12/17/1987CITY OF GRAND TERRACE
COUNCIL MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING - DECEMBER 17, 1987
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 December 17, 1987, at 6:00 p.m.
PRESENT: Byron Matteson, Mayor
Barbara Pfennighausen, Mayor Pro Tem
Hugh J. Grant, Councilmember
Dennis L. Evans, Councilmember
Susan Shirley, Councilmember
Thomas J. Schwab, City Manager/Finance Director
Randy Anstine, Assistant City Manager
Juanita Brown, Deputy City Clerk
Ivan Hopkins, City Attorney
David Sawyer, Planning Director
Joe Kicak, City Engineer
ABSENT: NONE
The meeting was opened with invocation by Pastor Salim Elias, Azure Hills
Seventh-Day Adventist Church, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by
Councilmember Evans.
Convened City Council at 6:03 p.m.
Reconvened City Council at 6:07 p.m.
Mayor Matteson asked Council if there were any items to be
deleted. The City Manager replied there were no items to
delete, but would like to continue Item 6(A) to the next
meeting -- extension of T.J. Austyn Tentative Tract
Map 13050.
SPECIAL PRESENTATION
Certificates of Mayor Matteson presented a Certificate of Service to three
Service of Grand Terrace's Seniors: Fran Thompson, Betty Pekus and
Lucille Pflaumer.
Mayor Pro Tem Pfennighausen stated that these three ladies
started with a small group of 8 or 9 senior citizens and now
that group has grown to almost 60.
Tony Petta Mr. Petta indicated several months ago gifts from our Sister
11875 Eton Dr. City, Palazzolo dello Stella, were presented to our City and
Sister City are now on display in the lobby. He expressed the desire that
in Italy someday in the future we would participate in a
student -exchange program between Grand Terrace's and
Palazzolo's young people. He stated it has happened sooner
than he had dreamed, indicating having two young people present
who are relatives of Bill DeBenedet, visiting us as
representatives from Palazzolo.
Bill DeBenedet Mr. DeBenedet introduced Elisa Driol and Fabiano Cudin. Mr.
11963 Honey Cudin brought greetings from the Mayor and Councilmen of
Hill Palazzolo. He stated he also brought two letters from the
Mayor and one from the Sporting Union of Palazzolo. He
expressed his pleasure of being here and was pleased that his
father, Frank Cudin, had initiated the establishment of our two
Cities becoming Sister Cities.
Mayor Matteson presented gifts to Elisa Driol and Fabiano Cudin
as a token of appreciation.
PROCLAMATION Mayor Matteson read a Proclamation and proclaimed December
13-19, 1987 as "Drunk and Drugged Driving Awareness Week."
CONSENT CALENDAR
Mayor Matteson asked Council if there were any items on the
Consent Calendar to be removed for discussion. Councilmember
Grant requested Item A -- Approve Check Register No. 121787,
and Item D -- Approve 12/01/87 and 12/03/87 Minutes. 0
Mayor Pro Tem Pfennighausen requested Item G -- Request for
contributions to support Grand Terrace Youth Basketball.
CC-87-237 Motion by Mayor Pro Tem Pfennighausen, second by Councilmember
Grant, ALL AYES, to approve the remainder of the Consent
Calendar.
Item B - Ratify December 17, 1987 CRA Action
Item C - Waive Full Reading of Ordinances and Resolutions on
Agenda
Item E - Authorization to request proposal for the installation
of Traffic Signal at Barton Road and Mt. Vernon
Avenue.
Item F - Extension of Administrative Conditional Use Permit for
the M-R Zone.
Item G - Request for contributions to support Grand Terrace
Youth Basketball.
Council Minutes - 12/17/87
Page 2
Item A Councilmember Grant referred to Page 1, Voucher No. 4189
Voucher No. 4189 --advance travel in Sacramento. He wanted to know what the
conference was for. The City Manager replied it was a
conference dealing with security design in the initial planning
stages of projects.
Mayor Matteson indicated the previous page also had the same
item and questioned if that was the same figure?
The City Manager replied the Check Register comes out in two
formats and normally staff gives you the latter format.
Councilmember Grant referred to Page 1 -- $300 for Televideo
Conference. He wanted to know what that was.
The City Manager replied that is to the League of California
Cities, the contractor who provides the audio tapes. He stated
that he and the Mayor ordered some audio tapes.
CC-87-238 Motion by Councilmember Grant, second by Councilmember Shirley,
to approve Check Register No. 121787.
Mayor Matteson questioned Voucher No. P5418 - Crime Prevention
Officer. The City Manager replied that the general law
enforcement and the Crime Prevention Officer are paid
separately on the billing.
Motion CC-87-238 carried ALL AYES.
Item D Councilmember Grant referred to Page 13 of the Minutes of
12/1 & 12/3/87 December 3, 1987, Motion CC-87-231, stating it should read
Minutes seconded by Councilmember Grant instead of Councilmember Evans,
and Planning Commission's should be Planning Director's
recommendation.
