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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-07-2010 Council MinutesAPPROVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL ON DECEMBER 14, 2010 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES ORANGE, CALIFORNIA OF A REGULAR MEETING December 7, 2010 The City Council of the City of Orange, California convened on December 7, 2010, at 4:30 p.m. in a Regular Meeting in the Council Chambers, 300 E. Chapman Avenue, Orange, California. 7:00 P.M. SESSION OATH OF OFFICE CEREMONY 1. OPENING 1.1 INVOCATION Given by Pastor Tim Klinkenberg, St. John's Lutheran Church 1.2 PRESENTATION OF COLORS Presented by Orange Police Department Color Guard 1.3 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG Led by Councilmember Mark A. Murphy 1.4 NATIONAL ANTHEM Orange High School Chamber Singers 1.5 ROLL CALL PRESENT — Smith, Murphy, Cavecche, Dumitru, Bilodeau ABSENT — None 2. PUBLIC COMMENTS - None 3. LEGAL AFFAIRS 3.1 RESOLUTION NO. 10518 (E1100.0) A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Orange, California, reciting the fact of the General Municipal Election held on November 2, 2010, declaring the results and such other matters as provided by Law. MOTION - Dumitru SECOND - Bilodeau AYES - Smith, Murphy, Cavecche, Dumitru, Bilodeau ACTION: Approved Paiie 1 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES December 7, 2010 4. SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO CO UNCILMEMBER MARK A. MURPHY Presentations were made to Councilmember Mark A. Murphy. Comments by outgoing Councilmember Mark A. Murphy Well, to say that I am overwhelmed would be an understatement. If you will indulge me for a couple of minutes, I want to share a few thoughts. (He then presented his wife and mother with flowers). Thank you very much for your patience and your kindness this evening. It is really overwhelming. I have heard people say that you feel like your life is in fast - forward sometimes, and you turn around... and you have been in the City, in an elected office for a number of years — 17 years plus. I just have to tell you that it is an extraordinary experience that I have been so privileged to have had the opportunity to serve. I appreciate being Mayor and Councilman in my home town, the City of Orange, and there is not an experience like it. Fred, you are about to join a great entity up here and have that same experience, and I am happy for you for that as well. My colleagues here, and you Fred, will have challenges ahead, but also very rewarding experiences ahead as you continue to mold and shape the history here in the City of Orange, and the progress as you move forward. So many memories - for me it has always been the community events that I enjoyed the most or one of the things that left an impression on me. Treats in the Streets, 3rd of July, Orange International Street Fair, Tree Lighting. It is always special to see the community come out and celebrate in good times and challenging times, and celebrate the fact that there is a sense of community here in the City of Orange. It is represented by all the folks I see here this evening, and thousands, and thousands more that we see each and every day at each and every event. Obviously, I want to say thank you to those who made presentations this evening. I am truly overwhelmed. My colleagues on the Council, I had plans to make comments about each of you individually, but I am just going to say as a group - thank you for the opportunity to serve with you. You all bring unique contributions to a whole and there is a synergy, and I look forward to seeing that synergy continue moving forward. To all of you ... Carolyn, Tita, Denis, Jon., and soon -to -be Fred, thank you for the opportunity and the support along the way. It was mentioned earlier, but there is a whole host of former Council people here. I was going through pictures the other night and I came across pictures of all three City Clerks that have sworn me into office, Marilyn Jensen, Cassie Cathcart, and Mary Murphy. That is really something truly special. I wanted to say thank you to Orange County Supervisor Bill Campbell who is here this evening. It means an awful lot that you are here. It is so appreciated how you look out for the City of Orange as well. I mentioned former Mayors and former Councilmembers that are here, but I want to also say thank you for all the people that I have had the opportunity to serve with - and I won't go through the names or we will be here all night. I will mention a couple of people that aren't here, but are with us in spirit: Gene Beyer (he introduced Lois Beyer who was in the audience). And Bridget Ambriz Holl is here tonight. I would be remiss if I did not mention Steve Ambriz, who made such a significant Page 2 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES December 7, 2010 4. SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO COUNCILMEMBER MARK A. MURPHY (Continued) impact in such a short period of time. We did not get to keep him nearly long enough on this City Council. He is missed but never forgotten, so Bridget thank you for being here too. Really, the special privilege to all this are the friends you make along the way in life. There are so many of them in this room tonight. I have to mention a few - Rich Alarcon and his wife Penny are here, and I want to say thank you for being such great friends. Mike and Susie Spurgeon - thank you. We served on the Council together and the