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HomeMy WebLinkAboutE-1 Minutes Regular Meeting, March 15, 2021CITY OF AZUSA MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL, THE SUCCESSOR AGENCY TO THE FORMER REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY, THE PUBLIC FINANCING AUTHORITY REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, MARCH 15, 2021 – 6:30 P.M. The City Council of the City of Azusa met in regular session at the above date and time in the Azusa Auditorium located at 213 E. Foothill Boulevard, Azusa, CA 91702. This meeting was held via zoom teleconference only. Mayor Gonzales called the meeting to order at 6:30 P.M. ROLL CALL: Roll call was taken by City Clerk Cornejo. PRESENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: GONZALES, ALVAREZ, AVILA, MENDEZ ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: MACIAS ALSO PRESENT Elected Officials: City Clerk Cornejo. Staff Members: City Manager Gonzalez, City Attorney Martinez, Director of Administrative Services Johnson, Deputy City Manager DeAnda-Scaia and Chief Deputy City Clerk Garcia. PUBLIC COMMENT None. CLOSED SESSION The City Council recessed to closed session at 6:30 P.M. to discuss the following: 1.THREAT TO PUBLIC SERVICES – Pursuant to California Government Code, Section 54957. Consultation with: Sergio Gonzalez, City Manager and Mike Bertelsen, Chief of Police Azusa Police Department 2.PUBLIC EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION Pursuant to California Government Code, Section 54957. Title: City Manager Title: City Attorney REGULAR SESSION Mayor Gonzales called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Councilmember Alvarez. CITY COUNCIL ROLL CALL: Roll call was taken by City Clerk Cornejo. PRESENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: GONZALES, MACIAS, ALVAREZ, AVILA, MENDEZ ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: NONE ALSO PRESENT Elected Officials: City Clerk/Secretary Cornejo. Staff Members: City Manager Gonzalez, City Attorney Martinez, Chief of Police Bertelsen, Director of Economic and Community Development Marquez, Director of Administrative Services Johnson, Director of Utilities Robledo, Director of Public Works/City Engineer Delgadillo, Director of Information Technology and Library Services Graf, Director of Community Resources Carpenter, Deputy City Manager DeAnda-Scaia, and Chief Deputy City Clerk Garcia. Invocation was given by Pastor Daniel Simonson, Christbridge Immanuel Church CONSENT ITEM E-1 APPROVED CITY COUNCIL 4/5/2021 CLOSED SESSION REPORT The City Council reconvened at 7:30 P.M.; City Attorney Martinez announced the following regarding Closed Session: Item 1 –No reportable action; Item 2 – No reportable action. CEREMONIAL None PUBLIC COMMENT Arturo Ortega, Superintendent of Azusa Unified School District presented highlights and information about the Azusa Unified School District. Ortega mentioned students will be returning to campus in a hybrid model starting March 29th, safety protocols will be implemented. Outdoor sports have also given the permission to start, the football team will be playing an abbreviated season against local school districts; Cassidy Nord from Ellington won the local Elks Lodge essay contest, and ranked third in state. Azusa High freshman, Emily Reese represented Azusa Unified at the Regional Oratory contest, Emily was 1 of 7 competition winners earning a monetary Scholarship and the chance to give a speech at a regional event. He congratulated Sierra High School for achieving model continuation high school, stating only 27 schools in state were recognized. Ortega thanked the city for their continued support and partnership. Mercedes Castro provided details in regards to the World’s Largest Easter Egg Hunt event that the Chamber of Commerce is hosting. The event is to take place the weekend of March 27th and 28th. The Chamber is selling 20 and 40 feet tall inflatable eggs that will be hidden all over the city; due to the pandemic, the Chamber of Commerce didn’t sell as many eggs as anticipated and is now asking the City to partner with the Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Denaee Amaya introduced herself as the newest District Representative for the office of Assemblywomen Blanca Rubio. Amaya has been assigned to the City of Azusa, and is excited to build relationships within our community. Diana Reyes Williams addressed the issue of racism tolerance and justice as she refers to a video that was posted on Facebook. Reyes Williams questioned how many incidents happen without any documentation or report? Reyes Williams asked to bring back Hands across Azusa in 2022 and celebrate the growing diversity and start a new dialogue. She questioned how do we as a community promote a healthy and safe environment for all who want to live, work and play in Azusa? She would like Azusa to be proactive by ensuring all members of the community are represented, treated fairly and not harmed for their beliefs, identity or race. REPORTS, UPDATES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM STAFF/COUNCIL City Manager