Mayor Pro Tem Pfennighausen referred to Page 5, of the
December 3, 1987 Minutes. She indicated three paragraphs from
the bottom of the page the word should be begin not began; on
Page 14 the word Evans should be inserted and on Page 18,
CC-87-233, the name Evans should be inserted.
CC-87-239 Motion by Councilmember Grant, second by Mayor Pro Tem
Pfennighausen, ALL AYES, to approve December 1 and December 3,
1987 Minutes, as corrected.
Item G Mayor Pro Tem Pfennighausen indicated having this item pulled
Contributions to off the Consent Calendar because she needed clarification from
support Grand the other Councilmembers regarding the sponsorship of the
Terrace's basketball team. She stated two years ago Council did it as a
Youth Basketball whole with each Councilmember giving $25.00 each indicating
Team this was not taken out of the City's fund. She felt it would
not be appropriate to take it out of the City Fund unless
Council Minutes - 12/17/87
Page 3
Council intended to do this for all of the other sports. She
expressed her interest in seeing this basketball team sponsored
and requested comments from the rest of the Councilmembers as
to how they would like for this issue to be handled.
Councilmember Grant stated that Item G implies that this is a
request of the City for a contribution, but felt they were
asking for individual support from each Councilmember and the
community. He felt this was a great organization and fully
intended to contribute, but indicated he could not understand
why it was on the Agenda.
Mayor Pro Tem Pfennighausen replied, it was on the Agenda
because we did not know how else to handle it. She stated it
was not handled last year and she understood the league is
getting prepared to start, stating the sponsorship is $125.00.
Each Councilmember concurred to give and Mayor Matteson stated
to make the check for $25.00 and send it to Jerry McMurry.
Mayor Pro Tem Pfennighausen suggested putting a note with the
check indicating this is for Council's Sponsored Team.
PUBLIC
PARTICIPATION
Mayor Matteson opened up for public participation and asked if
there was anyone wishing to participate at this time.
Bob Keeney Mr. Keeney expressed a need to explain a potential problem
12139 Mt. with Caltrans. He stated they submitted their project
Vernon Avenue approximately in April, 1987; it went to the Planning
Commission and was denied on two occasions; they again appealed
to the City Council and the City Council approved it with 34 to
37 conditions added. He felt they have met all of those
conditions. He stated one of the conditions was to hire a
traffic engineer and it cost them $2,500.00 to solve the
ingress/egress problem into their parcel because it was so
close to the off ramp. They took it to the City Engineer and
the City Engineer said he had no problem with it whatsoever,
but that they needed to send it to Caltrans. Caltrans reviewed
it and said, "it was none of their business, but if you are
asking us, we don't like it." The City Engineer felt he would
be putting his credibility on the line if he recommended
approval when Caltrans is saying they don't support it. He
indicated he felt the City Engineer's recommendation for denial
of the project was based on Caltrans' recommendation and, of
course, the City Planning Director has to go along with the
City Engineer and is also recommending denial. Mr. Keeney
indicated they have no other problems with the project and have
done what the City Council instructed them to do and now felt
they needed some clarifications from City Council as to their
position on any ingress/egress from the property. He felt it
was the best
Council Minutes - 12/17/87
Page 4
solution they could come up with for that piece of property,
indicating they are ingressing only off from the lane they are
creating into their project. He then stated their traffic
study shows there are ten cars an hour, peak hour, getting off
on the southbound exit on LaCrosse and turning right indicating
that's one car every six minutes. He agreed with Mayor
Matteson when he said Mr. Keeney's project will bring more
traffic, but stated there still will not be as much as there is
on that northbound exit. He stated the first entrance/exit
past that northbound off ramp is 4 feet from the terminus of
the radius on that exit.
Mayor Matteson asked Mr. Keeney how many feet were on his
side. Mr. Keeney replied it would be approximately 50 to 75
feet. Mayor Matteson asked "before the turn?" Mr. Keeney
replied, "yes." Mayor Matteson questioned how wide was that
street going into the entrance?
Mr. Keeney replied, they designed it at 24 or 30 feet, he
wasn't sure, but it is what the Planning Director recommended.
He indicated it wasn't shown on the plans he had with him.
Mayor Matteson asked if RV's could make the right-hand turn
from the inside or outside lane?
Mr. Keeney replied there will not be any RV's, they are
restricting the RV's from making an entrance into the first
entrance. He further stated RV's will not be allow to enter on
the easterly entrance, they will only be allowed to enter on
the westerly entrance.
Councilmember Evans stated that Mr. Keeney was asking for
Council to give him the blessing on what he's proposing and
overrule what Caltrans has proposed.
Mr. Keeney replied Caltrans will not put their blessing on
anything.
Councilmember Evans stated he was not here to debate the issue
and did not feel this evening is the forum to discuss it. He
stated if I understand what you are saying, you have this up
for review with the Planning Commission next week. Mr. Keeney
replied, "yes."