rumor is true, I delivered his newspaper when I was a kid. Former Councilmember Bill Steiner is here and if it wasn't for him moving on to the County Board of Supervisors, maybe I would not have had the opportunity to serve on the Council, and I truly appreciate that. Al and Mary Ricci are here - thank you so much for your friendship. Bill Utter — thank you. David Wilson was not able to be here tonight, but is certainly somebody else that has been very supportive along the way. I would be remiss if I did not mention the lunch crowd on Saturday. We have gone by a number of different names, and a couple of members are no longer with us, but always remembered; and it is a group that I have really, truly enjoyed along the way. Barry Cottle is here, with his son - and I remember the times back with Gene Beyer, and the rest, all the way through today thank you. Bill Cathcart, who has made his own significant contributions to the community. Frank Elfend and his wife Elizabeth have been family friends for a long, long time, and will continue to be so. I appreciate them being here to support me. I am going to stop there, but that does not mean there has not been numerous others that I should mention in this room. I consider :, all friends, but we have been talking way too long here about me, and we really need to focus in on the folks moving forward. But to all of you who have made an impact in our lives, and also in the City of Orange, I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you for that. But I do have to mention some other people who have been incredibly important. Our City staff, you truly make our jobs easy, and make us look good in serving the community. It is just extraordinary. To start with - the safety personnel who allow us to have a quality of life that we have all come to enjoy in the City of Orange; and every other department from Library to Community Services, Community Development, Public Works, Water, Finance, Human Resources, Economic Development, the City Clerk's office, the City Attorney's office, the City Manager's office. We are all very fortunate that they are out there representing us each and every day. I want to say thank you specifically to John Sibley and his entire reporting staff because they do an extraordinary job for us each and every day. There are Foundations to talk about, there are volunteers to talk about, but I think the best thing that I can do is to just say thank you again for an extraordinary opportunity. I truly appreciate each and every one of you, and I want to say thank you for the opportunity to serve here in the City of Orange. Whether you talk about Old Towne, or Orange Park Acres, or North Orange, or West Orange ... Orange is truly a dynamic place with a real sense of community, and it is just something that is very, very special and very, very dear to each and every one of our hearts. I am confident with the support of everyone in this room and the thousands of others who call Orange home, that Orange will continue to be the greatest place to live, work, and raise a family. Page 3 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES December 7, 2010 4. SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO COUNCILMEMBER MARKA. MURPHY (Continued) I just wart to say again thank you for the wonderful experience. God bless you all, and God bless the City of Orange. S. OA TH OF OFFICE Oath of Office administered to Councilmember -Elect Fred M. Whitaker Oath of Office administered to Councilmember -Elect Denis Bilodeau Comments by newly- elected Councilmembers: Councilmember Fred M. Whitaker — Well, campaigns are grueling exercises, and you can't do them by yourself, so you are going to have to bear with me because I have some real important people to thank and acknowledge - and I know that I am going to miss a lot of people, so in advance, thank you to everybody who was so helpful. First, to the voters of Orange - thank you for the trust you have placed in me; and I pledge that I will spend four years of providing service and leadership that is worthy of that trust. Second, my wife and my family. Mignon, it has been 21 years of a great adventure and you do so much for the community, and for our kids, and for Saint John's, and still somehow found time to run the campaign. It would not have happened without you. I love you, honey. To my kids, I thank you and I apologize to you for letting you grow up in an incredibly frenetic, busy household that is political, when all of your friends don't want to be political. So, Jane, especially thank you for corralling all your Lutheran High AP Government friends to help out, and for overcoming fear and making hundreds of phone calls because you could not walk with your foot injury. Jack, thank you for being my precinct walking buddy — you were just amazing. I want to especially thank my dad and my late mother. Fred Whitaker Sr. is here. They taught me philosophy, a love for community, and most of all how to be a volunteer leader - and that is all I do. Thank you, and especially thanks to my dad. My brother Charlie is also here. Both of them made hundreds of phone calls. It was a salesmen's competition to see how many signs they could get up, and I never did find out who won that competition. Arlene, my dad's wife, thank you so much for putting up with the intrusion into your previously unpolitical household. To everybody who is in this room — elected and former elected officials, all of our friends who are here ... precinct