Council Meeting Could Have Been Shorter

SHOULDA BEEN SHORTER
The Costa Mesa City Council held it's only meeting of May last night and what should have been a fairly short meeting turned out to stretch until 10:30.  Actually, I guess we should be grateful that it didn't stretch into Wednesday.

SPECIAL PLEDGE
The meeting was special in at least one way.  Costa Mesa Police Department staffer Jeanette Chervony led the Pledge of Allegiance, then spoke briefly of her father, Eddie Chervony, who was killed in Vietnam on this date in 1968.  Mayor Steve Mensinger later closed the meeting in his honor.

SOLEMN EXPRESSION
Sayed Mostafa Qazwini, the Imam of the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County in Costa Mesa led the moment of solemn expression.

MAYOR'S AWARD TO AUTO CLUB
Mensinger presented the Mayor's Award to the Automobile Club of Southern California, a premiere employer in our City which is housed in a building of over 700,000 square feet and employes more than 3,000 people in Costa Mesa.

PENSION OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE REPORT
Jeff Arthur, Chairman of the Pension Oversight Committee presented a report - the first one in more than 15 months - in which he presented charts showing the status of our pension liability and the duration of time it would take to bet out from under it.  These are shown below.  There was no response later when a member of the public asked if they had considered plans similar to those recently implemented in Irvine or Newport Beach, which would pay off their pension liabilities in a much shorter time.  The council majority has shown NO inclination to pay down this debt, instead continues to put our money into infrastructure, expensive parties and similar items, while bemoaning the unfunded pension liability as our biggest problem.  Seems like an odd management strategy - identify the "biggest problem", then ignore it and apparently hope it goes away.

PUBLIC COMMENTS
Fourteen people spoke during Public Comments.  Here's a very short summary of some of the comments:

• Richard Russell expressed gratitude for continuing the Fireworks over the upcoming July 4th holiday.
• Robin Leffler raked Mensinger over the coals for his refusal to take personal responsibility for the now-infamous DG Path incident, choosing, instead to let the City foot the bill for the remediation and legal battles.
• Mary Spadoni questioned contract City Attorney, Tom Duarte, about our current method of requiring speaker cards, citing a recent meeting of women lawyers who opined that it was a Brown Act violation.  No response was given.  She also asked if the Pension committee had polled Irvine and Newport Beach on their solution.
• Wendy Leece expressed concern for Public Safety, and specifically the Fire Department.  She suggested that the plan to close Station 6 should be revisited, and that greater emphasis should be placed on getting our transport ambulances into service so the City could realize that revenue stream instead of having it to a private company.  (Which just happens to be a big campaign contributor to Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer).
• Ann Parker reminded the council that heroin is a huge problem - one that has been ignored each time she previously brought it up.  She mentioned a suicide at a rehab home and another death nearby.  She spoke of corrupt politicians and implied that Righeimer worked for Scott Baugh - former Chairman of the Orange County Republican Party.  Righeimer later took exception to her comments.
• Chuck Perry praised the council for their infrastructure improvements and criticized those who expressed concern about what he called the "stupid DG Trail".  Should we mention that he's good buddies with Mensinger?  
• Jay Humphrey spoke briefly on the parking standards and provided a slide show on an analysis he recently performed demonstrating that, contrary to what has been espoused in recent months about our "strict" parking standards, other cities nearby have even more strict standards.
• Patrick Singer spoke with concern for the rehab folks.
• Lisa Sabo expressed concern about the bioswale being installed on Arlington Avenue because of the problems it creates for members of the equestrian community trying to enter and depart from the Fairgrounds.
• Teresa Drain again demanded a forensic audit of the 60th Anniversary Celebration, and gave examples of exactly why it's necessary.
• Pamela Wilson complained about the unfunded pension liability.  It was not clear that she'd heard Arthur's earlier presentation.
•  Tea Party Tom Pollitt complained about the recently-approved plan to remodel and re-purpose the old Print Shop space in City Hall, expressing the opinion that the "Convention Center" could be used if meeting space was needed.  Of course, he meant the Community Center, but one never knows what will come out when he opens his mouth.  He expressed interest in a big report showing Costa Mesa crime stats for 15 years back.
• Laurene Keane inquired about the availability of any reports on crime in the City, and expressed concern about drug trafficking.
• Gene Hutchins, formerly a member of the Pension Oversight Committee, thanked the committee then opined that if we, the public, were concerned about not having enough police officers we should "tell the unions to do more.", meaning participate in the cost of pensions more.

COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS
Council Member Comments were next, and here are some of the thoughts presented by them:

• Steve Mensinger - Thanked Arthur for his report and the "Pension Oversight Board" (it's a committee!).
• Katrina Foley -  Asked for the City Staff to do a parking standards survey of all Orange County cities.  She inquired, again, about the memo she asked for regarding the audit of the 60th Celebration.  She inquired of Assistant CEO Tammy Letourneau about the pension deductions for new employees, since it was implied by one speaker that members of the Police Department pay nothing.  They, in fact, do pay toward their pension as required by state law.  She observed that a new restaurant recently opened in SoCo, and that there will be a remembrance of Henry Segerstrom on May 7th.
• Sandra Genis - Mentioned the budget workshop and spoke about landscaping.  She suggested the Planning Commission look at parking in general in the city and address the Small Lot Ordinance in particular.
• Gary Monahan had nothing - again.
• Jim Righeimer made up for it, though.  He echoed the need for a study of parking and the Small Lot Ordinance parking standards.  He then went off on a rant about Pensions and the Police Department in particular, using his bully pulpit to castigate those people he is suing.  He has so sense of shame or deportment.

HATCH
During his report CEO Tom Hatch covered a number of items.  He spoke about the recently-introduced plan to run a dedicated bus line from Costa Mesa (South Coast Plaza area) directly to and from the Disneyland Resort area of Anaheim.  At $5.00 per head round trip, that sounds like a GREAT deal for anyone heading up to Disneyland, for sure.  He also offered a compliment to the CMPD, citing a recent sweep of parole and probation violators.  He mentioned recent graduates of the Costa Mesa High School Teen CERT academy.  He told us of upcoming budget meetings.  On Tuesday, May 12th there will be a Budget Study session.  On Thursday, May 21st, there will be a community budget meeting.  On June 15th the 2015-2016 budget will be discussed and approved.  He then had a video of the Water Quality project being completed in Lions Park shown.

CONSENT CALENDAR
Five items were pulled from the Consent Calendar, with the remainder being passed with one vote.  Of those five, by the time they were called at the end of the meeting only two were discussed because folks who pulled the others had left.  Both passed on 5-0 votes.  See my earlier report on the issues involved.

CONSOLIDATED PLAN AND CDBG FUNDS
Public Hearing #1, the Consolidated Plan and distribution of CDBG funds was up next.  Consultant Mike Linares - whose contract was extended in the Consent Calendar - led the discussion and showed an extensive slide show.  The following are highlights.

Four people spoke on this issue, including a member of the committee that hammered out the distribution of the CDBG funds.  The council voted to receive and file the report at 7:40 p.m.

ANOTHER DEVELOPER GIVE-AWAY
The next item, Public Hearing #2, the proposed development at 1239 Victoria Street, came next.  This is for 28 units replacing an office building that once was a manufacturing site.  The Planning Commission approved it with some requirements dealing with roof gardens and a fence along the park across Victoria Street.  I'm not going to cover every word that was said in the 3:40 minutes it took to cover this issue.  23 people spoke to it, of which a third - 7 - were against it.  The others were made up mostly of the same cadre of young folks who spoke before the Planning Commission.  They said the same spiel, almost word for word, that they did before.  Most seemed to have a tie to the developer or development/real estate.  At the end Righeimer convinced the council majority that the rooftop patios removed by the Planning Commission should be added back into the units where they had been deleted, and that the fence should not be the responsibility of the developer.  This will get a second reading in June.

BIA RENEWAL
At 10:00 Public Affairs Manager Dan Baker led the discussion of the renewal of the BIA program, confirmed that eleven (11) hotels now particpate and that the Conference and Visitors Bureau will receive around $2.37 million to market our community to the outside world.  Paulette Lombardi-Fries of the CVB spoke about their activities briefly and emphasized their recent 70 page annual report and their recently freshened web site at TravelCostaMesa.com.

CLOSED IN MEMORY OF EDDIE CHERVONY

After the "pulled" Consent Calendar items were heard, Mensinger read a note that Jeanette Chervony had written about her father, then closed the meeting in his honor.  The next council meeting will be in June.

Money Tops Council Agenda Tomorrow

THE ONLY MEETING THIS MONTH
The Costa Mesa City Council meets for the only time this month tomorrow, Tuesday, May 5th, in City Council Chambers beginning at 5:45 - too early for many, but that's what the mayor wants.  Read the agenda HERE.


TWO CLOSED SESSIONS!
The meeting will be preceded by not one, but TWO closed sessions.  The first, beginning at 4:00 p.m. in Conference Room 5A, involved labor negotiations for the CMPD.  Both Mayor Steve Mensinger and Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer are forbidden to participate in this event.  The second one, beginning at 5:00 p.m. in the same room, involves labor negotiations and a lawsuit involving the Costa Mesa City Employee Associaton (CMCEA).

