DHS City Council - August 8

The audio recording of this meeting of the Desert Hot Springs City Council is available here.

Closed Session Report

Attorney Duran reported that in closed session the city council had voted to initiate litigation against 10 parties. Neither the identity of the parties nor the reason for litigation was revealed. Mr. Duran said that the information would become public as the lawsuits were filed. The votes:

• In 8 cases the vote was 4-1 with Councilmember Baker voting against.
• In one case, Councilmembers Matas and Betts recused themselves. The vote was 2-1. One would presume that Mr. Baker voted against, although Mr. Duran did not say that.
• In the last case Mr. Baker recused himself and the vote was 4-0 to initiate litigation.

My guess is that the issue that unites these cases (Mr. Duran told me there is some common link among them) has to do with getting stalled real estate developments to complete some infrastructure work. The city may be suing the owners or it may be suing the companies that hold the bonds that are supposed to guarantee the completion of the work. But that's just a guess, based mostly on the fact that Mr. Baker had to recuse himself. Since he owns virtually nothing, the only reason he ever has to recuse himself is the fact that he rents in Hidden Springs, and Hidden Springs is one of those stalled developments where the city has been trying to get some action. In a few days we will find out how bad my guess is.

UPDATE: I was right on at least one lawsuit. Here is info about the lawsuit against the developers of Agua Dulce.

Desert Hot Springs Family Care Center

You might know it better as the Riverside County clinic being built at Park Lane and Palm Drive, but don't call it a clinic any more. The buried lede in this presentation by the county is that they revised their plans and removed the medical clinic entirely. This was subsequent to the award of federal money to Borrego Health to build their own larger clinic on Pierson Boulevard.

A representative from the Riverside County Economic Development Agency made this presentation. The building will house the county's Community Health Department which handles the WIC program, the Department of Public Social Services with their family resource center, and the Department of Mental Health with a children's mental health clinic. Construction is expected to be completed and open in January or February 2012.

The site plan. North (up) of the building is secure parking for staff and county vehicles. Public parking is on the south and east. The main entrance to the building is on the south side.

The floor plan. In the center are shared spaces, including a community room. I believe this is the original floor plan before they decided to eliminate the medical clinic. The east side of the building will be occupied by the Department of Mental Health. The northwest quarter will be occupied by the Department of Public Social Services. The southwest quarter will be occupied by the WIC program.

The overall site plan - the building takes up only about a quarter of the county's property there.

A plan labeled "interior revisions" which served only to introduce confusion. The cross-hatched area is where NO revisions were being made. The rest of the plan shows revisions made as a result of the decision not to have a medical clinic there, eliminating small exam rooms and adding larger rooms for family and group counseling.

Code Enforcement Quarterly Update

In the April through June 2011 quarter...
Number of new cases: 743
Closed cases: 343
Total inspections: 2,387
Courtesy notices: 337
Administrative citations: 162
Amount of citations issued: $65,400
Cost recovery from the assessor: $153,791
Citations paid: $27,934
Demand notices: 61 for a total value of $251,402

Abandoned/foreclosed properties:
Inspections 2,387
Violations issued: 108
Citations issued: 79
Fines issued: $423,700
Fines paid: $111,400

Mr. Sengstock showed photos of locations where illegal signs had been removed and trash had been removed from the right of way. He included a photo of the sign that had been on the south exterior wall of the Capri which was removed. Also there were photos of "parking in rear" signs that had been painted directly onto the exterior walls of Thai Palms and the convenience store on the northwest corner of Palm and Buena Vista. Both of those signs had been painted fairly recently, were in good shape, and IMHO not at all unattractive. But they did not conform to the current sign ordinance nor were they permitted by any earlier agreement between the city and the property owner. So they have been painted over. In the case of the Thai Palms, the overpainting does not match well and (again, IMHO) looks worse than the sign. This suggests me that a revision in our new sign ordinance is called for - but I get ahead of myself. Mr. Sengstock said the roof-mounted sign on the convenience store will be taken down shortly, too, after a change in ownership.

