part of April and will be coming before the Council eventually for approval or review. Councilmember Tran wanted to know who was sent out to the site as a result of the phone call placed from Councilmember Clark to Assistant City Manager Wagner. Assistant City Manager Wagner indicated that Ken Rukavina is the official mitigation monitor. For the incident in question he contacted Planning Director Johnson and Mr. Rukavina who sent out a public works inspector to take pictures as well as a deputy for the delivery of the vault. Mayor Pro Tern Nunez points out that due to poor planning they had to lift the vaults over the 14-foot wall. Councilmember Tran asked the Mayor about having the City Attorney review this issue and would like this brought back to the next City Council meeting and if possible add the item of putting the sign up if the County agrees to pay for this. He also stressed that the conditions need to be enforced for the protection of the residents. Mayor Taylor agrees to put it on the next agenda. Mayor Pro Tern Nunez asked to see the pictures that the City took on the response by the public works inspector. Assistant City Manager Wagner indicated that copies had been given to the Council behind their report. Mayor Taylor made a request to interject for the minutes regarding Wal-Mart going through all the necessary processes such as the public hearing, the environmental impact review, all of the permitting processes, and the plan check fees which gives them vested rights to build their building. He informed Mayor Pro Tem Nunez that he did not vote for him for one reason and began to read a letter from Mr. Guerra to former City Manager Crowe. On February I" Mayor Pro Tern Nunez came to City Hall and questioned the staff as to why they had given Wal-Mart building permits. Mayor Pro Tern Nunez agreed that he had posed that question to staff. Mayor Taylor stated that Wal-Mart had gone through all the legal processes and applications and they did what they were supposed to do, yet he questioned the staff as to why permits were given. Mayor Pro Tern Nunez responded by saying that he had a right to ask the question. Mayor Taylor asked Mayor Pro Tern Nunez if he did that with every building permit. Mayor Pro Tern Nunez indicated that he did it for that one but may later inquire on another one. The Mayor read into the record from the letter: "Attached are the pertinent sections of the building code that govern the issuance of building permits and grading inspections which Councilmember Nunez also requested." Mayor Taylor wanted to point out that staff has a job to do by administering codes and regulations, yet a Councilmember comes in and questions why they are issuing permits for that. Why would you ask the question other than to stop them? Mayor Pro Tern Nunez claims that he was told that Wal-Mart only had the permit to grade and put up the wall. He CCMIN. 3-28-06 Page 5 of 18 0 • questioned why only a certain amount of the flooring was approved at a time. He was also told that Wal-Mart wanted to get a permit on a smaller patch to start the building and the City told them that it would have to be a bigger patch. Those are the types of questions that he is asking. Mayor Pro Tern Nunez wanted to know if there was a problem in the way that he asked the questions. Mayor Taylor feels that every issue related to Wal-Mart results in trying to stop Wal-Mart. Councilmember Tran asked the Mayor if every question Councilmembers have of staff must be run through for Mayor approval. Mayor Taylor responded by bringing up some court documents and questioned Councilmember Tran if he had been to court recently. The Mayor felt that the Councilmember's integrity was in question. Mr. Bevington interjected that sight was being lost on the true subject of the discussion of whether the conditions at the construction site were going to be enforced or not. Mayor Taylor responded that you do not take away someone's total rights. Councilmember Clark asked for clarification about the topic of truck weight issues coming before the Traffic Commission. Assistant City Manager Wagner responded that the City got a request from the County on some signing on Delta. Councilmember Clark clarified that after the Wal-Mart is built there will be no deliveries off of Delta. Mayor Taylor is referring to delivery of furniture where larger trucks are involved and they have a right to be on those streets. He is not referring to the deliveries to Wal-Mart and the condition that they agreed to. Planning Director Johnson explained that the issue is about a weight condition on the street. He further explained that Ms. Shinen is reading conditions of approval from the draft version of the conditions of approval. These are different from the final conditions of approval which are attached to resolutions. In the final conditions of approval, the construction language was taken out of that condition and the mitigation monitoring plan reads "to minimize the noise impact of construction