PRESENTATIONS
There are two presentations scheduled.  Apparently Mensinger will present the Mayor's Award to the Automobile Club of Southern California - one of the city's biggest employers.  And, although there is no indication of the nature of his presentation, Pension Oversight Committee Chairman Jeff Arthur is on the agenda.  Maybe he's going to tell us that his group has a solution to the pension issue - hopefully, something short of municipal bankruptcy.

CONSENT CALENDAR
As always, the Consent Calendar has some interesting items.  There are a total of fourteen (14) items on the Consent Calendar this time.  These normally are voted upon in one motion unless someone - a staff member, council member or member of the public - pulls an item for separate discussion.  If that happens, those will be trailed to the very end of the meeting.  I'm not going to discuss all of them, but will mention a few. 

WARRANT 2535
As has been my practice, I'll make a few notes from Item #3, Warrant 2535, HERE.  These are items I found interesting, either because of the amount of money involved or because of the circumstances of the payee.  They appear in order that you will find them in the many pages of the warrant, if you're actually interested.

• 
  
• Costa Mesa Conference & Visitor Bureau - $205,356.68 - BIA receipts for Feb. 2015
• PSOMAS - $15,913.75 - Initial Study/Mitigated Declaration (For What?)
• AMEC Environmental & Infrastructure, Inc - $6,964.10 - Inspection Services
• Data Ticket Inc - $7,400.11 - Parking Citation Processing, Feb. 15
• FTOG - $1,192.50 - Interim Buyer, 3/25-4/2/15
• Government Staffing Service Inc - $8.042.50 - Temp Svcs (various)
• Interwest Consulting Group Inc - $11,551.00 - Sr. Bldg Inspectr Svcs, Feb. 15
• Merit Specialities - $3.225.00 - Lions Park Restroom Repairs
• Orange County Treasurer Tax Collector - $11,184.25 - Parking Cit. Proc. 2//20/15
• State of California Dept of Justice - $11,342.00 - Fingerprint Apps for March, 2015
• Waxie Sanitary Supply - $12,690.34 - Warehouse Floor Stock (I smiled)
• Johnson Favaro LLP - $34,190.72 - Library & NCC Proj, 3/16-4/15/15
• Lilley Planning Group - $23,215.00 - Planning Consultant Svcs Feb. 2015
• Government Staffing Services Inc - $4,345.00 - Temp Proj. Mgr 3/23-4/3/15
• Scott Fazekas & Associates, Inc - $3,195.89 - Bldg Plan Check & Inspect.
• Tandem Exhibits - $5,800.00 - Completion of City Promo Booth
• Waxie Sanitary Supply - $2,729.61 - Supplies for Senior Center (I smiled again)

So, there you go.  I presume that next-to-last item is for the great Las Vegas boondoggle coming up soon.  Of course, there's a lot more on that warrant, including many more dollars spent on temporary services.  We've been doing a lot of that for the past few years... hiring temps instead of regular employees and those nasty pensions - then using the budgets dollars for other stuff without batting an eye.

UNUSED LAND ON CHARLE STREET
Item #9, HERE, is the proposed sale of unused city property on Charle Street.  It's a 50/150 foot strip adjacent to land owned by a developer.  The city feels we will not be able to use it, so...

SUNFLOWER AVENUE TRAFFIC SYNC PROJECT
Item #10, HERE, is the contract for Sunflower Avenue Traffic Synchronization Project - a necessary and long-awaited improvement to traffic flow in the north part of town.

LINARES CONTRACT
Item #11, HERE, is the renewal of Mike Linares' contract for managing our Community Development Block Grant/HOME process.  It's on the agenda down below.  Hope we renew Mike, or we're in big trouble.

FTOG CONSULTING SUPPPORT
Item #12, HERE, is a professional services agreement to FTOG, Inc, for a "Purchasing Performance Plan".  This one is interesting.  You may recall seeing FTOG on the warrants for months, receiving payment for providing a temporary buyer.  Well, now we apparently need to pay them another $50,600.00 to help implement procedures to streamline the purchasing process.  You may also recall that our "purchasing procedures" were part of the issue with the 60th Anniversary Celebration debacle.

NEW LAPTOPS FOR EMPG
Item #13, HERE, is the 2014 Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) Allocation.  We need to buy 14 new laptop computers to meet our obligations in this program.