signs, dollars, you name it - everybody came forward. It was amazing. I could name off all the groups of friends, but we would be here all night. I want to say a special thank you to Mark Murphy. Mark, you have been my friend for 17 years or more. Our good friend, the late Frank Grienke, introduced us; and your friends became my friends in this community. Everybody you have mentioned, at one time or another, have come out to help me and you pushed me forward 18 months ago, and said "you have got to do this ". I can't thank you enough, and I only hope to replicate your record of service and leadership. Page 4 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES December 7, 2010 5. al.TH OF OFFICE (Continued) But that is what we are elected to do - to serve and to lead. I am going to pontificate a little bit here and tell you that the way I plan on doing it is, first, by listening. Many of you know we can not talk to each other too much beforehand - the Brown Act prohibits that. We have to be good listeners up here. We have to understand where each other is coming from, because that is the only way you are going to find commonality for three votes to get something good accomplished or prevent something bad from happening. And then I am also going to listen to everybody in the community. I will meet with anybody, anywhere, anytime. People often make a joke that "Fred will have lunch with anybody "! Please call me up - if you have an issue I want to hear about it. Second point — I have a philosophy. Most people know that I am conservative. What does that mean? I believe in limited government, and as John Hanna said today, we are in an era of limits, and so we have to really understand what is important in our City. The things that are most important are our public safety — fire and police; our infrastructure - our roads, our sewers, and our water delivery; and our parks and library. . Those are things we can't do for ourselves and that is why we formed government - to do things we can't do ourselves. In this era of limits, as long as we focus on the important things, everything else will work out. And then last, by being consistent. A lot of people know that I negotiate deals for a living, and I have a different philosophy on negotiating than some people do. I usually play all cards up, so people know where I stand. You may not like it at times, but you will know where I stand, and my colleagues can count on my consistency and you, the City, can count on my consistency. We are very fortunate to have five great individuals on this Council. I know all of them well and I work well and have a cordial and good relationship with all of them. I really look forward to accomplishing great things. I want to express special gratitude to Mayor pro tem Smith and Mayor Cavecche for all of their support. But, because we are all five strong people, we are all going to have different opinions. It is very hard for five individuals to all do the same thing — and that is okay. It is a democracy, it is a republic. We are not a dictatorship. John Quincy Adams once said "Always vote for principle; though you may vote alone, you may cherish the sweet reflection that your vote is never lost ". So, no matter whom you voted for in this last election, your vote was not lost. I pledge to you that mine will never be lost to you. Thank you. Councilmember Denis Bilodeau — I want to start by thanking all of you for being here this evening. First and foremost, I want to thank my wife for the support she has provided me over the last four years. Sometimes it is not easy on Tuesday nights when I am up here on the dais until 10:00 or 11:00 at night and she is putting our children to sleep. So thank you honey and thank you for allowing me to serve four more years. Next, I want to thank my children. I am here late at night and I am not always available to help you with your homework or other things. But thank you for allowing me to Page 5 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES December 7, 2010 S. OATH OF OFFICE (Continued) do this important work for all of us in the city. I want to thank my sister -in -law, Kimberly, for being here this evening. It is very special to have her here tonight. I want to thank my colleagues for the accomplishments that we have had over the past four years. I wanted to note some of them for you this evening. We've opened miles of new bicycle trails, we have installed an emergency vehicle pre - emption system which actually decreases response times for our firefighters, and we have hired more police officers and crime is down in Orange over the past four years. We are constructing a safety median on Santiago Canyon Road where we lost our dear friend Steven Ambriz. We have revamped our Business Assistance Program, and that has actually been a catalyst for much of the new retail and restaurants that you see here in the City. We have opened a new fire station, and of course the new main library. We will open our new sports gymnasium at Grijalva Park. We put our new trash contract out to bid for the first time in the history of the City, and as a result, we have the lowest trash rates in Orange County — saving our residents and businesses over $70 million dollars over the next three years. Working together we have defeated a proposal to put state prisoners at the local Theo Lacy prison. The Block at Orange recently announced that they are changing their name to the Outlets at Orange, and we will have the premium outlet mall