Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout02 - Minutes - CorrespondenceRECEIVED AFTER AGENDA PRINTED SEPTEMBER 11, 2018 AGENDA ITEM NO. 2 September 11, 2018, City Council Agenda Item 1 Comments The following comments on an item on the Newport Beach City Council agenda are submitted by: Jim Mosher ( jimmosher(c)yahoo.com ), 2210 Private Road, Newport Beach 92660 (949-548-6229) Item 1. Minutes for the August 14, 2018 City Council Meeting The passages shown in italics below are from the draft minutes with suggested corrections indicated in str°mutunderline format. The page numbers refer to Volume 63. Page 579, Item SS2: "Cherall Weiss thanked the Council for recognizing literacy day, announced that the online high school program recently had its first group of adults to receive their ti gh sGheef diplomas ... Mayor Pro Tem O'Neill encouraged citizens to get involved with the Newport Beach Pro Literacy ProLiteracy program." ["ProLiteracy" is a single word. Although I am unable to find anything about NBPL's Career Online High School program on the library website, I believe it is unrelated to literacy day.] Page 580, paragraph 2: "Gina Seilta Cereda expressed hope that Council will move forward " [It would be helpful if the minutes indicated when they are guessing at the spelling of a name or word without benefit of a speaker card. A clearer announcement to the public that the speaker card is needed to ensure accurate spellings might also help. When in doubt, the online White Pages lists similar sounding names in the area, and its Reverse Address lookup can be used when a residence is identified, as in the following one.] Page 580, paragraph 4: Houman Ehsan believed the traffic study missed a few facets, ..." Page 580, paragraph 6: "mer Connor Best expressed his support of staff's recommendations, ..." Page 580, paragraph 3 from end: "Charles Glave Klobe distributed a handout..." [see handout for spelling] Page 581, line 1: "Jay Rudder Rutter suggested educating children on safety rules..." Page 581, paragraph 7: "fit Curt Herberts, 465 San Bernardino Avenue, indicated his support for nearly all the recommendations for children's safety in Newport Heights, is opposed to a bike lane and iflumination elimination of parking on Clay Street..." [see petitions for name spelling] Page 582, first line: Mayor Pro Tem O'Neill echoed the need to move forward ..." Page 582, paragraph 2: "Council Member Dixon thanked City staff and the McCann family for recognizing the importance of school and sidewalk safety and how children are traveling on City streets, agreed that, excluding c -lay street Clay Street, all the improvements should be implemented as quickly as possible, ..." September 11, 2018, Council Agenda Item 1 Comments - Jim Mosher Page 2 of 4 Page 582, Item SSS, paragraph 2: "in response to CounGil Membe Mayor Pro Tem O'Neill's suggestion, Mayor Duffield requested..." Page 582, paragraph 2 from end: "Judy Cole thanked Council for listening to concerns regarding mebile mobility devices and discussed the email she sent to Council..." Page 582, last paragraph: "Peter Boyd commended the City and Council for taking decisive action when a mobile mobility device entity began doing business in Newport Beach before getting approval from the City..." Page 583, paragraph 2, last sentence: "He requested Council require the mebile mobility device businesses to provide funding to the City to create areas to corral the scooters for drop off and pick up." Page 584, Item VIII, line 10: "...without a method to provide for the safe recovery of used syringes #er from the recipients as required by law." [?] Note: this is part of the "report out" on a closed session regarding the subject of which the public was told only: "ANTICIPATED LITIGATION — INITIATION OF LITIGATION - 1 matter." While the Brown Act does not require any further explanation, one has to wonder what public purpose was served by not telling the public the Council was going to be asked to consider initiating litigation against the Orange County Needle Exchange program, and allowing the public to offer the Council comment on that. I would guess it would have resulted in a better informed decision." Page 585, Item 23, paragraph 2: "Jim Mosher questioned the base salary for the new City Manager and compared it to that of current City Manager Kiff's salary." Page 585, Item 23, paragraph 7: "Council Member Muldoon confirmed that City Manager Kiff's pension is more extensive than Grace's, and therefore the City will be saving money by hiring Grace." [This is indeed what was said, and I believe it would be true if our retiree's pensions were fully funded. Since they are not, as I recently told the Finance Committee, I think it would be both interesting and instructive to see an actual estimate of the cost to the City of former Manager Kiff's early retirement versus the cost had he stayed on longer.] Page 591, paragraph 1: "City Attorney Harp explained that exempt facilities, under Chapter 2049 20.49 Section C, lists many exempt facilities and stated language should be added to Section 4.A. to acknowledge those exemptions with the phrase "unless otherwise exempt" and this language should be carried over to Section 4.B. to avoid confusion." [The minutes reflect what was said, but NMBC Chapter 20.49 has many C's and the "Section U referred to is evidently Subsection C of NBMC Sec. 