Mr. Sengstock continued with a photo of a banner advertising jiu-jitsu at the World Gym which could have been permitted as a temporary banner, but the World Gym didn't want to get a permit, so the sign had to be taken down. There were also photos of trash in alleys that was cleaned up. The fire damage at Cliff's garage. The clean up of the area around the vacant "Hacienda Real Estate" building on the northeast corner of Palm and Pierson. A clean up of the dead vegetation around the former Flamingo hotel. There were photos of various residences where weeds had been allowed to grow with abandon, each of which was cleaned up. And finally there were photos of the two code enforcement volunteers and a team of volunteer students helping to clean up the yard of a person who was unable to do so herself.

Mr. Baker said that the Capri restaurant sign and the "parking in rear" signs have been there for at least 10 years. He asked what we say to the people when we cite them. Mr. Sengstock said they get referred to Planning, and Planning determines what code was in force when the business opened and what they are allowed to do. He said that there were no permits for those signs and they were not allowed under the old sign code. Mr. Baker said "we need to radically look at our code enforcement issues." In response to a question from Chief Williams, Mr. Baker clarified that to mean the sign ordinance. He also wanted to look at parking on lawns. He said gets most complaints about that [probably meaning complaints about being cited for parking on a lawn]. He thinks the sign enforcement is totally unfair. The city should consider the possibility of waivers. He said he's not so sure the council understood the sign ordinance when it was approved. He said we have a working class community and it is unreasonable to expect a working class family to have no more than two cars per household.

City Manager Daniels said staff would bring back something to the council reflecting Mr. Baker's concerns.

Mayor Pro Tem Betts asked about the volunteer who picks up truck loads of garage sale signs on Monday. Wouldn't it be better to get them on Friday and Saturday, he suggested. Mr. Sengstock said that they do that, if possible. There is only one person on staff on Saturday, so they are usually busy with other tasks.

Mr. Betts asked if Code Enforcement could do anything to encourage property owners to do more than just pull weeds, and to actually upgrade their landscaping. Mr. Sengstock said their attorney looks at all the ways they can move things forward. He said code enforcement always encourages them to do something better than the minimum, but they cannot require the property owner to do that. Mr. Betts said that it's going to be up to the council if we want to beautify the city.

Mr. Matas congratulated Mr. Sengstock on the enforcement of the sign ordinance and he agreed with Mr. Baker that the ordinance needs to be looked at in the future. He suggested that if code enforcement sees that some part of the code might need revision, then he should bring it to the attention of Chief Williams who can then bring it to the council.

Gas Tax Revenue Certificates of Participation

This is to authorize the sale of up to $6 million in "California Communities Gas Tax Revenue Certificates of Participation," with the proceeds going to pave more roads in the city.

City Manager Daniels said the pavement management system has been updated. In 2008 78% of the streets were ranked as "less than good." Now only about 30% are "less than good." They put together a list of streets that need to repaired. Assistant City Manager Simpson came back with a program where the city could join with other cities in a bond issue that would be paid off with a portion of the city's gasoline tax revenue over a 20-year period.

The only streets excluded from this plan are those streets where the city expects to get a federal grant to pay for repairs. Those include 8th Street and the area bounded by Palm, Pierson, Cactus and Hacienda.

They also removed from the list those streets that are part of the MSWD planned sewer projects. Mr. Daniels said that MSWD has told him they expect those streets to be fixed within two years. [If this is incorrect information, someone at MSWD should enlighten the city so we don't have another back and forth of "he said, she said."] Mr. Daniels is under the impression that all the federal funding is available for the sewer project, but only the environmental and engineering work needs to be completed. This is not the same story I hear at MSWD board meetings. I'm pretty sure all the environmental and engineering work is ready. It's the money the water district is waiting on.

Mr. Simpson said that some costs can be saved by joining in with other cities on this deal. Between Measure "A" and gas tax revenue, the city gets about a million dollars a year. The resolution allows up to $6 million in principal, but he expects it to be more like $5 million.

Financial consultant Michael Busch was present to answer questions. He said that about 35% of the city's gas tax revenue will be obligated to cover these bonds. The bond issue will probably be "AA" which would mean no bond insurance would be required.