STATE REQUIRED DESIGNATION FOR DISASTER RELIEF FUNDS
Item #14, HERE, is a required process to meet state demands if Costa Mesa is to be able to receive disaster relief funds.  No-brainer... gotta do it.

CDBG AND HOME FUNDS
There are two Public Hearings on the agenda.  #1, HERE, is the approval of more than $1.3 million in CDBG and HOME grant funds.  This is the time when the council will decide whether to follow the committee established for this purpose - formerly known as the 3R committee - or not.  If you look down the attachment which lists the grant requests, HERE, you'll find some interesting changes from the current year contributions.

28 UNITS ON VICTORIA STREET
Public Hearing #2, HERE, is the General Plan Amendment and Tract Map for a 28-unit residential development at 1239 Victoria Street.  This one promises to generate some discussion because of it's location and the variances requested to turn this site of an industrial building into home sites.  This project is not universally beloved by nearby neighbors, so I expect to see quite a few people attending this meeting.

PERPETUATING THE BIA

The final item, New Business #1, HERE, is the reauthorization of the Business Improvement Area (BIA) and related items.  Eleven (11) hotels participating in the BIA, according to the staff report, seems to have been reflecting occupancy rates and rates of increase similar to those of Orange County as a whole.  The BIA hotels collect an additional 3% on the Transient Occupancy Tax (bed tax), for a total of 11%.  That money is funnelled to the Conference and Visitors Bureau (see the entry under the Warrant above), which is used to market Costa Mesa.  Read the staff report.

COMING EVENTS
At the end of the agenda you will find a list of upcoming events.  Some of those that caught my eye are:

• Wednesday, May 6th, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. in Council Chambers is a Neighborhood Meeting on Median Landscape Improvements.  Call Engineering Division - 714-754-5323 for more info.
• Tuesday, May 12th, 5:00 p.m. in Council Chambers is a Study Session on the proposed 2015-2016 Operating and Capital Improvement Budget.
• Thursday, May 21st at 6:00 p.m. in Conference Room 1A at City Hall is a Community Meeting on the proposed budget.
• Thursday, June 18th at 6:00 p.m. is a Community Meeting on the Library/Neighborhood Community Center at the NCC, 1845 Park Avenue.

You can see the agenda for the rest.

AND THAT'S IT FOR MAY!
So, that's it until after the Memorial Day holiday.  No council meeting on the 19th and City Hall will be closed on Memorial Day, May 25th.  That's a LONG time for our decision-makers to be away... maybe things will run better.

MaryJane Is Back - Medical Marijuana on Council Agenda

LAST MEETING FOR THIS COUNCIL
While we're waiting for the next report of the election results, here's a little distraction for you.  The Costa Mesa City Council will hold the last meeting before the new council is seated this coming Tuesday, November 18, 2014 beginning at 6:00 p.m. in City Council Chambers at City Hall.  You can read the full agenda HERE.  The open meeting will be preceded by a closed session which commences at 5:00 and will be conducted in Conference Room 5A, in the Executive Suite bunker.

CONSENT CALENDAR
The Consent Calendar, which has eleven (11) items listed this time, is always an adventure.  If anyone wants a separate discussion of an item it will be trailed to the VERY end of the meeting... a daunting proposition for most visitors.

THE WARRANT
Item #3 is Warrant 2525, HERE, and contains some very interesting items.  More legal costs.  More consulting costs.  More claims paid. Among those you might find of interest are the following:
#0184929 - Civil Source - $43,960.00 for various consulting support activities.
#0184030 - Fatpot Technologies, LLC - $24,995.00 for New Interface Impmtn. ???
#0184031 - G4S Secure Solutions, Inc - $63,983.39 for Jail Facilities Services for September.
#0184033 - Jones & Mayer - $142,085.11 for long list of legal services.
#0184034 - Jones Day - $31,952.90 for CMCEA June and July.
#0184041 - Robert Taft Sr - $35,810.00 for Settlement 4 Traffic Accident.
#0184089 - FTOG Inc - $2,137.50 for Interim Buyer, 10/13 - 10/24/14
#0184099 - Government Staffing Services, Inc - $14,736.26 for various temp. positions in October.
#0184115 - Keyser Marston Associates, Inc - $7,582.30 for Consulting (Civic Center Bario and Homeless) September.
#0184119 - Liebert Cassidy Whitmore - $2,431.50 for various legal, incl. 60th Anniv.
#0184144 - Randstad Technologies LP - $5,720.00 for Temp IT Support Staff, 9/1-10/5.
#0184169 - Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth - $9,618.30 for various legal.
#0183875 - Civil Source (Again) - $98,310.00 for CIP Proj. Staff Support, July and August.
#0183977 - Orange County Conservation Corps - $6,096.50 for Labor for Planting Shrubs.
#0184001 - Home Depot - $4,565.31 for Materials for Snoopy House.
#0183727 - Michael Griffin - $40,000.00 for Settlement - 6/8/12 Injury Claim.
#0183769 - Costa Mesa High School Foundation - $5,000.00 for CMHS Fndtn Gala Sponsorship.
#0183786 - FTOG, Inc (Again) - $2,092.50 for Interim Buyer 9/29/10/10.
#0183793 - Government Staffing Services, Inc (Again) - $10.736.86 for Various temp. support.
#0183824 - Orange County Treasurer Tax Collector - $13,318.69 for Printing Charges.
#0183867 - Westminster Press Inc - $12,827.69 for City Wide Charter Mailing and Printing Rec. Guide.
#0184236 - Fatpot Technologies LLC (Again) - $14,995.89 for FATPOT Maint.
And much, much more...