activities, construction equipment access to the project site should be taken to the extent possible from Walnut Grove Avenue away from noise sensitive receptors along Delta Street." The majority of truck access is taken off of Walnut Grove and in a few weeks more activity will take place. The "no access on Delta" was changed to be a more operational condition. Juan Nunez wants clarification on preliminary and final. One was a draft preliminary impact report circulated in May 2004. The final comes after the public hearings and many meetings before resolutions and final staff reports are compiled. Juan Nunez, residing at 2762 Del Mar, welcomes the new City Manager and invites him to bring new businesses into the City. He wants the City to not subsidize the businesses that will be affected by eminent domain. Todd Kunioka, residing at 8400 Wells Street, asked about the previous meeting commitment by Mayor Taylor to speak on the comment he made about "the law was very clear that it required multi-lingual petitions." He asked Mayor Taylor if he was able to find it. Mayor Taylor asked if Mr. Kunioka had the 1992 amendments in his book. Amendments through 1992 section 203b in the Federal Voting Rights Act, Section 203 subparagraph (b) states the bilingual voting materials and requirements and under subparagraph 4(c) special rules. Mayor Taylor read from the document: "Whenever any state or political subdivision subject to the prohibition of subsection (b) of this section provides any registration or voting notices, forms, instructions, assistance or other CCMIN: 3-28-06 Page 6 of 18 • 0 materials of information relating to the electoral process, including ballots, it shall provide them in the language of the applicable minority group as well as the English language." Mr. Taylor indicated that that was the only point he was going to bring back from the last meeting. Mr. Kunioka was also concerned about the construction on Delta. Mayor Taylor questioned how the City has affected his mother who lives in the City. He asked for her address, but Mr. Kunioka was not interested in providing that information at this time. He did indicate that his parents live near the construction site on Sierra Bonita. Mr. Kunioka's concern is that every time Wal-Mart has to meet a condition there seems to be something that arises that they did not have access to but the City did. He feels that there is no compromise and that Wal-Mart is always sided with. Another issue that Mr. Kunioka addressed was a mailer that came out over the summer with Mayor Taylor and Councilmember Imperial's name and current address on it. Based on their Fair Political Filings they did not report spending this money themselves against the recall. Mayor Taylor handed out literature in the form of an open letter to the community. Mr. Kunioka wanted to know if Mayor Taylor had any idea of how his name, address and signature got on the mailers without his knowledge. Mayor Taylor reiterated that his open letter was all that he was involved with and that he could not be held responsible if someone copied the letter and began distributing it. He asked the same question of Councilmember Imperial. Councilmember Imperial responded by bringing up the fact that he is being watched at the local Denny's and pictures being taken of him. He did indicate that he is not paying for the mailers in question. IV. PUBLIC HEARINGS-None V. LEGISLATIVE A. RESOLUTION NO. 2006-08 CLAIMS AND DEMANDS Recommendation: Adopt Resolution No. 2006-08, for payment of City expenditures. Motion by Councilmember Tran, second by Mayor Pro Tern Nunez that the Council approve the aforementioned resolution. Vote resulted: Yes: Clark, Imperial, Nunez, Taylor, Tran, No: None Absent: None Abstain: None Mayor Taylor declared said motion duly carried and so ordered. VI. CONSENT CALENDAR-RECOMMENDATION: APPROVAL The following routine items were put forth before the City Council (IV CC-D AND CC-E were pulled for discussion purposes): CCMIN. 3-28-06 Page 7 of 18 0 CC-A ACCEPTANCE OF BIDS AND AWARDS OF CONTRACT FOR ASPHALT CONCRETE OVERLAY ON VARIOUS CITY STREETS On March 7, 2006, bids were received for the subject project, which provides for an asphalt concrete overlay on various streets within the City. City Council will consider award of the contract to All American Asphalt Company in the amount of $316,344.20. Recommendation: That the City Council accept all bids and award the project to All American Asphalt in the amount of $316,344.20, waive the irregularities in the bids by Palp, Inc. dba Excel Paving Company and EC Construction and authorize the Mayor to sign the contract on behalf of the City. CC-B ACCEPTANCE OF SEWER EASEMENT ON PARCEL MAP 60733 - 3906 EARLE AVENUE A public sewer easement dedication is required to be granted on the map for sewer purposes. Recommendation: That the City Council accept the dedication as shown on Parcel Map 60733 and direct the City Clerk to arrange for the recordation of the map. CC-C ADOPTION OF CITYWIDE ENGINEERING AND