Mr. Baker said that in the future the state might take this revenue away from the city. Mr. Busch said that gas tax revenue is specifically identified as protected by Prop 22. Mr. Simpson added that even if gas tax revenue went to zero, our Measure "A" revenue would be enough to cover this.

Charles Edmondson had a comment. He thanked the city for addressing the issue of paving the streets. He requested that they look at the segment of Mountain View south of "Calle Mikolo" down to the fault. [I may have misunderstood that street name - it's unfamiliar to me. Maybe he meant "Nicole Court?"]

Mayor Parks asked for clarification of the location. "Mountain View south of Hacienda?" she asked. Mr. Edmondson said it's in great shape down to Calle Mikolo, where there are three pot holes. "Is that beyond the new housing development on the right?" Mayor Parks asked. Mr. Edmondson said it's between that and the church. "Between the church and the medical clinic that used to be there," he clarified.

Mr. Daniels explained that the city limit runs down the middle of Mountain View there. The eastern half of the street is in the county. It will come into the city when Annexation 29 is complete.

Mr. Betts asked "We're talking about from Ava Court down to where?"

"Ava Court up to Calle Mikolo," Mr. Edmondson answered.

Mr. Betts asked if there were some way the city could repair that pavement and get the owner of the land to pay for it. Mr. Daniels said it could be done after LAFCO approves the annexation. He went on to say that if the city limit were not a concern, the city could improve the entire road and in theory the DIF paid by the landowner when he develops his property would reimburse the city for its expenses.

Mr. Simpson said that he will bring the specific numbers (principal amount, interest, term, etc.) on the bond issue to the city council when they are known.

Approved 5-0.

Redevelopment Brouhaha

Mr. Simpson explained that this ordinance would authorize the payment of ransom to the state which would allow us to keep our redevelopment agency. The initial payment will be $3.4 million. Future annual payments will be smaller. If the redevelopment agency does not do this, then all the money in the RDA goes to the state and all the property owned by the RDA would be put under the control of a board of people who are NOT elected by the citizens of Desert Hot Springs. In addition, we would forego all future redevelopment tax increment which Mr. Simpson estimated at $77 million over the life of the RDA. That $77 million would go to the state.

Mr. Baker clarified that the city would lose control over zoning on the RDA properties as well, so the state could take our downtown and do whatever they want with it at our expense without our control. Mr. Daniels explained that the state would continue to operate the redevelopment agency until either its debt was paid off or the life of the agency came to its end, which could be as far off as 2056.

The city is able to meet all of its on-going financial obligations and still make the ransom payments to the state. But if the state ups the ante again, then the city could not deal with it.

Attorney Duran said the actions of the redevelopment agency have been suspended since the legislature passed its "crappy budget" at the end of June. The RDA cannot wrap up escrow on some properties that it wants to buy until the city council approves this ordinance.

He further explained that the oversight board that would run the redevelopment agency if we gave it up, would be representatives from the county, representatives from "districts" in this area, and a representative appointed by the Mayor.

Mr. Betts said he would have liked to have had this discussion at a regular city council meeting rather than at this study session. He said it looked like we could have waited another 30 days.

Mayor Parks said that the earlier the decision is made, the earlier it becomes effective. The effective date is when our redevelopment agency can become active again.

Mr. Daniels said a second reading of this ordinance will be scheduled for Monday, August 15 at 4 PM at the Lozano Center. It will take effect 30 days later (September 15). Staff will do a presentation on this subject at the regular city council meeting on September 6. Attorney Duran said he read the law to mean that the suspension of the redevelopment agency would end as soon as the council approves the ordinance at the second reading. There would be no need to wait 30 days to begin doing its redevelopment work.

Approved 5-0 (to continue the redevelopment agency by paying ransom to the state).

Annexation of 43 Parcels Into CFD 2010-1

You may remember (or not) that last year the city created a Community Facilities District that contained only the Hacienda Hills apartment complex. It was discussed at the June 1, 2010, city council meeting and approved at the July 6, 2010, city council meeting. Basically, Hacienda Hills wanted a landscape and lighting district, but you can do that only for residential property and Hacienda Hills, being all rental, is a commercial property. The solution was to create the CFD and make it do the same thing as a L&L district. All 43 parcels are owned by the RDA, except one owned directly by the city. When the properties are sold to private owners, then they will begin to pay the CFD assessment.

