Leinart Part 2 And More Tomorrow

 STARTING THE NEW FISCAL YEAR OFF...
The Costa Mesa City Council meets in the first meeting of the new fiscal year tomorrow, Tuesday, July 7, 2015 beginning at 5:45 p.m.  You can read the full agenda for that meeting HERE.

NORMAL PROCEDURES
Following a presentation, Public Comments and Council Member Comments the first order of business will be the Consent Calendar.  This, as you may recall, is supposed to be a collage of issues that, in theory, are "routine in nature" and can be voted upon without separate discussion on one vote.  If any member of the council, staff or the public "pulls" on or more of the items it will be trailed to the very end of the meeting and considered at that time.  As has been my practice, I will observe on a few of the current dozen items on the Consent Calendar.

SPENDING YOUR MONEY
I'll begin with Item #3, Warrant #2538, HERE.  There are usually some things on the warrants that I find of interest and think you might, too.  There is much, much more on this list of paid items, but you can look those over yourselves.  This list is taken from the top, in case you want to see more detail.
Costa Mesa Conference & Visitor Bureau - $197,618.23 - BIA receipts for April 2015
Costa Mesa United - $49,483.76 - Athletic Fac Imp - Estancia
Fatpot Technologies LLC - $24,995.00 - New Interface Implementation - CAD
Civil Source - $11,310.00 - Inspect & Constr. Mgt svscs
Enterprise Counsel Group - $6,121.25 - Succesor Agency March 15
FTOG, Inc - $2,650.00 - Specl Prj Cnsltng 6/26-6/4/15
Johnson Favaro LLP - $11,300.00 - Library & NCC Architect Plng
Jones Day - $7,053.75 - CMCEA
Kelemen Consulting - $12,000.00 - Training Services
Liebert Cassidy Whitmore - $14,596.65 - Legal, Various
RJM Design Group, Inc. - $8,026.40 - Open Space Master Plan Update
All City Management Services, Inc. - $30,539.89 - Crossing Guard Svcs4/12-6/6/15
G4S Secure Solutions, Inc. - $64,477.02 - Jail Facilities Svcs, May 15
Safe Moves - $17,956.00 - Bicycle Education Services
Lilley Planning Group - $10,800.00 - Planning Consultant Svcs 5/1/15
RJM Design Group, Inc. - $12,798.05 - Open Space Master Plan Update
Jones & Mayer - $130,085.20 - Legal Services, various
Randstad Technologies IP - $10,400.00 - Temp IT Support Staff
Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth - $8,160.00 - Legal Counsel

LEGAL FEES OVER $170,000
And, of course, there's much, much more.  Lots of temporary service bills.  And, this time around, the legal fees totaled over $170,000.

REPURPOSING THE SUBSTATION
Item #4, HERE, is the request for authorization for furniture procurement for a "repurposing" of the Westside Substation into a Community Resource Center.  This is interesting because it provides a new home for Lt. Everett, who will manage the day-to-day operations.  Plus, staff from the City's Homeless Solutions group - ever hear of them? - will move from the Neighborhood Community Center across the street and will also house the Community Improvement Division.  This division consists of group home, motel/hotel enforcement and neighborhood stabilization staff members. I understand the idea behind this, but the last time I looked there was a whole room of surplus furniture in the old print shop/soon-to-be conference room.  I wonder what kind of consideration has been given to using that furniture?

A FEW OTHER FUN THINGS
Other items include a state required change to the sick pay policy and a resolution authorizing street closures for the 2015 Orange County Fair Cattle Drive next month.

CMCEA COIN HEARING

Public Hearing #1, HERE, is the second required such hearing under Mayor Steve Mensinger's COIN Ordinance dealing with changes to the contract with the Costa Mesa City Employees Association (CMCEA).  I don't expect this one to take very long.

STATE REQUIRES THIS
Old Business #1, HERE, is the second reading of the so-called Expedited Permitting Procedures for Small Residential Rooftop Solar Systems as required by AB2188.  This one will take about 5 minutes.

LAND USE FIX
Old Business #2, HERE, is the second reading of a technical fix to an existing city ordinance that affects the Land Use Matrix and the Zoning Code regarding Group Homes.  Again, this one won't take long.

REHIRE EXCEPTION
New Business #1, HERE,  is a resolution for an exception to the 180-day waiting period to rehire a retired employee, in this case Senior Programmer Analyst William Verderber, who retires July 11, 2015.  Again, a quick voter on this one.

SLAMMING THE DOORS ON VAGRANTS
New Business #2, HERE, is the request by residents to close off wall openings at certain locations along Victoria Street to preclude illicit activities that occur there. (Click on map to enlarge it)

A TEST OF INTEGRITY
New Business #3, HERE, is the biggie for the evening - the proposal for the New Field Use and Allocation Policy (FUAP) and the request for special status for specific youth sports organizations.  I wrote about this in my last entry, HERE.  As I said in my earlier post, this is going to tell us whether the rules will be followed or if a favored organization will get preferential treatment by this city council.  The Parks and Recreation Commission DID NOT vote at their recent meeting to extend the Matt Leinart Flag Football program Group 3 status, despite what the interpretation by the City Attorney might have been.  We'll see what happens at this meeting.  IF Leinart has managed to figure a way to present itself as a legitimate non-profit organization and IF they've managed to gin up numbers that show more than the 14% Costa Mesa residents participating - maybe, just maybe - the council can justify giving them preferential treatment.

ANDRANIAN ON THE VECTOR CONTROL DISTRICT
The final item on the agenda, HERE, it the appointment of rookie Planning Commissioner Stephan Andranian as the City's representative on the Orange County Vector Control District.  Another 30 second item.

BE THERE OR...
This could be a fairly short meeting.  Depending on how many folks show up to speak at the Leinart item, we could be out of there by 9:30.  See you there... I'll report on the meeting tomorrow night..