HomeMy WebLinkAbout3_19_2002 - Council Minutes - Adjourned Regular MeetingAPPROVED BY CITY COUNCIL ON APRIL 9, 2002
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES ORANGE, CALIFORNIA
OF AN ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING MARCH 19,2002
The City Council of the City of Orange, California convened on March 19, 2002 at 5:00 p.m. in
An Adjourned Regular Meeting in the Weimer Room, 300 E. Chapman Avenue, Orange,
California.
ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING
5:00 P.M. BUDGET STUDY SESSION
1. OPENING Note: The meeting couvened at 5:30 p.m.
1.2 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Led by Mayor Murphy
1.3 ROLL CALL
PRESENT - Alvarez, Mayor Murphy, Coontz, Cavecche ABSENT -
Slater 2. PUBLIC
COMMENTS Bob Bennyhoff,
10642 Morada Dr., requested more playing fields for younger kids in the City.3.
CONSENT
CALENDAR All items
on the Consent Calendar are considered routine and are enacted by one motion approving the
recommended action listed on the Agenda. Any member of the City Council, staff
or the public may request an item be removed from the Consent Calendar for discussion
or separate action. Unless otherwise specified in the request to remove an item from
the Consent Calendar, all items removed shall be considered immediately following action
on the remaining items on the Consent Calendar.3.1
Declaration of City Clerk, Cassandra J. Cathcart, declaring posting of City Council agenda of
an adjourned regular meeting of March 19, 2002 at Orange Civic Center,Main Library
at 101 N. Center Street, Police facility at 1107 North Batavia, the Eisenhower Park
Bulletin Board, and summarized on Time-Warner Communications,
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.PAGE
1
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES March 19,2002
3. CONSENT CALENDAR (Continued)
ACTION: Accepted Declaration of Agenda Posting and authorized its retention as a
public record in the office of the City Clerk.
MOTION - Alvarez SECOND -
Cavecche AYES - Alvarez,
Mayor Murphy, Coontz, Cavecche ABSENT - Slater Item
3.1 was
approved as recommended.Note: Councilmember Slater arrived
at 5:35 p.m.4. REPORTS FROM MAYOR
MURPHY - None 5. REPORTS FROM COUNCILMEMBERS - None
6. REPORTS FROM BOARDS, COMMITTEES, AND
COMMISSIONS - None 7. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS - None 8. REPORTS FROM
CITY MANAGER 8.1 Proposed
Missions, Goals, Service Objectives and
Work Plans by City Departments for Fiscal Year 2002-2003.The City Manager
reported three structured study
sessions on the budget have been scheduled;this being the first. The next study
session is scheduled for April 2, 2002 at 5:30 p.m. in the Weimer Room with the Planning Commission to
discuss the CIP and with the Design Review Board to consider new Main Library architectural
plans. The third study session is scheduled for April 16, 2002 at 5:00 p.
m. to discuss revenues/expenditures and fund balances. The City Manager indicated he would be scheduling appointments
with Councilmembers to go over their concerns.The City Manager presented a draft
of
Council work plans and goals and the City Manager's department work plans and goals.
The following Department Heads gave a brief
summary of the highlights of their Work Plans:City Attorney City Clerk Community Services Councilmember
Coontz asked
what department'
s Work
Plan included the Master Plan of Recreational Trails and other trail plans, and
what individual will be in charge? Councilmember PAGE 2 T-
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES March 19,2002
8. REPORTS FROM CITY MANAGER (Continued)
Coontz also commented the Master Plan of Parks should include the trails because trails are an
adjunct to a park and is a park issue.
The City Manager indicated is it a multi-active plan and will be coordinated out of the
City Manager's office. As to specific Work Plans in each department, he will review the issue to
see if it is relevant. Concerning the Master Plan of Parks, the City Manager indicated the
Parks Commission is reviewing this and will have recommendations to the Council for the CIP
budget.Council will have a report by next week on this issue. Councilmember Coontz indicated
she hoped there would be initiating goals indicating timelines of activity. The City Manager
will return to Council outlining what is being recommended and what will move forward
with existing funds. Councilmember Coontz indicated there are no references in any Work Plan
to Yorba Park or a Dog Park. The City Manager was hopeful some of those issues would
be resolved this current year and did not forecast beyond that
time.Councilmember Slater also was concerned about no reference in the work plan made to
Yorba Park and more specifically opening a dog
park.