At some future time, the Villages at Mission Lakes shopping center will become part of this CFD as well.

The estimated revenue will be about $30,000 per year. This money can be used for "landscaping, lighting, and maintenance and repair of public structures situated on parks, parkways, streets, roads and open space; playground or recreation program equipment or facilities situated on any park, and storm drainage and flood protection facilities, and drainage inlets and retention basins."

The properties are scattered around the city so the councilmembers spent a few minutes examining the map to see if a recusal might be necessary. Mr. Betts recused himself.

Approved 4-0. This initiates the process. There will be a public hearing in September before the actual annexation.

Award For Audio-Visual Equipment at Carl May

Yessirree Bob, the first public meeting in the freshly rehabbed Carl May with live television coverage is only 29 days away (at the time of this vote) and they are awarding the audio-visual contract. I'm sure a representative of the winning bidder will be present at that meeting to proudly point out how well everything works.

This is for $60,125 to Golden Star Technology. The work will include:

• 4 mounted large video display monitors (to replace the presentation projector/screen
• Touch-enabled/activated video monitors and traditional monitors for dais positions
• Integration with the SIRE Agenda Management System (including a voting module)
• Equipment providing functionality and scalable tools for the City Clerk to seamlessly control, switch and manage output, to the display groups, between presentations, SIRE software and integrated services, and other media sources.

In Golden Star Technology's bid they noted a few items in the city's request and said "Some of the above items I don't think are necessary for this project." So maybe this will actually come in under budget.

Charles Edmondson came up to comment. He congratulated Golden Star and said the bid was very close to what his own bid would have been, if he had submitted one. He cautioned the council to be aware of the complete cost of the system. The contract is only for a portion of the system. A large component of switching was specifically excluded. It will need to be paid for. Computers will be extra. There are no functional specifications, so additional work may be required to get the desired functionality.

He said the city has recently been putting specifications into their bid requirements for things that the city does not necessary expect or want to receive. He was told by city staff during the walk-through that several items were planned to be reduced in the actual specs. The city expects to negotiate a final solution. This leaves the process open to abuse by both sides. He said the city tries to get the biggest, brightest thing, as if we have an inferiority complex. The concept of what we need, but no more than we need, has been lost on the wayside.

Pamela Edmondson followed with her comment. She suggested seven steps for handling bids.

1. If a project is over $25,000...
2. The city would write an explanation of what they want a bid for, needed, wanted, and what the estimated budget is.
3. Form a committee or have an expert (if it's a small project) decide what's needed, taking the stress off city staff.
4. Designed and then a work study where the bid is brought before the city council for review before it's put into motion. Changes could be made. Voted on.
5. Actually goes out to bid. Of course, no one on that committee or the expert consultant would be permitted to bid.
6. The city would get a consultation from whoever designed it on the received bids.
7. Award.

Mr. Baker said he generally agreed with Ms. Edmondson. He said it's somewhat egotistical for the city to think it knows what it wants. An RFP should be sent out requesting proposals from experts as to what we need. He said he would have liked to see this bid and others done a little differently.

At about this point in the meeting Mayor Parks left for another engagement.

Mr. Daniels said the Carl May project was broken down into two parts because of the funding. The CDBG funds that were used for rehabbing the space, could not be used for audio-visual equipment. Luke Rainey, the city's IT manager, and Jerryl Soriano, City Clerk, traveled to other cities in the valley to search for a modest but effective system. One of the requirements for this system is the ability to move it to a new space, since the Carl May will not be used as City Hall forever. He has been assured that this project will provide an effective communication system for the Carl Meeting by September 6.

Mr. Soriano said the system does include a queue for city councilmembers who request recognition (no more hand waving). Voting will be electronic as well.

Mr. Betts asked if the contract guaranteed broadcast quality. Mr. Daniels said that the signal going out of the Carl May has been tested and it's very good. Once the signal gets into the hands of Time Warner Cable, they garble it. He said the city's goal should be to assure that there are no problems with what goes out to the viewers.

Approved 4-0.