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01/22/2004 CITY OF GRAND TERRACE CITY COUNCIL MINUTES REGULAR MEETING-JANUARY 22, 2004 A regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Grand Terrace was called to order in the Council Chambers, Grand Terrace Civic Center,22795 Barton Road, Grand Terrace, California,on January 22, 2004, at 6:30 p.m. PRESENT: Lee Ann Garcia, Mayor Maryetta Ferr6, Mayor Pro Tem Herman Hilkey, Councilmember Don Larkin, Councilmember Tom Schwab, City Manager Brenda Stanfill, City Clerk Steve Berry, Assistant City Manager Larry Ronnow, Finance Director Jerry Glander,Building& Safety Director Gary Koontz, Community Development Director Sgt. Hornsby, Sheriff's Department ABSENT: Bea Cortes, Councilmember John Harper, City Attorney The City Council meeting was opened with invocation by Councilmember Herman Hilkey,followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Mayor Pro Tem Maryetta Ferr6. SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS A. Commendation-Historical and Cultural Activities Committee Mayor Garcia expressed her appreciation for the significant contribution that the Historical and Cultural Activities Committee makes and feels that each member is an inspiration to everyone. She read a commendation for the Historical and Cultural Activities Committee commending them for their efforts and contribution to the community of Grand Terrace. Mayor Garcia read a Commendation commending Pauline Grant, Chairperson of the Historical and Cultural Activities Committee for the many hours she has given to each of the activities hosted by the committee and for her outstanding community service she has provided to the City of Grand Terrace through the Historical and Cultural Activities Committee and presented it to her. Mayor Garcia read a Commendation commending Ann Petta,who has been a member of the Historical Activities Committee since it was established in 1979,for the many hours she has given to preserve the memories of early residents and continually collects items of historical Council Minutes January 22,2004 Page 2 value and for her outstanding community service she has provided to the City of Grand Terrace through the Historical and Cultural Activities Committee and presented it to her. Mayor Garcia read a Commendation commending Hannah Laister for the many hours she has given preparing the minutes of the committee, clipping newspaper articles and keeping photo albums in addition to the time spent on the activities hosted by the Committee and for her outstanding community services she has provided to the City of Grand Terrace through the Historical & Cultural Activities Committee and presented it to her. Mayor Garcia read a Commendation commending Colleen Edmundson for being the first official treasurer of the committee and for the many hours she has spent doing this duty in addition to the time spent on the activities hosted by the Committee and for the outstanding service she has provided to the City of Grand Terrace through the Historical and Cultural Activities Committee and presented it to her. Mayor Garcia read a Commendation commending Rochelle Rosenkild on the many hours she has spent on the activities hosted by the Historical and Cultural Activities Committee and for the outstanding community service she has provided to the City of Grand Terrace through the committee and presented it to her. Mayor Garcia read a Commendation commending Frances Carter on the many hours she has given to each of the activities hosted by the Committee and her outstanding community service she has provided to the City of Grand Terrace through the Historical and Cultural Activities Committee. Mayor Garcia read a Commendation commending Masako Gifford on the many hours she has given to each of the activities hosted by the Committee and her outstanding community service she has provided to the City of Grand Terrace through the Historical and Cultural Activities Committee. B. Home of Distinction Award Mayor Garcia announced that the Silva Family are the recipients of the Home of Distinction Award and presented them with a certificate and thanked them for their efforts. C. Proclamation-American Heart Month,February 2004&Wear Red for Women Day, February 6, 2004 Mayor Pro Tern Ferre read a Proclamation proclaiming February 2004 as American Heart Month and February 6,2004 as Wear Red for Women Day in the City of Grand Terrace and join the American Heart Association's initiative to raise awareness of women and heart disease and support the Go Red for Women campaign. Council Minutes January 22,2004 Page 3 D. Azure Hills Seventh Day Adventist Church-Dr. Jack Booker Gave a presentation on Azure Hills Seventh Day Adventist Church and what they offer to members and the community. Jim King, Chairperson Foundation of Grand Terrace, 22928 Palm Avenue, expressed his excitement for the Foundation and reported that the Foundation surpassed their goal of $25,000 by the 25`h Anniversary Celebration by raising $25,250 and received a matching grant from the James Irvine Foundation for a grand total of$48, 461. Anyone can be a member of the Foundation of Grand Terrace. CONSENT CALENDAR CC-2004-05 MOTION BY COUNCILMEMBER LARKIN,SECOND BY COUNCILMEMBER HILKEY,CARRIED 4-0-1-0(COUNCILMEMBER CORTES WAS ABSENT),to approve the following consent calendar items: 3A. Approval of Check Register Dated January 22, 2004 3B. Ratify 01-22-2004 CRA Action 3C. Waive Full Reading of Ordinances on Agenda 3D. Approval of 01-08-2004 Minutes 3E. LFT Article 3 Claim Form for the ADA Curb-Cut Project 3F. Notice of Completion- Grand Terrace Road Widening Project PUBLIC COMMENT -None ORAL REPORTS 5A. Committee Reports 1. Crime Prevention Committee a. Minutes of 11-10-2003 CC-2004-06 MOTION BY MAYOR PRO TEM FERRE, SECOND BY COUNCILMEMBER LARKIN,CARRIED 4-0-1-0(COUNCILMEMBER CORTES WAS ABSENT),to accept the November 10, 2003 Minutes of the Crime Prevention Committee. 