Library Councilmember Coontz commented she has talked to the Friendly Center about children
visiting the Main Library, from an area of interest especially important to the City's application for
a state grant for the Main Library. If the schools do not participate in the class visits to
the Library, staff should focus on those schools that traditionally have students that are from
families that are not familiar with the Library. Nora Jacob responded she had discussed this with
Kathy Seelig, Executive Director of the Friendly Center and the plan is progressing. This year staff
has identified all the schools in the district that have not come to the Library and have made a
special outreach to them. The focus for next year will be to identify who has not visited the Library
and reach out to them
also.Community
Development Councilmember Slater referred to No.7 in the Work Plan concerning processing entitlements
for 188 single family homes for Sully Miller and wanted to make sure it was not
being presumptuous. The Community Development Director indicated the work plan was based on
the application that was before
them.Councilmember Slater commented a few months ago Council asked for an overall objective
view of the entire code enforcement issue, specifically signage in the commercial areas and how it
was being addressed; perhaps changing the philosophy of the Council in terms of being
more progressive in that area. He noted it is not included in any Work Plan. Also, the
zoning inconsistencies in Old Towne between the General Plan and the actual zoning needs to
be addressed. Councilmember Slater will provide the City Manager with a list. When the sand
and gravel issue was discussed by Council there was also discussion about a comprehensive
study being scheduled along the creek of all the contiguous properties to the creek, their zoning
and how they might eventually be included in the Council's goal of having a greenbelt
there.Councilmember Slater asked for the status on
this.PAGE
3
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES March 19, 2002
8. REPORTS FROM CITY MANAGER (Continued)
The Director of Community Development indicated staff is looking, along with the National
Park Service, at the contiguous properties along Santiago Creek and will provide a concept plan
for future development in December 2002. This is under Advanced Planning No.5 in the Work
Plan.
Regarding code enforcement city-wide, staff has begun a comprehensive study coming out of
the City Manager's Office, to look at more pro-active code enforcement resources
in other departments and different responsibilities of code enforcement officers; and how
resources may be reallocated to provide a higher level of service. The City Manager indicated this
falls into decision packages and will be discussed at the revenue study session on April 16th.
However he will meet with each Councilmember ahead of time to discuss funding. The report on
this issue will be transmitted to Council perhaps by the end of this week and it will also describe
how the department will have to face issues that will come with the pro-active code
enforcement and
the expanding impacts.Councilmember Slater commented he continues to get complaints about RVs on
front lawns, on sidewalks and on the street as well as two-axle vehicles parked
around town. Perhaps in conjunction with this report, staff could look at this and update it.
The City Manager indicated staff could try and see if this needs to become a Work Plan. However,
this issue has exploded into a large amount of additional reactive enforcement and staff will look into
this and bring
it back to Council.Mayor pro tern Alvarez commented he shares the same
concerns regarding code enforcement.He complimented the Director of Community Development on the matrix
of Old Towne. Mayor pro tern Alvarez sent the City Manager a memo today requesting
a study session with Councilmembers, Planning Commission and Design Review Committee
to get re-educated on the laws that pertain to the entire
City and particularly Old Towne.Mayor Murphy commented the thought would be to give all
the committees an opportunity to review the updated assessment and see if there are questions or
challenges that need to happen.Those committees should be independent in giving Council advice
without the influence of what Councilmembers' likes, dislikes or desires might be. They
have administrative sessions and this could be reviewed with them to make sure everyone is current and
then see where we are.
Mayor pro tern Alvarez agreed.The City Manager indicated he will work with the
Community Development Director as to whether or not to craft a Work Plan for
next year on this issue.Councilmember Coontz indicated this was her main issue, that
every time Council gets a controversial project in Old Towne, we are always "going to
do something," but nothing gets done. There are too many documents, they are unclear and not
definitive. We need to combine the information. In the ordinance, the General Plan covers the
Old Towne Design Guidelines but does not cover all the issues Council legislatively decided on. When
it comes to permits, there are arguments about the process and this needs to be cleaned
up. Does
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES March 19,2002
8. REPORTS FROM CITY MANAGER (Continued)
Building Division and perhaps Public Works and other departments understand the regulations
and the process? There is no action statement in the work plan that indicates what will be done
to resolve the issues. A study session will not help, It is too confusing with too many documents
that are not always available to the public.
Mayor Murphy commented staff needs to put together more clarification of the document to
make it more easily analyzed by those that are attempting work as well as those that are trying to
moderate or oversee that work from a City perspective. This same clarification would help the
governing bodies to have more consistency in the approach on how they look at projects.
The City Manager commented this is not a year to create other additional big dollar expenditures,
but one of trying to make sure staff is aware of these issues in order to move in that direction.
Councilmember Coontz suggested the grant application process should be in the Work Plan on
this issue. The costs to the City for these projects costs time which is money.