here in Southern California. But as the saying goes, "what have you done for me lately ?" I have some goals for the next four years and I have asked Mr. Sibley to take some notes. First and foremost I think we need to focus on finishing the Steven Ambriz Memorial Park. That has been a challenge for us, but I know working together we will find a way to do that. Next month we are going to be voting on banning red light automated enforcement cameras for ticketing. We will not allow those in the City of Orange because we believe in freedom here. And lastly, working with our employees we are going to find a balanced approach to provide pension benefits for all of our hard - working employees and how we deal with the challenge of paying for those. The challenges are great in this economy, and I thank all of you for providing me the option of serving for four more years. Thank you. Oath of Office administered to Mayor -Elect Carolyn V. Cavecche Comments by Mayor Carolyn V. Cavecche Thank you all very much for being here this evening. I would first like to congratulate Councilmembers Whitaker and Bilodeau on their election. I am looking forward to working with both of you over the next few years. It has been an interesting few months. I learned a lot about myself, my friends, and the type of community we are here in the City of Orange. I have quite a few people to thank, so I hope you will bear with me this evening. Page 6 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES December 7, 2010 5. OATH OF OFFICE (Continued) I would like to start with Mayor pro tem Tita Smith. Your unwavering support and loyalty has meant the world to me, and I am very proud to be an adopted Smith. Thank you, and your entire family, for all of your help and your encouragement. I would like to thank our new Councilmember, Fred Whitaker, and his wife Mignon, for all of your support and encouragement as well during these last few months. Congressman Ed Royce, Supervisor Bill Campbell, Mayor Curt Pringle, Lucy Dunn from OCBC, my friend Todd Spitzer - were some of my earliest and staunchest supporters, and you are appreciated more than you will ever know. I had a group of girlfriends that got more calls than you can imagine during this campaign. I would like to thank Jeanne Wronski, Shameron Paur, Susie Wallace, and Sherri Clemens just to name a few. Thank you, and everyone else that not only prayed for me personally but for my family as well. Nancy Collins could not make it this evening, but I have to say out loud - Nancy, this was our biggest adventure yet. I just want to thank her for being my friend and being there for me, no matter what. To the Orange Circle Girls - too numerous to mention - your text messages, e- mails, your humor and encouragement really helped to push me over the finish line. Thank you very much. I do not think I would have been able to get through this election without Brian and Arianna Lochrie, so thank you to them. There are no words to describe how appreciative I am for their friendship and the amount of effort they put into this campaign. Campaigns are harder on our families than it is on the candidates. From long distance, Willie and Kendra, you kept with us every day and you were both very missed, by Stephen especially. Kendra, your computer skills and your daily encouragement were incredible, so thank you very, very much. Stephen, it is hard to drive to school week after week with signs about your mom being posted across the street from the school. I know how hard this was on you. I just want to let you know that you handled yourself very, very well and I am extremely proud of you. Rick you had to put up with a lot, more than anyone should have, and you obviously love me very much. Thank you and I love you too. Recently, someone asked me jokingly how I was going to like being considered a lame -duck Mayor. I don't believe that anyone in this room has the mistaken impression that that is going to happen. The next two years are going to be extremely busy ones, for this Council and City staff. The decisions are not going to be easy but they cannot be put off. Over the next few months the Council is going to give direction and we are going to have to put into motion changes in how we provide services to our community. The last four years have not been an easy time to be in office and to be in leadership, but we acted when we needed to and will continue to make the cutbacks necessary to be responsible to our constituents; yet continue to provide the vital services needed here in the City of Orange. It is an honor to serve this City. I just want to offer my gratitude and thanks to the community for your vote and for your confidence. It is a privilege that I will never take for granted. Thank you all very much. Page 7 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES 6. ADJOURNMENT December 7, 2010 The City Council adjourned at 8:30 p.m. to the George Weimer Room for a reception in honor of the outgoing and newly- elected officials. Reception hosted by newly - elected officials. Declaration of City Clerk, Mary E. Murphy, declaring posting of a City Council agenda of an Adjourned Regular Meeting of December 7, 2010 at Orange Civic Center kiosk, Police facility at 1107 North Batavia, and the Main Public Library at 407 E. Chapman; all of said locations being in the City of Orange and freely accessible to members of the public at least 72 hours before commencement of said adjourned regular meeting. URPHY CITY CLERK Page 8