TRAFFIC STUDY The California Vehicle code requires that cities complete an Engineering and Traffic Study every seven years in order to permit the use of radar to enforce speed limits. The last survey was adopted in 1999. A new study has been recently completed. There are no recommended changes to speed limits on the streets that were studied. Recommendation: It is recommended that the City Council adopt the Engineering and Traffic Study. CC-F AUTHORIZATION TO ATTEND LEAGUE 2006 CITY ATTORNEYS SPRING CONFERENCE, MAY 3-5,2006 - INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA This year's sessions include: General Municipal Law Update, Vicious Dog Law, Code Enforcement Procedural Tactics, Personnel Update, Sexually Oriented Businesses, Medical Marijuana Dispensaries, Head Shops, FPPC Small Cities Regulations, Mobile Home Rent Control Issues, and AB 1234 Ethics Training Update. Recommendation: That the City Council authorize the attendance at City expense, including, if any, expenses in excess of $2,500, of the City Attorney. CCMIN: 3-28-06 Page 8 of 18 • E CC-G AUTHORIZATION TO ATTEND LEAGUE OF CALIFORNIA CITIES LEGISLATIVE ACTION DAYS, MAY 17-18,2006 - SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA This particular annual event focuses on the "May revise" of the proposed state budget. It provides the City with an opportunity to make our positions on the issues known to our state legislators. Recommendation: That the City Council authorize the attendance at City expense, including, if any, expenses in excess of $2,500.00, of any Council member, the City Manager and staff designees. CC-H AUTHORIZATION TO ATTEND CALIFORNIA CONTRACT CITIES ASSOCIATION 47°i ANNUAL MUNICIPAL SEMINAR, MAY 18-21, 2006 - INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA This year's theme is "Sharing Resources for Stronger and Safer Cities" and topics include: Clean Water, Eminent Domain, Policy Issues, Emergency Management Communication System, and Telecommunications. Recommendation: It is recommended that the City Council authorize the attendance at City expense, including, if any, expenses in excess of $2,500, of any Councilmember, the City Manager and staff designees. Motion by Mayor Pro Tem Nunez, second by Councilmember Tran that the Council approve the aforementioned items on the Consent Calendar. Vote resulted: Yes: Clark, Imperial, Nunez, Taylor, Tran, No: None Absent: None Abstain: None Mayor Taylor declared said motion duly carried and so ordered. CC-D ACCEPTANCE OF WORK FOR RECONSTRUCTION OF HELLMAN AVENUE BRIDGE OVER ALHAMBRA WASH, FEDERAL PROJECT NO. BRLS-5358 (007) Reconstruction of Hellman Avenue Bridge over Alhambra Wash has been constructed in conformance with the approved plans and specifications. Recommendation: Accept the project, authorize recordation of the Notice of Completion by the City Clerk, and authorize release of the 10 percent retention payment 35 days after the recorded date of the Notice of Completion. CCMIN: 3-28-06 Page 9 of 18 • 0 Jim Flournoy, residing at 8655 Landisview,comm ended the work done on the Hellman Bridge. He asks for a report on the review of the GeoTech Report for the Hellman Bridge because he understands that there has been no sign off obtained on it. He asked that it be addressed at the next Council meeting. Motion by Councilmember Tran, second by Mayor Pro-Tern Nunez that the Council accept the work for reconstruction of Hellman Avenue Bridge. Vote resulted: Yes: Clark, Imperial, Nunez, Taylor, Tran, No: None Absent: None Abstain: None Mayor Taylor declared said motion duly carried and so ordered. CC-E AB 1234 MEETING REPORTS AB 1234 requires that the City Councilmembers provide a brief report on meetings attended at City expenses at the next regular City Council meeting. The City Clerk has received two written reports filed by Councilmember Clark and Councilmember Nunez. Recommendation: That the City Council receive and file said reports. Juan Nunez, residing at 2762 Del Mar Avenue,w as concerned about the attendance at conferences at City expense. He wanted to know if the reports would be given at the Council meeting. Mayor Taylor explained that the conferences being reported on have already been attended and that a one page report had already been filed and received. Mr. Nunez was provided with a copy of the report from the agenda packet. Motion by Councilmember Tran, second by Mayor Pro-Tern Nunez that the Council receive and file said reports. Vote resulted: Yes: Clark, Imperial, Nunez, Taylor, Tran, No: None Absent: None Abstain: None Mayor Taylor declared said motion duly carried and so ordered. V 11. MATTERS FOR DISCUSSION AND ACTION -None VIII. STATUS REPORTS -None CCMIN: 3-28-06 Page 10 of 18 0 • IX. MATTERS FROM OFFICIALS A. DISCUSSION OF LAWSUIT- IMPERIAL V. CASTRUITA Placed on Agenda at request of Mayor-Pro Tern Taylor. Recommendation: Pending the outcome of the discussion, the City Council will determine if action is necessary. Mayor Pro Tern Nunez inquired whether this topic should