Mayor Murphy noted there were costs involved with these projects when they get out of hand,
and if we can take out as many things that are interruptive and put in as many things as we can
that are measurable, everybody's life will be easier.
The Director of Community Development remarked they are looking at a broad spectrum of
chipping away at the problem and creating a definitive standard using the two blocks of Grand
Street. When that comes to Council, it can be a model for Old Towne.
Mayor pro tern Alvarez suggested to the Community Development Director to bring something
forward and Council could decide if they will pay for it or apply for grants.
Bob Bennyhoff, commended the Community Development Director for her work with the
Planning Commission and their training.
Councilmember Coontz responded there needs to be uniformity for all committee members on
job education, ethical and legal issues. The City Manager is working on this.
Economic Development
Councilmember Cavecche expressed the importance of the quality of tenants at The Block. The
Economic Development Director indicated the Mills Corp was aware of this and has been
working on this. Councilmember Cavecche commented she will be looking for a change in their
business approach.
Mayor pro tern Alvarez commented on Work Plan Numbers 6 and 10, asking if there was
anything happening at the old drive-in site at West Chapman Avenue? The
Economic Development Director indicated there was but could not discuss it. Mayor pro tern
Alvarez asked about the Katella Gateway and if anything was happening there? The
Economic Development Director indicates yes and no, but again could not discuss
anything.PAGE
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES March 19, 2002
8. REPORTS FROM CITY MANAGER (Continued)
Councilmember Coontz asked about the opening of the hotel and the Economic Development
Director responded it is a hotel for corporate business and they are doing very well.
Mayor pro tern Alvarez asked about No. 13 - UCI Medical Center. The Economic Development Director
reported this will be a $350,000,000 construction project. Staff is looking at a creative way
to capture parts of the construction expenditure in sales tax revenue for the City. Mayor Murphy
commented when the California Board of Regents was assessing this area for development,
one of the big drivers was the synergy and resurgence of The Block, the 5 Freeway and
other recent projects in that area.Mayor
pro tern Alvarez asked about No. 22 - filming in Old Towne. The Economic Development Director
responded there is a moratorium on it during the Plaza construction. It is on the
list and is important.Mayor Coontz
asked about No. 18 - 190 S. Olive Street - public parking lot, noting she gets continual questions about this
property. The Economic Development Director responded the plan is to pull
a demolition permit to make it a parking lot for the Senior Center; however,because of the Glassell
Street widening project, Public Works needs a site to store construction vehicles and they will
pave it when the project is complete. This information can be made available in the Senior
publication "Orange Pealings."Finance Department Mayor pro
tem Alvarez
asked about the auditing of 50 business license accounts. The Finance Director explained they have
two code enforcement individuals that will check records and also go in the field
checking businesses for licenses. They will canvass the entire City. They will develop an audit program
on this issue.Mayor pro tern Alvarez
also asked about the new software that addressed water bills. The Finance Director explained it
was approximately four years ago. Staff will be evaluating the current system and will
decide whether to upgrade the software. There will be no immediate changes in the software
prior to implementing the water or sanitation rate changes.Fire Department Mayor pro
tern Alvarez
asked about training at different levels and that ultimately people within the department moving up.
The Fire Chief indicated they have a mentoring program which is identified as a Work
Plan.Personnel Councilmember Coontz asked
about
the update for the fire emergency plan noting fire isn't the only emergency. The Personnel
Director indicated the City has emergency drills twice a year.PAGE 6 T--.-.--.-.----..--.---
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES March 19, 2002
8. REPORTS FROM CITY MANAGER (Continued)
Councilmember Coontz suggested Personnel coordinate Council resolutions with Department
Directors when city personnel retire or leave the City.