STEVE'S MEDIANS

Item #4, HERE, is a request for professional engineering services for the design of medians and entry monument sign for $68,350.00 for Mesa Verde Drive and California Street.  You'll recall that Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger snatched more than $600,000 from the library fund at the last minute during the budget approval process to yank out recently-planted medians to have them replaced with drought-tolerant plantings.  This is for the design of that scheme.

CONSULTANT FOR WESTSIDE LIVE/WORK STUDY
Item #7, HERE, is $86,165.00 for environmental consulting dealing with the proposed 177-unit live/work development at 671 W. 17th Street.

INVESTMENT POLICY
Item #8, HERE, is the adoption of the 2014-2015 Statement of Investment Policy and involves several attachments outlining a VERY significant change in this policy.  It's worth a read...

ADD HOTEL TO BIA
Item 11, HERE, is the addition of the BLVD Hotel to the Business Improvement Area (BIA), which authorizes the collection of additional Transient Occupancy Taxes for contribution to the Costa Mesa Conference and Visitor Bureau.  This makes eleven (11) hotels throughout the city participating in this program.

TRAFFIC IMPACT FEES

Public Hearing #1, HERE, is the Annual Review of the Citywide Traffic Impact Fee Program.  The staff and Ad Hoc Committee recommend continuing the program as-is.  The staff report explains the program and the attachments make for some interesting background, including the current fiscal status of the fund.

MORE DEVELOPMENT
Public Hearing #2, HERE, is the planning application for a 393-unit midrise residential development on Anton Boulevard.  The Planning Commission recommended approval of this project, which is significantly scaled back from what was originally proposed and approved.

SENIOR COMMISSION

Old Business #1, HERE, is the second reading of the ordinance establishing the Senior Commission to advise the city council on Costa Mesa senior matters and the operation of the Senior Center.  As I've said before, this should be a committee, not a paid commission.  And, if it's going to be a commission, the meetings should be held somewhere they can be recorded for current and/or later viewing.  If it's important enough to be a commission, it's important enough to provide viewing opportunities to all residents.  Alternative #2 in the staff report suggests it could be a committee and all items would be referred back through the Parks and Recreation Commission.  That seems to be the better choice.  (Click on that image and note the names on the plaque.  Interesting...)

SPECIAL OLYMPICS HOST TOWN
New Business #1, HERE, is the Host Town Participation for the 2015 Special Olympics World Games, scheduled for the Los Angeles area July 25-August 2, 2015.  The program seeks local communities to provide accommodations, training facilities and cultural/sports activities for the 7,000 international athletes and their coaches from July 21-July 24, 2015.  The staff report provides the details.

MARY JANE IS BACK - IN FORCE!

And, finally, New Business #2, HERE, the Medical Marijuana Initiatives issue will be the final item on the agenda except for continued comments and Consent Calendar items.  It is, without a doubt, the MOST IMPORTANT issue in the agenda and will likely not begin to be considered until late in the evening.

CLIFF NOTES...
The shortest version of this issue is as follows:
There are two competing marijuana initiatives that have had sufficient signatures to qualify for a vote of the people.  The staff report defines the difference - one allows up to eight (8) Medical Marijuana businesses in Costa Mesa and the other permits up to four (4) licensed Medical Marijuana businesses.

POSSIBLE ACTIONS
The city council is being asked to accept the Certificate of Sufficiency issued by the Orange County Registrar of Voters for each and then approve, for each initiative, one of the four options listed on page 1 of the staff report.  Those are:

• Adopt an ordinance for either.
• Order a special election for either.
• Order a regular election to be consolidated with the next regular election in November, 2016.
• Order a report pursuant to the Election Code.  
• And, the council may consider taking action on Gary Monahan's previous proposal from last August.