Councilmember Evans stated he felt that is where it should be
discussed and examined, it gives everyone the opportunity to
take a look at what Caltrans has said about the project; it
gives the City Engineer and the Planning Director an
opportunity to give their input and then Council will have an
opportunity if it is not approved and you do appeal. They will
have that input and hopefully we can make a more intelligent
decision.
Council Minutes - 12/17/87
Page 5
k,
Mr. Keeney stated he came before Council this evening to
hopefully get some clarification; being this was not a planning
consideration, but an engineering consideration; he felt this
was an engineering problem and should be addressed by people
with an engineering background. 0
The City Attorney stated unfortunately instructions, directions
or anything else along that line would constitute a decision
under the Ralph M. Brown Act.
Mayor Matteson asked if Council could still gather information.
The City Attorney replied, you can always gather information
and hear information, but you can't exchange it back.
Councilmember Evans stated he felt the correct forum is at the
Planning Commission Meeting, it will be brought back to Council
if deemed appropriate.
Mayor Matteson indicated to Mr. Keeney appreciation from
Council on this information and stated it will give Council
time to review it and time to discuss it with the City
Engineer.
Mr. Keeney replied, okay, indicating what he is looking at then
is the City Planning Commission cannot do anything but deny it
based on the recommendation of the City Engineer and the
Planning Director.
Mayor Matteson replied, unfortunately Council still has to
follow procedure; you have to go through that and then come
back to Council.
Mr. Keeney asked Mayor Matteson if he was saying it is an
automatic appeal.
Mayor Matteson responded, "if you appeal it."
Dick Yost Mr. Yost congratulated the City on it's birthday. He gave a
President of report on the Christmas Decorating Contest in Grand Terrace
the Chamber of indicating the winners and thanked the businesses in Grand
Commerce Terrace for their donation of prizes to be given to the
winners. He indicated that next year's judging will take place
a little closer to Christmas due to some complaints that it was
done too early this year for everyone to participate.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Crime Prevention Mayor Matteson stated each Councilmember has a copy of the
Committee Minutes of November 9, 1987.
Council Minutes - 12/17/87
Page 6
Ralph Buchwalter
Mr. Buchwalter stated the Crime Prevention Committee has a lot
Chairman of the
of things going on right now, the most noticeable is the
Crime Prevention
formulation of the citizen patrol. He stated they had a car
Committee
donated by L.J. Ford Company which is to be delivered sometime
in January 1988. He stated they have been able to recruit
volunteers through senior citizens' groups and, at this
particular time, have nine volunteers committed to the program,
but are seeking a total of 18 to staff their patrol. He
reported the Committee was working on the formation of plans
for their next Community Safety Day and they already have a
number of people committed to that in the form of volunteers.
He reported the Committee was working on further development of
the Neighborhood Watch.
Mayor Matteson stated he was excited about the citizen patrol
indicating programs like this have been going on successfully
in several other cities and invited anyone watching that was
interested in participating in this volunteer patrol should
call City Hall and ask for Sharon Korgan.
Mr. Buchwalter stated that this patrol will only be powered to
observe and report. He stated the people will be trained by
the Sheriff's Department, but there will be no contact made,
the volunteer's job will be very strictly limited to observing
and reporting to the Sheriff's Dispatcher.
Parks and
Mr. Rollins stated since Council did not have a copy of the
Recreation
Minutes of their December 11, 1987 meeting, he would like to
Committee
bring Council up-to-date on one point. He reported that Mr.
Dick Rollins
Roy Nix, a member of the Board of Directors for the Lion's
22700 DeBerry
Club, attended their meeting and made the statement that the
Lion's Club set aside $2,500.00 to put toward the completion of
the snack bar. He stated Council has the Commission Committee
Report before them requesting another $9,100.00 to complete the
snack bar.
Mayor Matteson stated, as he understands it, Council gave
$5,000.00 originally and then $4,200.00 and now another
$9,100.00 besides what the Lion's Club has designated; it is
really getting out of hand and he could not understand it.
Mr. Rollins replied the snack bar that the City of San
Bernardino built cost $47,000.00. He stated they thought they
could build a snack bar with donated labor and donated
materials and it's been over a year and a half and the snack
bar is not complete. He stated the school district advised us
to either complete it or tear it down; we have too much money
in it to tear it down. He asked, "now what do we do?"
Mayor Matteson replied, "That's a good question." He stated he
did not know how long it was going to keep going on stating in
another couple of months you'll be back for more money.
Council Minutes - 12/17/87
Page 7
Mr. Rollins replied they anticipate that $9,100.00 will
complete the snack bar other than some of the finish work
inside. He stated his understanding is that if the Lion's Club
donates $2,500.00, this will be deducted from the $9,100.00 and
they are waiting that decision from the Lion's Club Board of
Directors. 0
Councilmember Grant asked the City Manager what he thought
about this?
City Manager Schwab replied he did not feel it would be
feasible to tear it down, he felt it was somewhat distressing
that the City is ending up building and then turning around and
giving subsidy on lighting and other things, but felt we really
don't have much choice. He stated it might cost us as much to
knock it down, haul it away and make that ground the same as it
was then it would to go ahead and finish it. He indicated
staff's recommendation would be to go ahead and finish the
snack bar.