Councilmember Slater asked if any thought had been given to an employee based (non-
union)grievance committee, a jury of their peers, where an employee could first discuss the issue
with them and the employee could feel like they had more support instead of having to go directly
to the Personnel Department. This could be less threatening to the
employee.Mayor pro tern Alvarez has also talked to union leaders on other matters and this issue
has surfaced. He commented retention of employees is very important. The City has a
tremendous staff and needs to be competitive to assure the City retains the excellent employees it
has.The Personnel Director reported there is a formal grievance procedure in place. It allows
the employee to work out their differences with their immediate supervisor before a formal
process can be filed. Most employees believe they can have their union representative speak on
their behalf and resolve the problems rather than trying to resolve them on their
own.The City Manager remarked the process in place works very well. It is fair and open. He
would like to think about this and confer with the Personnel Director and City
Attorney.The Personnel Director commented for the past 6 1/2 years the City has had the most
peaceful relationships with the union employees
groups.Police
Department Councilmember Coontz asked if the Police Traffic Division and Public Works Traffic Division
if they worked together and to what extent? The Police Chief responded they have a
Traffic Sergeant who works closely with the Public Works Engineer in solving traffic
problems.Councilmember Coontz also asked about the Mall of Orange and theft activity and
problems with an organized group trained in theft. The Police Chief indicated theft has been rising
in every jurisdiction
State-wide.Mayor Murphy noted there was a correlation with down trends in economy and
property crime.The Police Chief stated it is being reflected that way now with
the economy.Mayor pro tern Alvarez asked how police officers are improving their stature within
the Police Department. The Police Chief reported they do not have a mentoring program, but one
of the charges of the Sergeants is to pay special attention to the new officers and their
training. Mayor pro tern Alvarez commented he had heard great comments about Orange's
Police Officers throughout the County as well as how the officers conduct themselves during
crime
scene investigations.The Police Chief, in response to Councilmember Cavecche's question on
employee openings,reported sworn positions are down 4 positions and non-sworn is
a little
higher.
PAGE
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES March 19, 2002
8. REPORTS FROM CITY MANAGER (Continued)
Councilmember Cavecche commented she did not find the STOMP program in the work plans.
Councilmember Coontz also expressed concern as to what had happened to the program. The
Police Chief commented they are reviving it for the future.
Public Works Department
Councilmember Slater gave kudos to the Public Works Director and his staff on the graffiti
removal program. There has been a big difference and it has been outstanding in cleaning up the
signs. There has been less and less graffiti. There was a proposal to provide Council with status
reports on the removal of graffiti and shopping carts. This information also goes to the Police
Department. The Public Works Director indicated they work cooperatively with the Police
Department and have improved the quality of the data they are gathering.
Councilmember Slater indicated they have discussed the fact the City does not have any Public
Works Guidelines for Old Towne and asked ifthere are any efforts being made toward achieving
this? The Public Works Director indicated they have not identified it as a Work Plan, but
recognize the need and benefit for it. They have begun gathering data on the historic items in
Old Towne. Public Works recognizes they cannot impose the kinds of design standards on the
Old Towne environment, but are striving to balance the historic elements with current or modern
safety requirements which will result in smaller radius curb returns and street lighting standards.
This comes with a price and will be a Council policy decision.
Councilmember Coontz complimented the staff noting this is a more comprehensive budget
Work Plans and goals. Every year it gets better. Because the City has experienced the gift the
Reserve, the reserve, from The Irvine Company, the City now has the issue of the request from
The Irvine Company for changes to the Master Plan of Arterial Highways including the activity
that will go forth with the City Managers, members of the Eastern Transportation Corridor and
the Public Works Directors which is not referred to in the work plans. The effects on the City
could be major, but some reiteration of these activities should be under the City Manager and the
Public Works Department and should be from a regional orientation standpoint. Also, there isn't
anything that discusses the City's planning in general East of the corridor and this should be
referred to in a work plan. The City Manager indicated he would look at this issue.
Councilmember Cavecche indicated she appreciated the graffiti removal on the signage and is
extremely supportive of whatever it will take for new signage. Councilmember Cavecche
requested training on the NPDES which will help when new projects come before the Council.
She asked the Director of Public Works to place a training session with the Council under his
work plan. The Public Works Director indicated they need to.
Bob Bennyhoff, complained about the deteriorated paving on Chapman Avenue east from
Crawford Canyon Road. The Public Works Director commented it is a combination of aging
pavement and heavy truck traffic. Public Works is patching the pavement at the present time.
Mayor pro tern Alvarez requested the City Manager send Council updates on the eastern portion
of the City, Jamboree and the proposed roads on the books now. The City Manager indicated he
would.
PAGE B
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES March 19,2002
8. REPORTS FROM CITY MANAGER (Continued)
Councilmember Slater indicated Council had unanimously passed a resolution in support of the
preservation of Barham Ranch and thought it would be appropriate under goals to place, "work
with the school district to facilitate the successful transition of Barham Ranch to the County for
permanent open space". Mayor Murphy felt nothing more should be done on this issue, that the
resolution in support was enough and Councilmember Slater concurred.
9. LEGAL AFFAIRS - None 10.
ADJOURNMENT The
City Council adjourned at 8:10 p.m.C
444A#AA~/U (4.?f-AAAt.d
CASSANDRA J. Cr:}CART, CMC
CITY CLERK
jdA~M!1t1MAYOR
PAGE 9
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