20.49.020.] Page 591, Item XVI, paragraph 1: "Don Schmitz, a representative from for the City to the California Coastal Commission (CCC), provided a briefing on the current CCC action items, CCC public hearings, coastal program amendments, the creation of a Snowy Plover management agreement and measures taken to avoid unleashed dogs on the beach. He indicated that the reason the categorical exclusion application was brought before the September 11, 2018, Council Agenda Item 1 Comments - Jim Mosher Page 3 of 4 Commission was to bring it into alignment with the 2.0 Floor Area Limitations in the local coastal program, the categorical exclusion in Newport Beach was consistent with the local coastal program and could not result in larger homes being constructed, and any variances requested would have to go through a full coastal development permit." [While Don Schmitz appears to have been, in the distant past, an entry level CCC employee, he is currently a private contractor with two contracts with the Community Development Department. One of them, C-7440-1, is an on-call contract for "CTY[sic] APPLICATIONS" before the CCC. Under it, he is paid $325 per hour. For appearing at a CCC hearing he receives $3,250 plus airfair, hotel and rental car expenses, and his usual $325 per hour for his preparation time. That he was unable to communicate such basic information as that he is a representative to the CCC rather than from the CCC, and what "application" he was talking about, makes one wonder if he is worth what he is paid.] Page 591, Item XVI, paragraph 2: "Jim Mosher questioned if Mr. Schmitz was paid by the Coastai Commission City for his presentation at the Coastal Commission public hearing, and if the City was paying him for the update tonight." [It appears I may have the same problem with clear communication as Mr. Schmitz, but then I'm not paid.] Page 591, Item XVI, paragraph 3: "Rob Houston, previous Newport Beach employee, spoke about his professional relationship with City Manager Kiff, congratulated him on his work and a career well-done, thanked him for his caring service in providing an example to follow and congratulated Council for selecting Grace Leung as is his replacement." Page 591, Item XVII, paragraph 1: "Council Member Herdman gave an update from the last Tidelands Water Quality Committee meeting held on August 2, 2018, that was chaired by Council Member Avery, announced that he attended the Arts Commission meeting on August 9, 2018, National Night Out August 7, 2018 and the Teen Academy Graduation August 9, 2018." [This is probably what was said, but it is actually the "Water Quality/Coastal Tidelands Committee" and the "City Arts Commission."] Page 592, Item 21, paragraph 2: "City Manager Kiff summarized the Traffic Study direction from the Study Session as; was to proceed as expeditiously as possible with all the recommendations, ..." Page 592, paragraph 3: "Mayor Pro Tem O'Neill requested clarification on the item that was mentioned in the traffic study but not in the staff recommendations..." Page 592, paragraph 5: "Murphy McCann; thanked Council for the Clay Street clarification, ..." [delete first comma] Page 592, paragraph 6: "Debbie Peqqv Palmer, Board Member of the Cliff Haven Community Association, thanked the staff for the Traffic Study, ..." Page 593, Item 22, paragraph 2: "P-rinc-iple Principal Traffic Engineer Sommers utilized a PowerPoint presentation ..." September 11, 2018, Council Agenda Item 1 Comments - Jim Mosher Page 4 of 4 Page 593, Item 22, paragraph 3: "Mayor Pro Tem O'Neill expressed concern about issuing a blanket statement to prohibit any permits for this type of activity and stated that he believed Council woulel should give no direction either way to staff on issuing a permit." Page 594, paragraph 5: "Don DeGenstanze DiConstanzo, PedigA Pede_go Electric Bikes, expressed his concerns ..." Page 594, paragraph 9: "Devin MGGla McLean, Operations Manager, LimeBike, expressed Lime's dedication ..." [?] Page 594, paragraph 10: "In response to Council Member Peotter's question, Mr. McClain McLean confirmed that at this time Geofencing technology and safety concerns would not allow Lime to stop the scooters in motion and prevent from riding on the boardwalk at this time but they are looking at similar alternatives that would allow them to control the speed." [?] Page 594, paragraph 11: "Morgan Roth, Community Relations Manager, Bird Technologies, responded..." Page 595, paragraph 1: "Council Member Peotter asked the staff if they feel the existing code will regulate the scooters or allow for a permit to be issued? Are we at a point that would allow a program to be created to handle these, or should we do a moratorium to address " Page 595, paragraph 2, sentence 2: "Public Works Director Webb explained the process in place for allowing public -right-of-way commercial usage..." [delete comma] Page 595, paragraph 3 from end: "City Attorney Harp discussed how to adopt a moratorium, as the Council has never adopted a moratorium, ..." [This could be what was said, but past Newport Beach City Council's have enacted moratoria. Most recently, a group homes moratorium in 2007 and a marijuana dispensaries moratorium in 2005.] Page 595, paragraph 2 from end: "Council Member Avery said there is no limit as to how many shops are opened on the Peninsula, as long as there is a business license and permit."