Councilmember Grant concurred and indicated the school was not
going to tolerate that for safety reasons. He agreed with
Mayor Matteson about it being very poor planning and it's a
snowball into a bad situation and felt in the future if we do
something on a volunteer basis that we do a lot of planning.
Mayor Pro Tem Pfennighausen indicated the plans for that snack
bar had to go to Sacramento to be approved and felt it probably
required stricter approval to build that snack bar than it was
to build this Civic Center. She stated they cut a lot of
corners in the snack bar trying to get it down to a cost that
we could live with. She agreed with the City Manager where we
have to complete the snack bar and get it in service.
Mayor Matteson indicated he would be reluctant to give some
more money without a contract with the detailed amount of who
is getting the money, where it is going and someone taking
responsibility for it.
Mayor Pro Tem Pfennighausen replied there is a report that
tells who is responsible.
Mr. Rollins replied Mr. Chuck Vahovek is the contractor.
Mayor Matteson asked if we had a contract with Mr. Vahovek.
Mr. Rollins replied, he did not believe we had a firm contract
with him.
Mayor Matteson stated that is what he would like to see a firm
contract, telling us how much it's going to cost and make him
stick to that amount of money.
Council Minutes - 12/17/87
Page 8
Mr. Rollins stated the reason we didn't have a contract per se
with him, is that we would have had to have RFP's with him and
go out to bid. He stated Mr. Vahovek will give a cost of what
it will take to complete it and believed Ms. Conley has those
figures and felt that is where she arrived at the $9,100.00,
and the only question now is will the Lion's Club contribute
the $2,500.00. He suggested that organizations and clubs that
use the snack bar pay a fee in order to recover the cost of
that snack bar in some manner, not to make a profit, but to
recover the cost and make them feel responsible for it. He
felt this is something that the Parks and Recreation Committee
will be looking into in the future once it's completed; to have
the various organizations pay for the use of it.
Tony Petta Mr. Petta stated that the youth organizations came to the City
11875 Eton Dr. Council a long time ago and convinced Council that the project
was a worthwhile project to be undertaken. He stated they
convinced the school district, City Council, Lion's Club and
felt this was a project all youth organizations could benefit
from and will be a long-lasting facility. He stated what Mayor
Matteson has said is worth taking in consideration getting the
actual figures that would take to complete this job.
Councilmember Evans asked the City Attorney, do we have any
problems as far as the legal aspects of it?
City Attorney Hopkins replied of course it is above the maximum
and must be let to bid.
Mayor Matteson stated whether it is written or oral contract it
has to go out to bid. City Attorney Hopkins responded "yes."
Councilmember Evans stated we have obviously dug ourselves into
a hole. He stated he felt staff needs to get all of the costs
to complete that snack bar as quickly as possible and wanted to
know if Council could have it by the next meeting for review.
Mayor Matteson asked who will have to go out for the bid, the
City or the Parks and Recreation Committee.
City Attorney Hopkins replied, the Parks and Recreation
Committee is an advisory committee only, it does not have the
power to do those things intentionally because to do so would
require that they file Statements of Economic Interest and
we've already debated that in the beginning by simply making
certain that they were advisory only, therefore, you must go to
bid.
Mayor Matteson stated so apparently the City Manager must get
bids on what it will take to finish the snack bar.
Council Minutes - 12/17/87
Page 9
City Manager Schwab stated if Council wished to give this back
to staff, staff would like to take a look at maybe an
alternative for staff to perhaps go out and do the stucco and
come up with what would be the minimum amount necessary to
button up that job to the satisfaction of the school district
and then see where we can go from there. He stated we can
break it up into a few separate jobs and just go out and do
quotes on stucco and maybe some of the dry -wall work, but he is
hesitant to make it a public works project only because the
cost will probably double.
Councilmember Evans asked the City Attorney if that was taking
a back door approach, circumventing what we are really supposed
to do?
City Attorney Hopkins replied, "the answer is probably yes, but
we will make certain that if it is done, it will be done
legally."
City Engineer Kicak stated there is one other thing we have to
keep in mind; this is on school property where the State has
the jurisdiction over the plans and he did not know if those
plans that were prepared by the Committee or whomever were ever
looked at by the State.
Mr. Rollins stated the Parks and Recreation Committee started
this whole project as a volunteer project and it has not been
as such. He stated we've done it piecemeal, we better complete .
it piecemeal and, as the City Attorney has said, we better go
very cautiously and complete it to the satisfaction of the
school district.
City Manager Schwab stated we have kept it under 200-square
feet which exempted it from a lot of requirements that the
State Department of Architecture require; we are going to do
what's necessary to complete portions of it and if it comes to
a position where we think legally we are looking at a
bid -splitting problem, we'll bring that back to Council.
However, we won't do anything that's going to violate the
bidding portion of this.
