Tomorrow's City Council Agenda

THE FIRST MEETING OF THE WEEK
The first of several important meetings this week in Costa Mesa will be tomorrow, Tuesday, November 19, 2013, when the Costa Mesa City Council will meet for their last meeting of the month.  The regular, open session begins at 6:00 p.m. in council chambers at City Hall.  It is preceded by a long closed session that begins at 4:30.

BIG CLOSED SESSION AGENDA
There are five (5) items on the Closed Session.  Item #1 deals with labor negotiations for the Costa Mesa City Employees Association, the Costa Mesa Division Managers Association and the Costa Mesa Fire Fighters Management Association.  Items #2 and #3 deal with existing litigation.  Item #4 is regarding possible exposure to litigation with claimant Costa Mesa Police Association and #5 is regarding anticipated litigation.

CLEAR CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Regarding #4 - it's my view that neither Mayor Jim Righeimer nor Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger should be allowed to participate in discussions or votes on that issue since they both have significant possible material gain involved.

TOO EARLY FOR SPEAKERS
Speakers will be given three (3) minutes to speak on Closed Session items, then the council will adjourn to their 5th Floor bunker conference room for those deliberations.  It's safer up there and nobody except approved personnel can hear them shouting at each other.

REGULAR MEETING BEGINS AT 6:00
At 6:00 they will return to Council Chambers and commence the regular meeting which, by the looks of the agenda, could be a short one.

DON'T READ THAT!
The Consent Calendar could be interesting.  Item #2, the Reading Folder, contains the claim submitted by the CMPA, which should preclude Righeimer and Mensinger from voting on that issue.  We'll see.

MORE BIG BUCKS TO JONES AND MAYER
Item #3 is Warrant 2498, HERE, which includes some interesting entries.  I note that we have paid Jones & Mayer, our contract city attorney, $140,966.68 - the largest bill from them I can recall.  The list of subjects is fascinating - it still includes charges for the "Acosta Appeal"!  That warrant also includes a charge of over $8,800 for Sales Tax Audit, $11,277.13 for Purchasing Assistance and nearly $14,000 to the Orange County Tax Collector for "Printing Charges".  What's that all about?

WHAT BERM?
Item #4 is Warrant 2499, HERE, and includes charges from the County of Orange for $100,000 for "City Contribution - Berm Replacement".

BIKE GRANTS
Item #6, HERE, is the application for Grant Funding from the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) for the Bicycle Improvement Program.

TRANSPORTATION FUNDING
Item #7, HERE, is another resolution authorizing application to the OCTA for Comprehensive Transportation Funding Programs.  The proposed projects, HERE, total more than $2.8 million.

ART IN PUBLIC PLACES
Item #8 is the resurrection of the old Art in Public Places Program, HERE.  You can see what other nearby cities do HERE.

REVISED INVESTMENT POLICIES
Items #9 and #10 respectively are the resolution for revised Investment Policies for The City, HERE and the Successor Agency to the Redevelopment Agency, HERE.  These are VERY important because we've had a VERY significant shift in the way we manage our municipal investments.  We now use an outside firm to manage our money.  You can see the redline versions of each document HERE and HERE.  If you're at all interested in how our city manages our dollars you may wish to take a peek at these changes.

BACKFILLING DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
Item #12 is a $100,000 contract for professional services to help pick up the slack in the Development Services Department due to absence of Assistant Director Claire Flynn and the pending departures of two more staffers, HERE.

MUCH NEEDED PUBLIC SAFETY TECHNOLOGY UPGRADES
Item #13, HERE, is for the purchase of over $500,000 in Mobile Data Computers for the Police and Fire Departments - a much-needed upgrade, since the existing antiquated equipment will no longer be supported in April next year.

JIM AND STEVE - STEP ASIDE!
The final item on the Consent Calendar, #14, HERE, deals with the revision of salary ranges for the Costa Mesa Police Association and the Costa Mesa Police Management Association.  Again, neither the mayor nor mayor pro tem should be permitted to participate in ANYTHING to do with this process due to their lawsuit against the men and women of the CMPD.

TRAFFIC IMPACT FEES
The only Public Hearing on the agenda, HERE, is the recommendation by the staff to continue the Traffic Impact Fees on developments throughout the city this year until the General Plan Update process is completed and assess this issue again.

NEW BUILDING AND FIRE CODES

The final item on the agenda, Old Business #1, is the resolution adopting new Building and Fire Codes, HERE.  This should take about five minutes.

SHOULD BE BRIEF
That should be it.  This meeting, with the presentation by Charlene Ashendorf of the 60th Anniversary Celebration Scarecrow wrap-up, could be over before 9:00.  A lot depends on how long-winded the council is during their comments segment.  We can only hope.