Communications. City Manager Gonzalez announced LA County is now in the red tier, there are some implications to some businesses, for more information please visit our website and our current media sources for current changes to the Health Order. Gonzalez encouraged residents to continue to support local businesses. There are other sectors that are looking to reopen and have access to safe city services, each department is looking to open with safety measures. The two departments that are being looked at to reopen are the Library and Parks and Recreation; they will both have different programs, like swimming lessons for Recreation and the library will have studying and book retrieval, etc. The priority is to have safe access to city services as well as staff. The city has partnered with East San Gabriel Valley Community and have made vaccines available to residents and staff. There is a limited supply and is by appointment only, ensuring that 65 and older have their vaccines. The priority will be to those who eligible according to the current eligibility list and requirements. If eligible email: myturnazusa@azusaca.gov a link then will be provided to sign up for the first vaccination hosted this Thursday, March 18, 2021. It will be posted on the city’s social media outlets and city website. Gonzalez also announced that the Electrical Utility Rating for Credit has been updated from A+ to AA- with a stable outlook. What this means for Azusa is that it put Azusa in a very strong financial Credit Rating and a lower interest rate should the city have to ever borrow money for our repairing infrastructure. This puts Azusa in a better financial standing. A press release was released last week notifying the public of what the City is accomplishing to make the City more financially stable. Economic Development Update. Director of Economic Community Development Marquez, along with Economic Development Specialist Campos presented three topics: 1. Azusa Emergency Utility Assistance Program and Azusa Small Business Grant Program 2. Current initiative and Economic Development tools 3. Development update. Economic Development Specialist Campos stated that both of the assistance programs were made possible through the Cares Act Project, it is open to Azusa residents providing them with $300.00 toward utility assistance per month. A total of 36 Azusa Residents were provided with assistance and 21,169.00, has been distributed over a period of three months. The program is now closed. PAGE TWO – 3/15/2021 Small Business Grant Program has provided a Grant up to $10,000 for small business whom been impacted by COVID-19 who would create or retain a job for a low or moderate income person. This program was administrated by our partners LA County Development Authority, initially planned for 17 Grants, they were allocated $50,000 of unspent CDBG Grants, for a total of 23 Grants, the City received 140 applications. To date a total of $200,450.00 funds have been distributed to local business. The City’s program has contributed to more business casting a wider net during these difficult times. LA CTA is reviewing the last application, which will then complete the program. Director of Economic Community Development Marquez addressed current Initiatives & Economic Development Tools, the first is Azusa Walks which is the pedestrian Master Plan, this will provide an overview of pedestrian travel network, identify barriers, and provide options to improve conditions for pedestrians. The goal is to make the city safer and more accessible. The program is being funded by SCAG, who is working with the consulting firm Tool Design to help develop the plan, in hopes it will be adopted by 2022. The Economic Development Marketing Strategy, we know certain sectors like Industrial have seen a huge increase and demand for space and that will continue, demand continues to be strong for residential and evolving for more income more space. Staff has started to map out a marketing strategy for the City, still in a draft form, staff anticipates it being complete in the second quarter of this year. Economic Development Specialist Campos announced the new development, Gladstone Senior Villas at 360-416 Gladstone St. has been complete. The developer is willing to have a ribbon cutting ceremony as long as the public health guidelines are permitted. The Orchard on 626 N. Azusa Avenue, project is still underway, there is still about one year and three month of progress. City staff and Orchard team are currently working on outdoor dining, parking, and signage program. `One Legacy at 1303 Optical Drive, is the world’s largest organ tissue recovery organization, they have chosen to relocate to Azusa. They have split their phases into three phases, one and two phase consist of parking structure, conference facility, and exterior remodel, both have received their permit and are currently under construction, phase three consist of the ten improvements in existing office building which will house their organ recovery facility, offices, conference room and breakrooms. Currently in plan check, their electrical mechanical