Mr. Rollins stated we have constructed that building under the
existing codes with Mr. Karger and indicated everything that
has been built was in accordance with the Unified Building
Code.
Councilmember Evans told the City Manager that when he prepares
his report, he needs to also pencil -in the cost and if it does
create a problem to continue with it, what it would cost us to
demolish it and put it back as it was before we started.
EI
Council Minutes - 12/17/87
Page 10
Mayor Matteson asked Council if they concurred to turn it over
to staff and let them advise Council at a later date what the
procedure would be?
City Manager Schwab stated staff could get it to Council by the
next meeting, January 14, 1988.
Mayor Pro Tem Pfennighausen stated the State of California did
look at and approve the plans.
Mr. Yost stated depending upon the decision of the Council
whether or not to go forward with this, he would like to make a
proposal to the Chamber of Commerce Board at their next meeting
to look at a possible special fund-raising event that could
help, because he felt it would be good to have a nice facility.
Tour de Terrace Mayor Matteson stated he was amazed at the publicity that Grand
Terrace has received from the Tour de Terrace. He stated it
has been in national and international magazines.
CITY COUNCIL
Councilmember
Councilmember Evans stated as we are coming to the close of
Evans
another year, he would like to take a moment to reflect where
the City has come in the past year. He stated we still have a
long way to go and will require a lot of hard work and require
a lot of community effort, as well as staff and City Council
efforts to bring us into the 1990's. He stated we will also be
looking at the beginning of a new year of the City's General
Plan and he could only encourage each and everyone to come out
and share their ideas, visions and dreams for the City of Grand
Terrace. He indicated reflecting on a statement he had read
from a gentleman in reference to "if we view our land as
community that we will then learn to love and respect it." He
felt that goes for the entire community at this time of the
season when we are supposed to look upon peace on earth and
goodwill toward men, indicating there have been many problems,
not only in the City, but amongst ourselves here at the
Council. He hopes that with the new year, Council can
hopefully mend any divisions they've had in the past. He
stated on behalf of himself and his family, they would like to
wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
Councilmember
Councilmember Shirley stated she would like to ask God's
Shirley
blessing on this Council and say Merry Christmas to everyone,
stating this is a beautiful town to live in and a beautiful
time of the year and may we all be safe this time next year.
Councilmember Councilmember Grant gave thanks to those who put on the
Grant excellent City's Birthday Party and stated he was looking
forward to the City's loth Anniversary next year. He stated he
made a brief presentation to the Lion's Club on Wednesday as to
Council Minutes - 12/17/87
Page 11
the state of the City as he saw it and expressed his
appreciation for the help he received from management on
getting some of the data he required. He concurred with his
colleagues on what they all hope for the future of the
community and he sees nothing but good if all cooperate. He
ended by wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New
Year.
Mayor Pro Tem Mayor Pro Tem Pfennighausen stated she attended a very special
Pfennighausen program last night called "Cherish Your Child." She reported
this was a program that was put together to ensure a Merry
Christmas for children that most likely would never have
experienced anything very merry. She expressed her feelings
about Grand Terrace and ended with "Grand Terrace is a little
City with a great big heart"and wished everyone the happiest
of Christmases for everyone all over, stating that next year is
going to be one of harmony and progress for Grand Terrace.
Mayor Matteson Mayor Matteson read a Certificate of Recognition presented to
the City of Grand Terrace, signed by Senator Ruben Ayala,
Senate District 34 indicating they brought this tonight and was
going to try to make it back, but could not make it. He stated
he attended a dinner in San Bernardino put on by the County
which presented Awards for Service to our youth. He stated
Jamie Butler, who is in charge of our Crime Busters, was given
a Certificate of Award for her outstanding service to the City
of Grand Terrace.
He stated he and Councilmember Grant attended the Highland
Installation and they have received letters from them thanking
us for being there and supporting them over the last several
years. He ended by wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a
Happy New Year.
Item 7(A) City Manager Schwab stated Mayor Matteson had requested that
Placement of a staff research a possibility of placing a half -page ad in the
fixed ad in the weekly issue of the Foothill Journal. He stated the ad is
Foothill Journal attached to the Agenda indicating the ad, if done every week,
would cost $13,000.00 per year. He stated the Foothill Journal
is currently delivered to all residents and that particular
practice would continue. If Council is interested in putting
together such an ad, the General Fund appropriation of
$7,000.00 will need to be made for the balance of this fiscal
year. He indicated during the budget hearings, it would be
determined whether to fund that program again starting from
July 1, 1988.
Mr. Jim Mr. Copeland expressed his appreciation and thanked Council and
Copeland the citizens of the City for supporting and accepting them. He
Foothill expressed the desire of getting more views and opinions in the
Journal editorial section of the paper. He stated he has talked to
several people about this and have found out that residents of
Grand Terrace want to be informed weekly about what's going on
Council Minutes - 12/17/87
Page 12
at the Planning Commission and City Council Meetings; what's
coming on the Agenda so they can decide whether or not they
want to participate; to know who to get in touch with and what
some of the events are within the City. He stated he has
attended several Council Meetings and heard people ask why
weren't they informed or why didn't certain information get
into the paper or why the community wasn't informed that
certain things were going to be on the Agenda. He indicated
this is one of the ways to get it out weekly to the Community
and keep them informed as much as possible.