be addressed in closed session because it pertains to a lawsuit. Due to the fact that Council is not conferring with the City Attorney it can be discussed in open session. Juan Nunez, residing at 2762 Del Mar Avenue,a sked the question as to when the City knew about the Consent Decree issued by the Department of Justice. Mayor Taylor responded that the City was served around June or July 2005. Mr. Nunez inquired as to why the petitions were accepted. City Attorney Wallin indicated that both he and the former City Clerk approved the form of the petitions based on existing laws at that time. He stressed that no one could have known at that time that the 9`" Circuit would interpret the law to require petitions to be in multiple languages. Existing case law in other circuits was to the contrary. Only after the 9`h Circuit later decided the Padilla v. Lever case that everyone became aware that the requirement now was for petitions to be circulated in multiple languages. Juan Nunez wanted to know what the agreement was that the City entered into with the Department of Justice. City Attorney Wallin explained that the City agreed to comply with the Voting Rights Act and make sure that all election materials were in multiple languages totaling four for the City of Rosemead. Mayor Taylor reiterated that the City became aware of the Consent Decree sometime in July. He also informed that the Department of Justice would be auditing the City until 2009 on elections. Councilmember Clark verified that the Consent Decree was issued on the cities of Azusa, Rosemead and Paramount for not providing election information in all required languages. The 9°i Circuit determined on November 23, 2005 that they would overturn a lower court's decision and now said that petitions also have to be provided for in multiple languages. City Clerk Castruita clarified for Mr. Nunez that the petitions he was inquiring about had been approved by the former City Clerk and that the Consent Decree had come a few months after the fact. The petitions were approved according to what the standing law was at that time. Mayor Taylor asked the City Clerk if she had been in attendance at the Department of Justice meeting regarding the Voting Rights Act. City Clerk Castruita indicated that she had been at the meeting in the company of about 100 other clerks which was the capacity attendance. Mayor Taylor explained that at the interviews to fill the vacancy of the City Clerk the City received five to six applicants each of who were questioned regarding what they had done at their previous elections. None of the applicants had the minority languages either. The City's contractor for elections was under the same assumption. The Federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a CCMIN: 3-28-06 Page 11 of 19 • • separate entity than the State Election Code. All cities have gone through the same process for decades and now all would be affected by these new laws. Mayor Taylor went on to say that Martin & Chapman, our election consultants, did not even have the capability of counting the Chinese ballots. He expressed that confusion still exists and that we are all trying to work through it. City Clerk Castruita said that the City has been charged with a great number of things by both the State Elections Code and by the Department of Justice. Petitions must meet the minimum requirements of the Elections Code to begin with and then must meet the requirements of the Department of Justice and get their final sign off. Both entities are making different demands on the City. City Clerk Castruita stated that we are the first City facing these challenges and that we would be setting precedent. She cautioned that we must be very careful every step of the way because we are being watched by opposing entities at our every action to make sure that we comply with all rules. The challenge is that these very rules and requirements are at odds with each other. Councilmember Imperial commends Martin & Chapman as being one of the best in the country. City Clerk Castruita points out that Martin & Chapman is experiencing this process for the first time along with the City of Rosemead. Mayor Taylor indicated that Item A was for informational purposes only and that no action was to be taken. B. SB 1206 (KEHOE) REDEVELOPMENT REFORM This legislation would limit the ability of communities to identify and clean-up blight. Recommendation: That the City Council take action to oppose SB 1206 and direct staff to prepare the appropriate correspondence to the author, the members of the Senate Local Government Committee and the City's legislators. Jim Flournoy, residing at 8655 Landisview,inqui red whether SB 1206 had anything to do with eminent domain. Mayor Taylor responded that it was within the law. Mr. Flournoy requested that the Mayor keep an eye on the situation and the Mayor agreed to do so. City Manager Lazzaretto explained that the Bill does not affect eminent domain, but there are a number of provisions being proposed