ELECTION OPTIONS

The special elections would be held during the first quarter of 2015.  However, because State Law requires increases in taxation to be considered in a General Election - and both items contain a tax element - it is possible that neither can be considered for two years.  This will be part of the discussion.

COMPLEX AND COSTLY
This is a complex issue.  When you read the staff report you will see the timing considerations for elections alone can give you a migraine.  The costs of the various scenarios alone range from $15,000 to over $280,000.  You will find HERE a list of 27 attachments pertaining to the various scenarios that might be possible.  They include various ordinances, comparisons of the ordinances and Monahan's plan, too.  It's going to be a long, long, long night.  It will be a caffeine, not cannabis, kind of evening.

A Short, But Very Important, Council Meeting On Tuesday

COULD BE AN EARLY NIGHT
The Costa Mesa City Council will meet for it's first meeting of June on Tuesday, June 3, 2014 beginning at 6:00 in City Council Chambers at City Hall.  According to the agenda for that meeting, HERE, for the first time in a very long time there will be no closed session preceding it.  There are also no presentations this meeting.

THE CONSENT CALENDAR
The Consent Calendar, which is normally presumed to be routine items which may be voted on in one vote, contains some interesting items.

MORE INTERESTING STUFF ON THE WARRANT
#3 is Warrant #2516, HERE, which lists payments recently made to vendors.  Thanks to Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger we now get to see the detail of these entries and ask questions about them if we wish.  Here are a few of the items listed that I found of interest:

• Costa Mesa High School Football - $1,390.00 - 60th Anniversary Volunteer Pay
• Estancia Football Boosters - $2,310.00 - 60th Anniversary Volunteer Pay
• Harbor Mesa Lions Club - $1,210.00 - 60th Anniversary Volunteer Pay
• Marx Brothers Fire Extinguisher Company - $1,045.58 - Corp Yard Extinguishers Recert. (Sorry... it just made me smile)
• Scientia Consulting Group, Inc. - $7,600.00 - IT Tech Consulting
• Sierra Java, Inc. - $251.80 - Coffee for City Council
• City of Huntington Beach - $18,221.00 - Helicopter Svcs for March
• Costa Mesa Conference and Visitor Bureau - $222,105.09 - BIA Receipts for March
• Lilley Planning Group - $25,425.00 - Planning Consultant Services, April
• Scientific Resource Surveys, Inc. - $25,025.00 - Cultural Resource Assessment, Fairview Park
• Wondries Fleet Group - $222,884.69 - Police Interceptors
• Interwest Consulting Group, Inc. - $11,953.00 - Bldg. Inspection, March
• Liebert Cassidy Whitmore - $1,557.30 - Legal, 60th Anniv. Investigation & General
• San Bernardino County Sheriff Department - $4,160.00 - Ambulance Driver Training
• Vidacare Corp. - $4,741.20 - Paramedic Supplies
• Yellow Cab Co. - $1,273.00 - Neighborhood Improvement Task Force Transportation Services

I suppose if you scrolled down through the list you may find items that interest you...  there are several million dollars on the list.  Remember, if someone - a council member, staffer or member of the public - pulls any item from the Consent Calendar for separate discussion and vote it will automatically be trailed to the very end of the meeting.  Such is life in the land of "tranparency".

CMPD TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT FOR FAIRGROUNDS
Items #4, HERE, and #5, HERE, deal with Traffic Management Services to be provided by the Costa Mesa Police Department for the 32nd Agricultural Association.  #4 deals with this year's Orange County Fair and #5 is for an event next April. 

THE NEGOTIATION TEAM
Item #6, HERE, is the appointment of city negotiators for the Costa Mesa Fire Association negotiations and the authorization to proceed with the financial analysis required by Mensinger's COIN scheme. Assistant CEO Tammy Letourneau and two lawyers from Liebert Cassidy Whitmore - Richard Kreisler and Laura Kalty will be the team.

FUNDING THE CONFERENCE AND VISITORS BUREAU
There are only two other items on the agenda - Public Hearings.  The first, HERE, is the discussion of the Business Improvement Area (BIA) Reauthorization and Resolution to Levy Annual Assessment.  The staff report gives you the history and the accomplishments over the years.  You may also find their proposed budget for participating in city events during the next fiscal year, HERE, of interest.

CHARTER PROPOSAL
Public Hearing #2 is the second mandatory Public Hearing on the Draft Charter.  (I almost typed "daft" - seems appropriate!)  You can read that staff report HERE.  It includes the Draft Charter, HERE, a comparison of General Law Cities and Charter Cities, HERE,  and several changes recommended by Mayor Jim Righeimer's hand-picked Pension Oversight Committee for inclusion in the Charter, HERE.