Ed O'Neal Mr. O'Neal stated some concerned citizens of Grand Terrace are
22608 Minona Dr. urging Council to instruct staff to begin using the local media
to communicate City business and activities for the citizens of
Grand Terrace. He read off some of the reasons why he and some
of the citizens of Grand Terrace felt Council should
participate with the Foothill Journal and ended with again
urging Council to consider providing this service.
Tony Petta Mr. Petta stated he was here to point out that the City should
11875 Eton Dr. not have to purchase space to give out news to the residents.
He stated if the newspaper performs its function properly, then
it is the duty of the newspaper to notify the people of what
goes on at City Hall.
Mayor Matteson replied that unless the City purchases this ad
and unless Loma Linda does the same, the newspaper will no
longer function, we will not have it. He stated the newspaper
is such a fundamental part of the City organization and that
any city of this size that has a newspaper is very fortunate.
It's not a matter of having somebody like the Sun who's so big
they won't print it anyway, they won't print any local news for
us and we are lucky to have this paper that comes out weekly to
do this.
Mr. Petta replied, now we are talking about something
different, initially we were talking about getting space so
that we could put the news out to the people.
Mayor Matteson stated we are going to be listing things that
are not actually daily news items; there will be an
advertisement of the City Hall and all the departments in it
that no other newspaper does and the only way we can do that is
by subscribing to an ad.
Mayor Matteson asked if there was anyone else wishing to speak
on this issue? Since there were none, he turned the issue back
to Council.
Councilmember Shirley expressed her feelings about a weekly
newspaper and could only support this ad for the newspaper if
Council were to extend the same offer to any other newspaper
I
who comes in here in competition with the Foothill Journal.
Council Minutes - 12/17/87
Pace 13
CC-87-240 Motion by Mayor Matteson, to place a fixed ad in the Foothill
Journal as proposed.
Mayor Pro Tem Pfennighausen stated this is a serious issue and
that this is the second newspaper that's tried to start here
and she would welcome any other newspapers that would like to
come in and try to do this very same thing.
She stated she talked to Jim sometime ago and asked how long he
thought they would be able to give this newspaper to everybody
free and he felt that it was an important service to get this
newspaper out on a non -subscription basis. She stated she
hopes this newspaper will grow where they can black out the
Press Enterprise and Sun Telegram in the City of Grand
Terrace. She stated she has had several complaints about the
fact that we don't get any news coverage in those newspapers,
and felt if we could get a newspaper that services our area, we
could have great impact on those other newspapers. We need to
have this type of media coverage and the ad is one way to
ensure that at least we can give a shot in the arm that is
trying to grow and do the job that we need to get done.
Mayor Matteson concurred with Councilmember Shirley indicating
we are supporting one newspaper, the Chamber Newsletter; so if
we are doing that, we should give the Foothill Journal the same
opportunity and support them.
Councilmember Evans asked Mayor Matteson how he proposes to
come up with the funds? 0
Mayor Matteson replied to take it out of the Unappropriated
Fund.
Councilmember Evans felt the issue that is before Council is
number one, that of dissemination of information to the
citizens of the City.
Mike Roach Mr. Roach expressed his thoughts in favor of Council getting a
22795 Fairburn fixed weekly ad in the Foothill Journal.
Councilmember Evans mentioned how and when the Chamber of
Commerce started and how it has grown into what we currently
receive on a monthly basis and is called the Grand Terrace
Monthly Newsletter. He stated what Councilmember Shirley
mentioned about subsidizing all newspapers was already started
with the Chamber of Commerce's first newsletter. He indicated
not appropriating $7,000.00 from the General Fund, but Council
needs to review the monies that are currently going to the
Chamber for their newsletter. He stated he has a proposed
budget from 1987/88, and he didn't know if it had changed, but
they show that $20,676.00 is currently expended for the
newsletter. He stated if we take a look at a yearly basis of 0
Council Minutes - 12/17/87
Paqe 14
$13,000.00, that's at least a $7,000.00 savings and felt a need
to seriously take a look as to terminating the monies for the
Chamber's Newsletter or decide if we are going to go for the
Foothill Journal.
Mayor Matteson stated he felt that is an item that would be
appropriately taken up at budget time. He stated the Chamber
of Commerce has already set up their budget for the entire year
and part of that is already earmarked indicating he felt that
is something Council should look into and indicated we are
actually subsidizing the Chamber Newsletter and buying space in
the Foothill Journal.
Councilmember Shirley stated we are financially supporting
them. Mayor Matteson replied we are supporting them but we are
getting something in return.
Councilmember Shirley stated we get something from the Chamber
Newsletter too, indicating she felt it is wonderful that we
have a newspaper that addresses the problems of Grand Terrace,
but just wanted to make a point that she doesn't want to
financially help one person in business to the disadvantage of
another person in business and does support having the Foothill
Journal.