by the Office of Christine Kehoe out of San Diego which increases the administrative work and makes it difficult for agencies to administer redevelopment projects in the future. It is an unnecessary burden and adds to the law and makes more difficult to operate the goal of redevelopment which is the elimination of blight. The California Redevelopment Association has taken a position against the Bill. Councilmember Imperial suggests that more consideration should be given to this topic so that what is being voted on is fully understood. Mayor Taylor clarified CCMIN: 3-28-06 Page 12 of] 8 i 0 that the issue is dealing with conditions in the current redevelopment law that does allow eminent domain. This particular bill is to stop or prevent extra regulations of other issues not eminent domain which is a given. Mayor Taylor feels that there should have been something provided in the Council agenda packet for consideration. Mayor Pro Tern Nuflez said that opposition to this bill was provided for in the literature from Contract Cities. Mayor Taylor would like to see the actual bill itself and would like copies of bills provided for in the agenda packets. Motion by Mayor Pro Tern Nunez, second by Councilmember Clark that the Council take a position to oppose SB 1206. Vote resulted: Yes: Clark, Nunez, Tran, No: None Absent: None Abstain: Imperial, Taylor Mayor Taylor declared said motion duly carried and so ordered. X. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE Ken Pike, residing at 9220 Steel Street,stated that he worked for the incorporation of Rosemead. He attended the meeting were residents did not want the traffic problem that Wal-Mart would bring. Residents did not welcome an egress off of Delta for shoppers to use. He was opposed to the resident that blocked a truck with her car and caused the very same traffic problem that they are fighting. Mr. Pike feels that unnecessary funds had to be spent when it was not called for. His next topic was abiding with the Voting Act and a fine from the 2005 election. Mayor Taylor clarified that there was no fine involved in the arrangement of the Consent Decree. Mr. Pike feels that a travesty is being committed and that people who come here should have the right to vote when they become citizens but should be required to speak English so that they may be able to understand their ballots. He is upset about the extra expenses the City must incur and encourages the residents to contact their local Congressmen to get this law changed and get back to basics. Mayor Imperial commended City Clerk Castruita for a job well done in doing what we had to do to get the job done. Councilmember Tran expressed that he found Mr. Pike's comments hypocritical because he spoke for the same amount of time that Ms. Shinen did about the history of Rosemead and he is not surprised about Mr. Pike's support for Wal-Mart. He has heard stories in the past about Mr. Pike being recalled because he wanted to redevelop the whole City and does not find it surprising that he would want to support such a project at any cost including at the cost of the residents. Councilmember Tran asks that Mr. Pike respect the comments of other speakers. Mr. Pike defended his view on development. Councilmember Tran further addressed Mayor Taylor about his constantly bringing up the court issue and integrity. Councilmember Tran stated that he questions the Mayor's CCMIN: 3-28-06 Page 13 of IS 0 integrity and looks forward each and everyday that the year is over so that Mayor Taylor no longer sits on the City Council. Councilmember Tran declared that he has worked really hard on this recall effort and challenges the Mayor's integrity versus his own integrity. He asks that they take it to the voters. Councilmember Tran feels that the Mayor is trying to dictate how each councilmember questions any item or how they do their job. He commended Mayor Pro Tem Nunez for asking questions. He feels that he and Mayor Pro Tern Nunez have campaigned hard against Wal-Mart and will do everything and anything possible to stop this development. Mayor Taylor asked that Councilmember Tran repeat his last comment. Councilmember Tran declared that he would do anything and every possible legally to stop the development of Wal-Mart. His literature states the same. He feels that the Mayor does not come in to City Hall to question or talk to staff members and then comes to the Council meeting and surprises them. Councilmember Tran asks that he give staff time to do some homework. He feels that the Mayor bullies people around. Mayor Taylor wanted to know who Councilmember Tran feels he has bullied. Councilmember Tran indicates that the Mayor interrupts peoples' conversations as well as the Council conversations. Larry Bevington, resident of 8372 Rush Street,asked for Cit y Council action earlier in the meeting regarding expediting the petitions and getting multiple agencies involved in approving the petitions to form. City Attorney Wallin stated that it would be a Brown