2. Emergency Operations Committee a. Minutes of 12-02-2003 CC-2004-07 MOTION BY COUNCILMEMBER LARKIN, SECOND BY MAYOR PRO TEM FERRE, CARRIED 4-0-1-0 (COUNCILMEMBER CORTES WAS ABSENT), to Council Minutes January 22,2004 Page 4 accept the December 2, 2003 Minutes of the Emergency Operations Committee. b. Appoint New Committee Member (Maxfield) CC-2004-08 MOTION BY VICE-CHAIRMAN FERRE, SECOND BY COUNCILMEMBER LARKIN,CARRIED 4-0-1-0(COUNCILMEMBER CORTES WAS ABSENT),to appoint Richard Maxfield as a regular member of the Emergency Operations Committee with a term continuing to June 30, 2004. COUNCIL REPORTS Mavor Pro Tem Ferre.reported that she spent some time at the Colton Joint Unified School District office and was stopped by the Assistant Superintendent, Pat Gopperton, who has meetings periodically at City Hall with various Principals and Department Heads and had nothing but high compliments for the City Staff and how comfortable all of the staff members made them feel and how everything was in place and ready for them. She attended the Chamber lunch this week and the program did not materialize as planned so they quickly called on Assistant City Manager Berry and Mayor Garcia to do the program and they provided an excellent presentation on what is going on in the City of Grand Terrace. She expressed her appreciation for the sidewalk on Grand Terrace Road and feels that it is a great improvement. Councilmember Hilkev. indicated that Assistant City Manager Berry did a great job in successfully marketing the AVID Microchip pet implant and reported that there was a tremendous turnout at the licensing clinic that the City held. He indicated that he spoke to the Animal Control Officers regarding the process of scanning the pets when the animal are picked up and questioned whether they would scan them once they were taken to the shelter or when they were picked up. Assistant Citv Mana,2er Berrv.reported that the scanners were given to the officers and they will scan every pet that they pick up for an implant and if they have an implant they will find out where they belong and return them to their homes. Mavor Garcia.reported that Mayor Pro Tern Ferre also participated in the presentation at the Chamber luncheon. She reported that the Christmas Decorating Contest that the Chamber hosts has become very competitive. There were 21 entries this year. She encouraged members of the community to attend the Chamber Luncheons on the third Tuesday of each month at 11:45. She feels that it is a good time to come together as a community and to network. She saw Assistant City Manager Berry out placing boulders and requested that he give a report on the project. Assistant Citv Manaser Berrv. responded that City Staff placed approximately 90 tons of Council Minutes January 22,2004 Page 5 boulders along Mt. Vernon and at the Child Care Center. Landscaping will be added to compliment the boulders. Mavor Garcia, requested that staff give an explanation on what is going on with the cross gutters and spandrals. Assistant Citv Manager Berm indicated that the cross gutters and spandrals that are cracked are being replaced due to Measure I Funds. PUBLIC HEARING 6A. An Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Grand Terrace, California, Amending Chapter 4.72 of the Grand Terrace Municipal Code and Establishing Sewer User Charges City Manager Schwab gave a brief report on the history of this item. He indicated that Councilmember Larkin has some questions regarding how Colton cost allocates their expenses and doesn't feel comfortable answering that question. No one from Colton was available tonight to answer the questions and suggested that Council continue this item to February 12, 2004. Mayor Garcia opened the discussion to the public. Bettv Guzman.23202 Glendora Drive,well first of all I came ready to discuss in this public hearing the sewer rates and I'm kind of distressed that the City Manager is not prepared to answer any questions. Citv Manager Schwab,responded that he was not prepared to answer questions of Colton's Financial Statements. Bettv Guzman,I know but we have been in contract with Colton for so many years I thought that you knew the issues that were going on and that you were prepared to answer. Citv Manager,responded that he is very familiar with the issues,however,he is not prepared to answer the questions that Councilmember Larkin has in reference to how they cost allocate their expenses. Bettv Guzman, no, I understand that, that question has been around for a long time. I am concerned that you do not have answers for us because your concerned, from what you said right now, you don't want to pay for whatever problems Colton's having. The residents should not have to take up that hike. So,I assume you are in the process of standing up for the residents. So what are you doing right now to protect our residents for having to have Council Minutes January 22,2004 Page 6 that sewer hike. Mavor Garcia, intervened