Councilmember Grant stated if Council were to consider this as
a subsidy, then all of a sudden we would be subsidizing a
political position, but If we considered this as a paid
advertisement, then we are not subsidizing a political position
and that is why he made it clear several years ago that he
would support the funding for our share for the newsletter as
long as taxpayers' money was not being put out for partisan
purposes and he felt the Chamber Newsletter has done an
excellent job in that regard, they have avoided that kind of
thing and are to be commended. He stated as long as we see
this as a trial period, see how it goes on, he would probably
support this funding for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Councilmember Evans asked for clarification about the money
that goes to the Chamber of Commerce; are we buying ad space in
the Chamber Newsletter as we would be doing with the Foothill
Journal? He wanted to know how much money was Council willing
to spend for the dissemination of basic information to the
public, indicating if he takes the Chamber's current cost of
the newsletter and attaches an additional $7,000.00, that would
be $27,000.00 and it seems like an awful lot of money right
now.
Mayor Pro Tem Pfennighausen stated that in order to take
Council's control of the Chamber Newsletter away, the subsidy
to the Chamber was re -assigned a new title which was Economic
Development. She stated the funding goes into the Chamber's
Council Minutes - 12/17/87
Page 15
General Fund and when you look at the budget, a great deal of
that money is going to publishing the Chamber Newsletter and
suggested that an equal amount be termed as the buying of an ad
in both publications and that the adjustment be made in the
allocation to the Chamber so that we are not showing
preferentiality to one publication or the other. She stated
Council should start to be very specific with what it is we are
doing with our money. She indicated the Chamber Newsletter is
having problems and does require a three-week lead time and
news isn't current when it does get there and a lot of things
that need to get in don't get there because the people can't
get the information to them quick enough. She stated if we are
buying ad space in the Chamber Newsletter, then let's do that
and let's control the space as would be controlled in the
Foothill Journal.
Mayor Matteson stated as he sees it there are two different
issues, one is the Chamber grant, which Council cannot make a
decision on, and should be put on the next Agenda. He then
stated to cast a vote on the subject on hand.
Councilmember Evans stated he felt the point Mayor Pro Tem
Pfennighausen has raised was very crucial and felt it was going
to impact the rest of the year as far as potential monies and
would like to have the Chamber provide the cost breakdown so
that Council could review it and bring it back to render a
decision, indicating he was behind the Foothill Journal because
of the dissemination of information it would bring to the
people.
Councilmember Shirley stated that dissemination of information
is valuable and did not feel a price could be put on it. She
stated the Chamber of Commerce in Grand Terrace really does a
lot of work for this City, they present a good image, advertise
all over the Inland Empire, indicating we have given them a
grant as part of their budget. The Chamber of Commerce and the
City plan around this money and it is felt that should remain
in place until the next budget cycle.
Motion CC-87-240 carried ALL AYES, for placement of a fixed ad
in the Foothill Journal.
City Manager Schwab asked for a consensus if Council would like
that item on the Agenda for the 14th of January.
Councilmember Grant replied a commitment has been made to the
Chamber and felt Council should wait until the next budget
cycle.
Item 7(B) City Manager Schwab stated at the December 3, 1987 meeting,
Councilmember Grant, with the consensus of Council, instructed
staff to conduct a brief study on economic development and for
Council Minutes - 12/17/87
Paqe 16
it to take on two areas, the feasibility of hiring in-house
staff to perform the task versus hiring an Economic Development
Consultant who would work on a contingency fee basis. He
indicated for a little background he felt that staff is well
aware that economic development in Grand Terrace has generally
not kept pace with neighboring communities. He stated there
are a couple of items that make it difficult for us to compete
with the neighboring communities in economic development. One
is the lack of financial resources as we have committed much of
our funds to other areas. When we developed the Redevelopment
Agency, we passed through the tax increment to all agencies
except for the school and made a deal with them which provided
them with public facilities. The other item is in our
redevelopment plan, we specifically excluded the right of
eminent domain, stating the City does have the right of eminent
domain, but generally the rights of the City to exercise
eminent domain are only when there is a clear-cut public use of
that property; whereas, the Redevelopment Agencies have much
broader domain powers which allow them to use eminent domain
for private purposes. He stated staff looked at the
feasibility of in-house economic development and generally the
people who are involved in economic development tend to be
somewhat highly paid, but looking at the amount of available
land in Grand Terrace and with the conditions he had stated
with the resources, staff finds it difficult to have a
full-time person that could be fully employed forty -hours a
week doing nothing but economic development. He stated staff
did not seriously consider a part-time economic development
person, he wasn't comfident that we would find an individual
with enough experience and background that would be willing to
work on just a part-time basis. He stated when staff looked at
the feasibility of an Economic Development Consultant, staff
did contact several Economic Development Consultants and asked
them generally about how they are paid. They could not find
one that would be willing, especially with our circumstances
and our very limited amount of land, to work on a contingency
basis, indicating there really is not enough tools to work with
or enough land to make it enough of an incentive for a Economic
Development Consultant to take it on that basis. He stated
they generally will take it on a contractual basis and are paid
an hourly rate. He stated in order for us to make a diligent
effort, we probably will have to go with a contractual
consultant. Not knowing what they could possibly do for us,
staff recommends that the City develop a Request for Proposal
and outline all of the conditions that exist currently within
the City, what has transpired in the past, what our problems
have been in economic development and throw it out to the
consultant to say, what can you do for us, convince us that we
should pay you money to provide economic development here in
our community. He felt, based on the merits of those proposals
that come back to the City at that time, staff would bring
Council Minutes - 12/17/87
Page 17
those back to the Council and would ask them to envision what
they hoped to accomplish, what kind of time -frame they are
looking at and what the cost would be. He felt at that point
Council could weigh the benefits versus those costs and make a
decision as to whether we would like to enter into a contract
with any of those individuals.