Act violation for the Council to act on his item since it was not part of the agenda. Mr. Bevington requested that his item be treated as an urgency item enacted upon by a 4/5°i vote. Mayor Taylor indicated that he would not be taking any action on this because it was not on the agenda and because it is already being addressed in the Court process. He, feels that it is already in the hands of the City Clerk, the City Attorney and we are waiting for approval from the Department of Justice. Mr. Bevington restated that all he is looking for is that the agencies of the Secretary of State and the Department of Justice be asked the question as to the form of the petitions. THE SECTION BELOW IS VERBATIM AT THE REQUEST OF MAYOR TAYLOR Councilmember Tran: Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make my motion to add that item to the agenda. Mayor Taylor: Where is your second at? Mayor Pro Tem Nunez: Second. Mayor Taylor: Okay. And what's the motion? Councilmember Tran: Basically to give direction to request communications from the Secretary of State and to proceed forward with this petition that's been sitting there for quite some time now. City Attorney Wallin: That's not quite true. We are required bylaw to respond to the petitions in 10 days and we did respond to the petitions within 10 days. The law does not CCMIN: 3-28-06 Page 14 of 18 • 0 say that we go to the Secretary of State. The law does not say that we go to the Department of Justice. The law says you submit to the City Clerk and the City Clerk has to review it and get out the response within 10 days. We had to do that and so we gave our response. We gave a good faith response and made suggestions. Mr. Bevington is capable of asking the Secretary of State himself whether it's going to meet requirements. Our opinion, the Secretary of State's opinion is not necessarily going to be right; the Department ofJuslice's opinion is not necessarily going to be right as we found out in Padilla v. Lever. Padilla v. Lever, the Department of Justice was saying you don't have to have the recall petitions in multiple languages but the 91h Circuit ruled otherwise. You're concerned that some court, somebody might try and set aside the recall because of errors in the petition and our failure to clear it with the Secretary of State. Well, you can call the Secretary of State, submit it, I mean there's nothing that prevents you_from submitting all these letters and asking the Secretary of State for an opinion. We had to respond within 10 days and we did. Mr. Bevington: Thank you Mayor Taylor. Alright. We have a motion and a second. Any other comments? No. Mr. Tran and Mr. Nunez; a motion and a second,for the Council to take action. You don't need a 415 to put it on the next agenda. Mr. Bevington: I'm talking about tonight, Mr. Taylor, tonight. It takes a 415 vote of this Council to put it on the agenda so they can act on it. Mayor Taylor: Alright, the motion is to put it on the agenda tonight. City Clerk Castruila: I just wanted to make a comment to Councibmember Tran. The only thing we were asking, per say in this round, was that we comply with the minimum requirements of what the Secretary of State mandates as a minimum. And, once we have that in place we would on an expedited basis forward it to the appropriate people to get an expedited turnaround. Unfortunately, with what was submitted, we didn't even meet the minimznn requirements that the Secretary of State sets as a standard. There were inconsislem.fonts. We ask that you select one and be consistent within your document. For instance, with the font size, it requires an 8-pitch minimum. You can certainly select a 10 or a 12 but it has to be throughout your document. At which point, let's say in the Spanish language. The statement, the answer, some were bolded, some were larger font. We just need for the group to submit it consistent and to abide by the formatting we're asking.for before we can proceed in getting into further process and having their approval. They'll shoot it right back. And certainly from one page to another, we understand that the characters in the Chinese language require a different size. You can certainly have a larger character size. It has to be readable otherwise the Department of Justice will throw it back. But, it doesn't have to be consistent with what the English font is going to be used at. It has to be within its language consistent. Mr. Bevington: This is where we are having a disagreement. I say we have one petition in four languages and you're saying it has to be consistent? CCMIN'. 