WE DON'T NEED IT!
Those who read these pages regularly already know that I don't think we need to become a Charter City.  There has been NO GOOD REASON provided for this serious change in the way we are governed.  We've been a General Law City for 60 years and have gotten along just fine.  The voters made their feelings known overwhelmingly two years ago when they defeated Jim Righeimer's Charter, 60%-40%.  This time he, on the surface, at least, has kept his nose out of the process.  However, as one who has observed the process closely for a year, I can tell you that it had his paw prints all over it.

LAST CHANCE TO COMMENT
This will likely be the last chance interested parties have to address the council on the Charter proposal before the council decides whether or not to include it on the November ballot at their June 17th July 1st meeting.  In case you didn't notice, the silence from City Hall on this version of the Charter has been "deafening".  Two years ago all you could hear were the drumbeats in favor of what eventually became Measure V.  This time, crickets.  Of course, if (I say that tongue in cheek) the council majority votes to place this iteration on the ballot the hoopla will begin in earnest.

PREDICTING AN EARLY NIGHT
In any event, I'll be very surprised if this council meeting goes longer than 10:00 Tuesday - probably a lot earlier.  We'll see.

New Ambulances, Presentations, Grants and Signs

LABOR AND LEGAL ISSUES IN CLOSED SESSION
Another interesting week ahead, kicked off by the City Council meeting on Tuesday.  This one, which officially begins at 6:00 in council chambers, is preceded by a Study Session at 4:00 which includes three items - labor negotiation conference with CEO Tom Hatch regarding the Costa Mesa Police Officers Association and the Costa Mesa City Employee Association, then a conference with legal counsel regarding the lawsuit with the CMCEA.

NEW AMBULANCES ON DISPLAY
However, before the regular meeting begins we will have a chance to see a couple of our brand new ambulances.  Read about them HERE.  These $200.000 machines will be on display in the parking lot of City Hall from 5:00 - 6:00 and the public is encouraged to come see these wonderful pieces of equipment that will be the cornerstone of the new deployment model created by former Interim Fire Chief Tom Arnold and implemented by new Fire Chief Dan Stefano.  See you there.

PICKING AT THE SCAB...
The meeting itself, the agenda for which can be read HERE, should be very interesting - and very long.  In addition to the complex items on the agenda, the very beginning should be worth observing.  It seems that Mayor Jim Righeimer plans to make some kind of a presentation to a Rabbi to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day - which was actually last week.  Since we have NEVER done this before - and I'm NOT saying it is not worthy of acknowledgement - it's curious that he chooses to do this now, immediately after he flew off the handle at the last council meeting and called me out for something I wrote on a Facebook comment thread.  Yes, I compared him to a WWII German "strutting dictator"... Yes, we all know who I meant.  No, I'm still not going to apologize for it.  I guess I'm not really surprised that he will continue to politicize this situation - such is life when you're a hack politician worried about being re-elected.

PLUS THREE MORE PRESENTATIONS
There are three other presentations on the agenda, too, which should make the first hour of the meeting quite interesting.

CONSENT CALENDAR
The Consent Calendar is fairly short this time around, but that doesn't mean folks won't pull something for discussion.  If they do, it will be trailed to the end of the meeting.  This scheme presumes that some of the folks with interest in a specific item may not wait until late at night to address it.  This, and the trailing of any Public Comments until the end, is one of Righeimer's methods of stifling criticism.

A FEW INTERESTING NUMBERS
Item #3 on the Consent Calendar is Warrant 2514, HERE,which includes some payments of note:

• Scientia Consulting Group - 2 entries,  $15,748.25 and $3,776.25 - consulting services.
• Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth - $16,609.54 - legal services.
• Synoptek LLC - 2 entries, $15,180 and $17,940.00 - CAD?RMS Implementation.
• CSG Consultatnts, Inc. - 2 entries, $9.845.00 and $4,999.35 -  Plan Review & Bldg Inspection Svcs.
• FTOG, Inc. - $6,525.00 - Interim Buyer.
• Hinderliter De Llamas &Associates - $3,000.00 - Mass Appeal Litigation.
• IntelliBridge Partners, LLC - 2 entries,  $11,355.75 and $11,205.75 - RFP Assistance.
• Interwest Consulting Group, Inc. - $10,822.00 - Bldg Inspection Svcs.
• Keyser Marston Associates, Inc. - 2 entries, $5,800.00 and $5,448.00 - Housing Consultative Support.
• Rosemary Nielsen Consulting - 2 entries, $5,087.50 and $19,055.00 - Community Outreach Consultant.
• Jones & Mayer - $157,374.00 - legal services (45 separate line items, including "Acosta Appeal" and something titled "Hosing" that I just couldn't resist commenting on.
• NexLevel Information Technology, Inc. - $24,440.00 - Interim IT Director. (This charge should end since the City announced the appointment of Steve Ely - who has been in this role since November - as Information Technology Director on May 1st, HERE.  We will pay him just over $150,000 per year)
• Accountemps - $4,191.05 - Temp Svcs.
• Accounting Principals, Inc. - $14,125.76 - Temp Svcs.
• Apple One Employment Services - $5,473.60 - Temp Svcs.
• City of Mission Viejo - $6,175.00 - IT Tech. Staff.
• Government Staffing Services, Inc. - $6,710.00 - Temp Svcs - Proj. Mgr.
• Melad & Associates - $5,872.50 - Bldg Permit Tech Svcs.
• Scott Fazekas & Asociates, Inc. - $3,183.59 - Plan Check Svcs.
• Stryker Sales Corp. - $12,312.00 - Foot Rest, Stair Chair.

THANKS, STEVE...
So, once again I want to thank Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger for his insistence on providing this information to us.  Without this "transparency" we wouldn't know just how much money we've been spending on legal services, temporary employees and consultants, among other things.

GENERAL PLAN
Item #4 on the Consent Calendar, HERE, it the 2013 review of the 2000 General Plan - 82 pages of fascinating reading.

GRANT FUNDING
The first two Public Hearings deal with Community Development Block Grand (CDBG) and Home Investment Partnership Act of Entitlement Funds (HOME).  The first, HERE, deals with the allocations.

WHO GETS WHAT, AND WHY?
#2 is where the rubber meets the road - the CDBG Public Service Grants for Fiscal Year 2014 - 2015, HERE.  Included in the staff report are three very interesting attachments.  The first, HERE, is the recommendations by the Housing and Public Services Ad-hoc Committee (formerly the Redevelopment and Residential Rehabilitation - 3R - Committee).  The second, HERE, reflects the Grant Application Summaries.  The third, HERE, is a fascinating spreadsheet that shows a 3-year Funding History.

MORE APARTMENTS?  REALLY?
The final Public Hearing, HERE, is the probable approval of the 240 unit apartment complex located in a commercial area at 125 Baker Street.  This has been brought forward at this time after having been "continued" from a previous meeting so the overworked staff could provide more detail.  This discussion should be interesting.

FUNDING THE CONFERENCE AND VISITORS BUREAU
New Business #1, HERE, is the annual assessment for the Business Improvement Area (BIA) - certain participating hotels and motels that collect a higher Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), the difference of which is then provided to the Conference and Visitors Bureau to promote the City.  You'll find several attachments to that staff report that provide details of this authorization, the history of it and the budget proposed by the Conference and Visitors Bureau.  Some may recall that the CVB bailed out the city in the 60th Anniversary Celebration debacle.  Some folks in town consider it to be a de facto piggy bank for spendthrift politicians.

BIGGER, MORE INTRUSIVE SIGNS COMING?
New Business #2, HERE, is a request by Mensinger to consider a review/revision of the City's sign ordinance. The report includes a Summary Table, HERE, showing a comparison of neighboring city's sign heights and a five-month old memo, HERE, from Economic and Development Services Director/Deputy CEO Gary Armstrong to Hatch on this issue.

ETHICS POLICY
The last item on the agenda is the long, long, long awaited new Ethics Policy, HERE.  The staff report has two attachments - Administrative Regulation A.R. 2.36, Ethics Policy, HERE - and Council Policy Nubmer 000-15, also entitled Ethics Policy, HERE.  I'm amused that it takes two, count'em, two policies to define ONE policy.  As you read down through them I suspect you'll do as I did - smile knowingly, because most of us can immediately think of probable breaches of this policy.  Anyhow, it's here now and EVERY member of the council and commissions should have a refresher course on it post haste!

THAT'S ALL, FOLKS...
That's it for the agenda items.  Of course, it's VERY likely that there will still be "pulled" Consent Calendar items to be considered and folks who were on the Public Comments list but failed to make the "first 10" cut.  Some will stick around - others will simply be too exhausted and head home, allowing the mayor to accomplish his goal - the stifling of criticism.

ANOTHER LATE NIGHT...
I suspect this meeting may wrap up before midnight, but not much before.   It will depend on how many times Righeimer prattles on about issues.  We'll see...