has been approved, they are waiting for planning approval so they can issue their permit with that they can start construction on phase three. Staff anticipates construction to be 16-month period with a target move in date at the end of 2022. The Avenue, 800 N. Azusa Ave., Azusa is currently reviewing plan check stage and we anticipate completing within the next couple of days. The next step is for Avenue Azusa LLC to respond to plan check comments within the next 30 days. Edgewood Shopping Center currently has 155,192 Gross leasable square footage, we have 81,278 sf. currently vacant, this is slightly over 50 % of the shopping center. Currently Elite Commercial Real Estate is the Real Estate representatives. They recently executed a lease with State Farm and Dollar Tree. Economic Development is working to redirect traffic to the shopping center and eventually generate sales, where they are re-imaging spaces. During the pandemic we were able to see Smart and Final, Target, and Costco succeed. Edgewood property owners and Elite asked if the city would reconsider the buyer right of the 15% of non-retail maximum, this means that of the 155,000 sf., they want the city to reconsider 23,270 maximums of nonretail. Staff and Edgewood owners are looking to see if the blended uses will be successful and benefit our community. Staff is working with other departments to see if they could create a cross sector collaboration to see if we could align other cities an initiative with the needs of our shopping center, possible filling the needs of our community. We will come before the city council with these updates placed it before the agenda for approval. Councilmember Mendez posed a question specifically on the Edgewood Shopping Center, is there an estimated time as to how long that would take? Director of Economic Community Development Marquez responded, at this time there is no estimated time frame, they will update the City Manager later this week, discussion was held on how they will present to council for approval. Council Comments Mayor Pro-Tem Macias – No Comments. Councilmember Alvarez – No Comments. Councilmember Avila posed a question on the Housing Element, stated that he was able to attend the March 9th virtual meeting as a spectator. He encouraged the public to attend more of the meetings, he also noted there is a survey at the end of the meeting for the City of Azusa community, and this gives us the housing needs. He also noted that he attended a Virtual meeting March 11, 2021 rebuilding in the San Gabriel Valley Economy held by San Gabriel Valley COG. He thanked Arturo Ortega for giving an update on the school district, wishing all Administrators, Teachers, and staff best wishes on coming back to school. He congratulated Albert Sanchez, a 1988 high school graduate of Gladstone High School for now being the Baseball Varsity Head Coach at Gladstone High School. PAGE THREE – 3/15/2021 Councilmember Mendez thanked Mercy’s Captured for coming down for the Chambers Event on the World’s largest Easter Egg hunt around town. This year they will have 20-40ft. Easter Eggs present. He thanked City Manager for the effort in securing vaccines for the city. He also stated that Community Development has a survey routed, and encourages all city residents to go online and fill out the survey. Chief of Police Bertelsen responded to question posed by council stating that the Police Department is a recipient of a grant from the office of safe traffic, which can be used for safety infrastructure throughout the city. One of the enforcement operations conducted was on March 7, 2021, was ongoing traffic issues on Highway 39 going up. California Highway Patrol patrols North of Highway 39, on March 7, 2021 they pulled sources together with OTS Grant funding, which resulted in 107 traffic stops, 97 citations were issued and 2 vehicles were impounded. Discussion was held Mayor Gonzales announced that this will be the last televised meeting and wished everyone a Happy Easter. Discussion was held regarding the red tier and thing begin to open up, they discussed getting back to normal circumstances. He stated he received a phone call relating to the financial issues at the Chamber. He reached out to Council for consensus on the issue with finances for the program, or to call a special meeting to see if they can help out the Chamber. Mayor would like to Adjourn the meeting with Lillian Acosta Garcia. SCHEDULED ITEMS – CITY COUNCIL SELECTION OF MAYOR PRO-TEM. Moved by Councilmember Macias, seconded by Councilmember Mendez and carried by unanimous vote of the Council to select Councilmember Jesse Avila Jr. as Mayor Pro-Tem for a one-year term, expiring March, 2022. AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: MENDEZ, AVILA, ALVAREZ, MACIAS, GONZALES NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: NONE CONSIDERATION OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY SANITATION DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS PROPOSAL TO USE LANDFILL POST-CLOSURE MAINTENANCE RESERVES TO PAY OFF UNFUNDED ACCRUED LIABILITY (UAL). Deputy City Manager De Anda-Scaia