3-28-06 Page 15 of 18 • • City Clerk Castruita: It has to be consistent in the sense that the Notice of Intention Mr. Bevington: The court also says that they shall have to do all this stuff and have signatures, all this Notice, Answer, Proponents all on one page before anybody can sign? City Clerk Castruita: One sheet of paper and you are allowed to put the signature of affidavit on the back side. It does have to be on one sheet; otherwise, it can be contested. The reason for the consistency in fonts, whether it be the holding, underlining, and or size is because there is not one part of the document that is more important than another. We can not, for example, have the Notice of Intention be more significant in let's say a 12 .font and then an answer of the subject of recall in an 8 font because then it shows inconsistency on our part and favoritism. It stresses that one is more important than the other which is why it's in place in the first place. All we're asking is just select your font and be consistent in the document. If the Chinese requires larger characters, that's not a problem, but it needs to be consistent throughout the entire Chinese document. Mr. Bevington: We don't have a Chinese document,I and a Spanish document, and a Vietnamese document, and an English document. We have one document in four languages. City Clerk Castruita: Unfortunately, because of the Department of Justice Consent Decree requirements we do have four different documents that we're having to contend with. So, they're handled separately. Mayor Pro Tem Nunez: Can I offer another inconsistency. Some of the things that I'm hearing out here. The fact that we have been talking about this in the past and the fact that the English document is what we have to look at and if it takes, like in Vietnamese, more wording so it takes maybe 50% more letters or whatever but at the same time I'm wondering that if that's the case then what's to stop anyone from making a petition in different fonts on the other one because as long as it's correct in the English than that's it. City Clerk Castruita: It's not that the other languages do not have to be correct but if it takes more words for description - Mayor Pro Tem Nunez: 1 know. Let me just say that I'm just speaking out loud on this and I think what we'd like to know, what 1 keep hearing, what SOC wants to know is what is the proper way, in other words, they're asking us to design something that perhaps somebody else is designinf something differently in another county, another part of the state. In the case of the 9t Circuit Court it could be another state, period. So, I'm wondering if, I think that, 1 really think it's the 9d' Circuit that's the onethat's suppose to tell its how these petitions should be looked at and then we could follow that petition. But, unless they're asked how are they going to say, well we didn't know that was your problem. I bet you right now they're not worried about what a petition looks like. CCMIN: 3-28-06 Page 16 of] 8 • 0 Mayor Taylor: I'd like to call for the question that was presented. Councilmember Imperial: Would you please restate the question. Mayor Taylor: That you take action tonight on the discussion with the petitions. City Attorney Wallin: The request from SOC. Mayor Taylor: We'll cull for the question either we're going to vote no not to act on it tonight or vote yes for their motion. Mayor Pro T em Nunez: I'm just kind of curious. Can Mr. Imperial vote on this? Councilmember Imperial. Mr. Imperial? I don't know. Can I vote on this you're making all the decisions tonight? City Attorney Wallin: Yes. Councibnember Imperial: Thank you. Thank you very much. I want to make sure that I'm not eating lunch. Nobody is watching me going in. They're not taking my picture Mayor Taylor: Alright. 1'd like to call for the question. Call for the vote. What is it? Alright, the motion stays. Mr. Nunez, your motion to adjourn would be? Mayor Pro Tern Nunez: As I stated. She has the note over there. Mayor Taylor: Would you read it, Nina. And incidentally, I'd like the last conversation in the minutes verbatim so that there's no misunderstanding later on what the action taken. THIS ENDS THE VERBATIM SECTION Motion by Councilmember Tran, second by Mayor Pro Tern Nunez that the Council approve the aforementioned motion. Vote resulted: Yes: Nunez, Tran No: Clark, Imperial, Taylor Absent: None Abstain: None The motion is not carried. Xl. ADJOURNMENT There being no further action to be taken at this time, the meeting was adjourned at 10:20 p.m. in memory of Deputy Chris Bain, a Lancaster Deputy who was CCM1N: 3-28-06 Page 17 of 18 LJ ~.J killed in the line of duty. Deputy Bain worked out of the Temple City Station on the motors. A request was also made to fly the flags at half staff. The next regular meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 11, 2006, at 8:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted: City Clerk APPROVED: 4Y!!Z CCMIN. 3-28-06 Page 18 of 18 • • STATE OF CALIFORNIA ) COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES ) SS. CITY OF ROSEMEAD ) 1, Nina Castruita, City Clerk of the City of Rosemead, do hereby certify that the minutes from March 28, 2006 were duly and regularly approved and adopted by the Rosemead City Council on the 12th of September, 2006, by the following vote to wit: Yes: CLARK, IMPERIAL, NUNEZ, TAYLOR, TRAN No: NONE Absent: NONE Abstain: NONE ~ L . Nina Castruita City Clerk