and stated that typically during a public hearing we have public comment and staffwill answer questions we don't get into a question and answer type dialog. She requested that Betty share her questions and then staff will answer. Bettv Guzman, ok, I am also concerned that this is an issue that has been going on for a while. It's not new that you want to raise our sewer rates, again. The issue has been around for a while. So,I am concerned that the City is not prepared to take care of this hike without having to have us residents fork out the extra money. Apparently there is City money around,we have$70,000 for the Blue Mountain for example, going to our homes. That is our money our City money that is paying for that to go to our homes yet,I have requested to the Councilmembers, to the Mayor, I have requested over and over again we would like to see what issues are really going on in City Hall, in the Council Meeting, and the Planning Commission Meetings yet there is not one mention of what you guys are planning,what you guys are working on in the Blue Mountain. You don't inform us on what's going on. We get a lot of partying here and a luncheon here and everybody is happy but the real issues are not ever discussed in the Blue Mountain and we get those to our home and that is our money that pays for that, number 2 you talk about channel 3 and it says for you know current information tune into GT3. Well there is never any information regarding what's going on with our Council, what's going on with our sewer rates, how many issues are you not bringing out in the open that we should know about. The Planning Commission meetings are never viewed on Channel 3, that's something that should be open to the public, yet you have these meetings going on but you don't view them on channel 3 but our tax money is paying for that TV yet you are keeping all of the residents in the dark uninformed it's to your benefit but it's bringing our City,it's not doing very good for our City and our residents need to be informed. You know,you just suddenly bring up an issue a Public Hearing on sewer rates and you are not prepared to answer questions. You say you want somebody from Colton to justify their financial records,well that's fine we'll wait for the City of Colton but were here on part of the City of Grand Terrace so we want to know what the City Manger is doing or has been doing to prepare to prevent the sewer hike. Barnev Kamer, 11668 Bernardo Way,when we agreed to go with Colton on the sewer plant, I was very ambiguous about this knowing how the Colton City is run. We know that in our own very well run City we have a problem or we get problems with over staffing of gradual acresion of weight as we get older we gain weight. And as the City gets older it gains weight. And then we have to go on a very difficult diet. A few years ago when we had a real short fall in money in our city we had to let go five ladies, is that correct Tom. Citv Manager Schwab, responded that 4 positions total including a police officer were eliminated. Council Minutes January 22,2004 Page 7 Barriev Kar2er. 4 ladies that were really very dedicated to our City and in our book keeping and money collection department. Basically, as I understand it, and I might be wrong,their main job was to collect money and do the billing on the sewer plant sewer lines. And we turned that contract over to Riverside Highland Water Company which charges us very very little for that,much less than the one lady would have cost us, and they do the j ob with about one ladies pay for 10 days a month so it is very profitable for us to of turned that contact over. Don Larkin has made,I am sure, a very polite recommendation to Tom regarding the City of Grand Terrace. We haven't conversed about this so I will put it very bluntly, (inaudible). The City of Colton is known for its inefficiencies. There's other words for that but I don't want to get sued by anybody but it is extremely inefficient. It behooves us to investigate how the sewer plant is run. In the stock market recently, we've had a lot of companies where the Board of Directors and the Presidents and the CEO's and all of the other alphabet names have been investigated and some going to jail. You as City Council of Grand Terrace are half of the Board of Directors of the Colton City Sewer Plant. The Colton City Council is the other half of that Board of Directors. I don't think the City Council of either place has done their j ob,and I am unhappy to say this because I know most of you people and I don't think that it is really your job to do it, but I know that the City of Colton is extremely extremely inefficient and needs an overseeing by a Board of Directors. Now we can only oversee the sewer plant because it is part of a contract with us but we do need to see that. Many many years ago, about 20 25 years ago, I had a full tour and I saw everything and smelled everything in the sewer plant down there, the old plant, and it was very educational. And I am sure that if we were to have a special Board set up here to check into that we would find a lot of ways to save money at that plant and save a lot of money for the City of Grand Terrace. Mayor Garcia closed the Public Hearing and returned discussion to the Council. Councilmember Larkin.indicated that he had several different questions regarding the sewer rates. He indicated that when staff originally brought this to the Council,they requested