Councilmember Grant felt the City Manager and staff had done
the very best they could with the situation that he feared
might occur and that is apparently very few, if anyone is
willing to undertake this project on a contingency basis. He
stated he had made that as a part of his motion at the last
meeting in the hope that we would find someone who would be
willing to do that. He stated if we adopt staff's
recommendation as it is worded, we are coming as close as we
possibly can to at least protecting this City from what could
ultimately be a rip-off. He stated if this is adopted as a
motion, he concurred with staff's recommendation indicating
this is our last chance to really try and bring in some sales
and use taxes into our community.
CC-87-241 Motion by Councilmember Grant, second by Councilmember Shirley,
to adopt staff's recommendation that the City develop a Request
for Proposal and outline all of the conditions that exist
currently within the City; what has transpired in the past;
what our problems have been in economic development; and throw
it out to the Consultant to say, what can you do for us,
convince us that we should pay you money to provide economic
development here in our community.
Mayor Pro Tem Pfennighausen stated, as Mayor Matteson pointed
out at the last meeting, the City of Colton has done fantastic
things in the area of economic development, but the City of
Colton has made a lot of concessions and have bent a lot of
rules and have gone out of their way to make it a place where
people want to come and develop stating that's going to have to
happen here. She stated consultants cannot make that happen,
that's up to the Planning Commission, staff, the City Council
and the public at large, they have to send the message out that
they want development. She stated she wasn't sure that we are
going to be able to continue to maintain an acceptable level of
service unless we do something now and something financially
substantial to secure tomorrow for this City.
Councilmember Grant stated close to ten years we have attempted
to bring in commercial development in a community that is
primarily residential and a community that wants to stay
residential. He stated we have residents and we are not
responsible for what Colton does; they have done a good job; we
could learn a lot from our surrounding cities, but to say that
this Council over the years has driven away commercial
development is not true. He stated the adoption of the 0
Council Minutes - 12/17/87
Party 1R
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proposal recommended by staff is the only reasonable step in
the way that we can get some commercial development in this
town.
Councilmember Evans stated the Consultant is not going to bring
the development into the City, they are not going to do the
development. The developers will do the developing and felt it
has become apparent that the letter received from Westar in
October of 1987, which stated right now, you're not going to
get any type of commercial development because the population
base is not large enough. He stated when we are talking about
population base, the developers and the businesses that are
going to come in do not look at the immediate boundaries of the
city; they look at what they call new market area and, right
now, we do not have any businesses who are willing to take that
gamble based on that letter from Westar Associates, so we would
be throwing money down the drain.
Mayor Matteson stated the City of Colton has been mentioned
several times and the fact is they have sixteen major projects
going in. One of them is $72,000,000.00 and they have four
full-time Economic Development employees in the City. He
stated businesses are very compatible from city to city;
everybody goes after it indicating the City of Colton went
after the Price Club; it cost them, they laid out no money out
of their pocket and they are still making a lot of money off of
the Price Club, they are very aggressive and that is what we
have to be if we want more commercial. He stated if we don't
get aggressive, we are going to end up like Norco, they are in
the position now where they are laying off because they don't
have the money to run the city and now they are starting to
make an aggressive campaign after businesses. He stated we are
late now, but it's better late than never. We were late when
we incorporated; we lost a lot of land because we waited too
long to incorporate and we are going to be losing a lot of
businesses now if we don't go after it. He stated he was in
favor of staff's recommendation.
Mayor Pro Tem Pfennighausen stated she was going to support
this motion for one reason and one reason only and that is she
understands the motion is just to establish the RFP's and send
them out.
Councilmember Grant stated the motion is basically the language
of the staff's recommendation.
Motion CC-87-241 carried with Councilmember Evans voting NOE.
Council Minutes - 12/17/87
Page 19
Z
Adjourned City Council meeting at 8:10 p.m. until the next
regular City Council meeting which will be held Thursday,
January 14, 1988 at 5:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted:
D06ty City Clerk'
APPROVED:
Council Minutes - 12/17/87
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