Brief (Or Maybe Not) Council Agenda Tuesday

POTENTIALLY BRIEF MEETING TUESDAY
The Costa Mesa City Council will hold its next regular meeting in council chambers at City Hall Tuesday, April 16, 2013 at 6:00 p.m.  Actually, there will be a closed session to discuss labor negotiations and litigation beginning at 5:00 before that one.  You can read the agenda HERE.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GENERAL PLAN REVIEW?
The regular meeting has an interesting agenda, which has already apparently been changed since first announced Friday afternoon.  The Consent Calendar, which had fifteen (15) items on it, now only has 14.  The 2012 Annual Review of the Costa Mesa 2000 General Plan, item 15, has been lined through - which we assume means it has been yanked from the meeting.

MAYOR'S AWARD AND MORE
Following the presentation of the latest much-deserved Mayor's Award to Art and Mary Ellen Goddard for their work with the Costa Mesa Historical Society, public comments, council comments and the CEO comments they will turn to the above-mentioned Consent Calendar.

FULL CONSENT CALENDAR
As I said, it contains fourteen (14) items which, theoretically, may be voted upon in one vote.  That doesn't happen often, so let's review the items as they appear on the agenda.  This one includes more than $130,000 in legal fees (# 2 and 3), more than $6.3 million in street repairs (Items 4, 5 and 6), almost $1 million in traffic synchronization projects ( #7 and 8), an independent audit for $125,299 (#9), guidelines for retiring police officers to purchase their weapons (#10), the new Ticket Policy (#11), alcohol sales at the Fish Fry and at TeWinkle Park (#12 and 13) and the most recent boondoggle for certain elected officials for a conference in Las Vegas. (#14).  More information below.

#1 is a request for yet more alcohol licenses.  No staff reports are available

#2 is Warrant #2467, HERE,  a document listing checks recently generated by the system.  They include payments to law firms Jones and Mayer ($112,607.16) and Stradling Yocca Carlson and Rauth ($15,430.51).

#3 is Warrant #2468, HERE, and includes a payment for helicopter service by the City of Huntington Beach (#29,484.00) and Liebert Cassity Whitmore for legal services ($4,280.00)

#4 is for concrete repair near John Wayne Airport for $843,700, HERE.

#5 is for street rehabilitation for Red Hill Avenue for $3,687,155, HERE.

#6 is for more Red Hill rehab. $1,840,000, HERE.

#7 is for signal sync. at Baker and Placentia, $580,000, HERE.

#8 is for signal sync at 17th Street and Victoria Street, $480,570, HERE.

#9 is a two-year contract for an independent financial audit, $125,299, HERE.

#10 is for guidelines for retiring police officers to purchase their department-issued weapon, HERE.

#11 is the oft-delayed Ticket Policy.  It's curious that this one may be voted on without discussion, HERE.

#12 deals with the sale of alcohol at the Fish Fry, HERE.

#13 is for beer sales at TeWinkle Park for a special event, HERE.

#14 is for the approval of Mayor Jim Righeimer and Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger (and city staff entourage) to attend an Economic Development Conference in Las Vegas, HERE.  I'd kind like to hear what kind of return on that investment we received from their participation last year before sending them off to Sin City again.

#15 was to be that General Plan Review, but it is apparently canceled.  You can read that staff report HERE, though.

LIVE/WORK AT OLD ANCHOR TRAILER PORT SITE
If the council blitzes through the Consent Calendar it's very possible we will hear New Business #1, the development of a 22 unit live-work at the site of the old Anchor Trailer Port, HERE, by 7:30 or so.

APPLICANTS FOR COMMITTEES AND BOARDS
Finally, New Business #2, the Committee and Board appointments will be discussed as the last item on the agenda.  There are 73 (plus 3 late submissions) candidates 36 open positions.  You can read that agenda item HERE.  You can read the complete list of Committee and Applicant Information HERE.  Each committee or board has a separate list of applicants.  I'll list them below, along with the number of openings/applicants.  Just click on the title to go to the staff reports.

Cultural Arts Committee (6/18)
Historical Preservation Committee (5/4)
Housing and Public Service Grant Committee  (6/7)
Pension Oversight Committee (9/19)
Fairview Park Citizen's Advisory Committee (7/27)
Costa Mesa Senior Corporation Board (3/3)

It's going to be very interesting to see how these appointments play out.  Will the council continue to stack the committees with their cronies?  We'll see Tuesday night.

AN EARLY NIGHT?  MAYBE...
It's very possible we'll be out of the building by 9:00 p.m.