that the City of Colton have an audit performed. During this time,Grand Terrace residents have continued to pay the$21 rate instead of the$30 that was proposed and Colton can't charge us retroactive. He indicated that he is not about to let the rate increase go by without making sure that it is a fair assessment of what our costs would be. He stated that the proposed rate for a single-family household went up 35% the schools proposed rate went up over 100% there was no increase for commercial properties. He feels if there was an increase in costs overall it would seem that it should be a like increase overall. He stated that in the introduction of the accountants report it says at City's request(referring to the City of Colton when they originally did this) the spread sheets were originally devised to insure that the residential sewer rates for Grand Terrace were identical to those for Colton. When this was questioned, they went back to the accounting firm and they asked them to do it again and now it says: The current revision reflects the City's desire to proportionally(also meaning fairly)allocate individually budget costs between Colton and Grand Terrace sewer users. So Council Minutes January 22,2004 Page 8 it seems as though the first time Colton asked them to make sure the rates are the same for Colton and Grand Terrace and now that we questioned it they said I guess we have to do it proportionally,which would be fair. He feels that the figures can be manipulated they could show where they can justify equal rates or proportional rates they just change some numbers around to make sure it fits what the City of Colton wants. He wants to make sure that a City of Colton representative is here so that we can ask them the same questions. He indicated that he is on the Water Board. The Water Board serves beyond the City of Grand Terrace, however,we have 3,428 water meters and there is a likelihood that if there is a water meter there would be a sewage line and if you take out the ones that are in Highgrove and in the Colton area we have 3,071 water meters, which would be houses commercial properties if you add up what the City of Colton has for sewage units it is 4,497. They are saying there is more sewage than water going in,which doesn't seem to make sense. It is the Council's responsibility to ask these types of questions and we will to continue to do so until the City of Colton can prove to us that these figures are correct. Councilmember Hilkev,indicated that he would be supportive of Councilmember Larkin's suggestion to continue this item to February 12, 2004. He stated that one thing that keeps coming up is the aspect of Capital Improvements and what part of Grand Terrace's contribution goes to capital improvements. If we are not using the full capacity of our portion of the sewer system then that capital improvement should be set aside or not charged to us. This is the problem that occurred years ago,that capital set-aside disappeared and was channeled back into Colton's salaries. We either need to say we need more capacity and we want to keep it or maybe sell it or use it some other way or we need to say we aren't going to ever need more capacity so we don't have to pay that part for future increased capacities. He didn't see this covered in the report and he would like to see this addressed. CC-2004-09 MOTION BY COUNCILMEMBER HILKEY, SECOND BY MAYOR PRO TEM FERRE, CARRIED 4-0-1-0 (COUNCILMEMBER CORTES WAS ABSENT), to continue an Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Grand Terrace, California, Amending Chapter 4.72 of the Grand Terrace Municipal Code and Establishing Sewer User Charges to the February 12, 2004 meeting. Mayor Garcia encouraged staff to have the report on February 6, 2004 so when the Council packet goes out the community will have access to attachments. UNFINISHED BUSINESS -None NEW BUSINESS 8A. City Selection Committee Elections -AQMD Board Member CC-2004-10 MOTION BY COUNCILMEMBER LARKIN,SECOND BY COUNCILMEMBER Council Minutes January 22,2004 Page 9 HILKEY, CARRIED 3-1-1-0 (MAYOR GARCIA VOTED NO AND COUNCILMEM 3ER CORTES WAS ABSENT),to support Dennis Yates at the City Selection Committee Election for the South Coast Air Quality Management District Board. 8B. Approval of Two Requests for"ABC" Off-sale General Liquor Licenses CC-2004-11 MOTION BY COUNCILMEMBERHILKEY,SECOND BY COUNCILMEMBER LARKIN,MOTION FAILS 2-2-1-0 (MAYOR PRO TEM FERRE AND MAYOR GARCIA VOTED NO AND COUNCILMEMBER CORTES WAS ABSENT), to approve the requests of"Smart Time Food Store" and "E-Z Mart" for a type 21 Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) License and to direct staff to prepare a"Letter of Public Convenience and Necessity". 8C. Cooperative Agreement Between City of Colton, Grand Terrace and County of Riverside for Main Street and Iowa Avenue Improvements CC-2004-12 MOTIONBY COUNCILMEMBERHILKEY,SECOND BY COUNCILMEMBER LARKIN,CARRIED 4-0-1-0(COUNCILMEMBER CORTES WAS ABSENT),to approve the Draft Cooperative Agreement Between City of Colton, Grand Terrace and County of Riverside for Main Street and Iowa Avenue Improvements and to direct staff to execute. CLOSED SESSION-None ORDER OF ADJOURNMENT Mayor Garcia adjourned the City Council Meeting at 8:05 p.m., until the next CRA1City Council Meeting which is scheduled to be held on Thursday, February 12, 2004 at 6:30 p.m.. 1116-1,, e4 CITY CLERK of the City Grand Terrace � MXYbR of the City of Grand Terrace