presented staff report considering the proposed joint agreement for the full payment of the Sanitation District unfunded accrued liabilities obligation to CalPERS using 468 million in reserves that have been set aside from landfill, post closure maintenance costs. Proposal seeks out to pay off the district’s entire unfunded accrued liability accrued through June 20, 2020 with a portion of the district’s maintenance reserves in lieu of making these payments to CalPERS. The District would pay a reduced annual fee into a new fee and lieu fund to pay for landfill post closure maintenance costs moving forward. The district is projecting 250 million dollars in savings across all districts, which would be an interest that would accrue on the UAL under the CalPERS payment schedule, it would also provide a more certain funding source for post closure maintenance costs. The County of Los Angeles is currently litigating this issue with the Sanitation District, which will not be heard until 2023. Disagreement between both agencies centers on precisely how much money was pledged for this project and under what timeline. Staff is not looking for a formal vote by council, mayor is simply requesting discussion and general input from colleagues. Council member Alvarez advised to pay the unfunded liability and if they were to receive a bill for the Mega Park, it should be disseminated between the cities, priority would be to pay off the unfunded liability. Mayor Gonzales mentioned that 50,000 dollars of interest for the unfunded liability is being accrued daily and added that the Sanitation District stated that they only agreed to put 37 million towards the Mega Park and the LA County states that the Sanitation District is to put 200 plus million for the park. Gonzales added that from his understanding there will be funds left over after the unfunded liability is paid however, not enough to fund the Mega Park. City Manager Gonzalez advised that the fiscally prudent thing to do is payoff the current debt. PAGE FOUR – 3/15/2021 CONSENT CALENDAR Moved by Mayor Gonzales, seconded by Councilmember Mendez and carried by the following vote of the Council, to approve Consent Calendar. AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: GONZALES, MACIAS, ALVAREZ, AVILA, MENDEZ NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: NONE ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: NONE 1. The minutes of the Regular Meeting of March 1, 2021 were approved as written. 2. Resolution No. 2021-C11 was adopted and entitled: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AZUSA ALLOWING CERTAIN CLAIMS AND DEMANDS AND SPECIFYING THE FUNDS OUT OF WHICH THE SAME ARE TO BE PAID. 3. The Human Resources Action Items, in accordance with the City of Azusa Civil Service Rules Section 5.75 and applicable Memorandum of Understanding(s), were approved as follows: New Appointment(s): J. Sanchez-Cerda, D. Limon. Merit Increases/Regular Appointments: E. Coulter, M. Munoz, G. Enriquez. Separation(s)/Retirement(s): I. Diaz. 4. Receive, and file the City Treasurer’s Statement of Cash and Investment Report for the month of December 2020, were approved. 5. Resolution No. 2021-C12 was adopted and entitled: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AZUSA TO RECEIVE, ACCEPT AND APPROVE THE HOUSING ELEMENT ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT FOR 2020 AND AUTHORIZE ITS SUBMITTAL TO THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND THE GOVERNOR’S OFFICE OF PLANNING AND RESEARCH 6. Approve Purchase and Installation of VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) Software Telephone System and Waive the competitive bidding process as authorized under Azusa Municipal Code section 2-517(22) Solicitation and Bidding exceptions; Specialized computer hardware and software; Approve the Mitel software solution purchase and implementation services from Maverick Networks, not to exceed amount of $223,000; and Authorize the Mayor to sign and execute the Professional Services Agreement and Scope of Work, were approved. 7. Approve Purchase and Installation of Carmanah Speedcheck-15 Speed Feedback from Nextech Systems, Inc. and Authorize the City Manager to execute a purchase agreement with NexTech Systems, Inc. for the purchase and installation of Carmanah SpeedCheck-15 speed feedback signs and proposed hardware for a not-to-exceed cost of $86,565.73, were approved. 8. Approval of Memorandum of Understanding Between the City of Azusa and the Azusa Police Management Association was amended and restated. ADJOURNMENT It was the consensus of the Council to adjourn the meeting. The meeting was adjourned by consensus of the City Council in memory of Liz Armas and Lillian Acosta Garcia, Lifelong Azusa Resident, and. We also adjourn in solemn honor of those Azusans who we’ve lost to Covid-19 TIME OF ADJOURNMENT: 9:16 P.M. __________________________________________ CITY CLERK NEXT RESOLUTION NO. 2021-C13 (City) NEXT ORDINANCE NO. 2021-02 NEXT RESOLUTION NO. 2021-R05 (Former Redevelopment Agency) NEXT MEETINGS: April 5, 2021 and April 19, 2021 PAGE FIVE – 3/15/2021