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HomeMy WebLinkAbout00 - Insider's GuideJanuary 12, 2016 Insider's Guide From: Kiff, Dave Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2016 4:42 PM Subject: Insider's Guide - Tuesday, January 12, 2016 It's a new year (hope you had a happy one!) and the folk (singular, not plural) behind the Insider's Guide wondered if the Guide should get a brand-new look for a brand-new year! What fun! He wondered for a few days, in fact. But concluded "nah, this is an old dog and that's a new trick." And there are no snacks to incentivize the new trick - learning. By the way, treats are the only way I can get my dogs Moby and Oscar to do anything besides spread chew -toy stuffing everywhere in the house. TMI. So, here's what may be of interest to you on the Newport Beach City Council meeting of Tuesday, January 12`n, 2016. Meeting information and a link to the full Council agenda is at the end of this e-mail. This is the City Council's first formal meeting of 2016, and Mayor Diane Dixon has the gavel. Mayor pro Tem Kevin Muldoon is in the second -in -charge spot. We do have a study session for the first time in a while — it starts at 3:30 p.m., a little earlier than usual. The Study Session items include: A fun presentation to the young Mr. Aaron Clark, who earned the award of 2015 Jr. Lifeguard of the Year. Aaron is one of three Clark family JGs, and the son of one of our longtime MOD workers, Kenny Clark (folks will know KC from KC's old trash route). But Aaron earned this one all by himself. A discussion about a new funding program to convert the rest of the community's 3,200 or so streetlights to LEDs. We think it's a no-brainer in terms of savings and the efficiency of the lights. They do have a slightly different (but very white) hue to the lights than the current ones. You can see some of the LEDs already up on Irvine Ave and Bayside Ave (to tell if one's an LED, look for the flatter bulb area of the light standard — less cobra -head, more flat). A review of Most All Things Towing. Well, really all things police towing. Where the PD directs a private -sector firm to tow a car that's either been in an accident, involved in a crime, or parked in the wrong place (after proper posting, of course). This is not about private or Auto Club towing. Anyway, the issue is what firms are awarded the contract to tow here, and what fees are charged to do so. According to our data, a vast majority of our PD tows are cars not owned by Newport residents. So you may not care much about this. That was 2 minutes of less relevant reading you can't have back, though. Regular session (7:00 p.m.) items that jumped out at me look like this: • Voting and approval or disapproval of three Assessment Districts comes to the Council. If you live in proposed AD #111 (Balboa Peninsula near 31" to 23rd), AD #116 (also on the Peninsula but further into West Newport (38th, River, 44th), or AD #116B (near 116, but Neptune/Channel/471h area), then you've been following this. The opening of the public hearing on all three ADs is expected to occur shortly after 7:00 p.m., to allow folks to speak and to vote/drop off ballots. When the public hearing is closed, then the City Clerk goes off and tabulates the count (folks can observe this in public) with the hope that the count comes back by the close of the evening's meeting (we might have to speak .... very ..... slowly..... for the remaining agenda items. After the count, the districts are either formed or abandoned. • New labor agreements (four of them!) are proposed for two of our larger non -Public Safety unions as well as for rank -and -file fire personnel and for our Fire Battalion Chiefs. • We completed the work to replenish sand in the Grand Canal, and that item comes back for final notice that it's complete. If it survived this week's waves, it should last a while longer. • Following Council encouragement, the members of the Arts Commission will be allowed to seek out private funds and support for art installations and arts programming. • As we enter a recruitment for a new police chief, I have asked former Chief Jay Johnson to stick around for a few more months as Interim Chief. To me, it makes sense to do so given his experience with the City. He has consented to do so, but any contract like this one requires formal council approval. • The Harbor Commission has reviewed and updated their Coals and Objectives for the current period, and have asked the Council to review and approve those efforts. Some notes: • The Finance Committee meets next Thursday, January 14th, in Conference Room 2D (a new location) of the Civic Center at 3:00 p.m. (an earlier time than usual — and a heavy agenda). • Please think about joining us at the Council's 2016 planning session, which will be held on Saturday, January 23`d in the morning. Exact time TBD, but assume at least by 9:00 a.m. until noon or so. We'll be at Marina Park this time - enjoying the great views there and the Lighthouse Cafe and sailing classes and zumba and, oh, I guess planning session stuff too. • Hey, regarding Marina Park. if you haven't checked out the classes that are coming up, it's not too late — use this link: http://www.newportbeachca.gov/trending/proiects-issues/classes-activities • 1 hope we all survived the two storms this week with minimal impacts. I think overall the community bounced back pretty well, despite a lot of debris from the Santa Ana River, some sand erosion, and the ever-present low-lying flooding areas along PCH near Riverside and Tustin. If you can, please turn off your irrigation for several days or more (more if we get more rain) to help us all with the drought. Which seems to stumble on despite the rain and the good snowpack. We've been singled out for being laggards in not meeting our 28% reduction requirement, and there is some merit to that criticism. We've got to keep trying. As always, thanks for reading and have a nice weekend. Please feel free to forward this e-mail to family, friends and members of your HOA if you represent one. I always like hearing from you, too, so please don't hesitate to ask a question or offer a comment. Sincerely, Dave Kiff City Manager dkiff@newportbeachca.gov 949-644-3001 City Council Meeting Information: The Newport Beach City Council meets on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of most months (the exceptions are August and December). Typically, there is a Study Session that starts at 4:00 p.m. Study sessions are times for the Council to take a deeper look at a specific issue, or hear a presentation, that might eventually lead to a specific and more formal action. A closed session often follows the Study Session. Closed sessions are typically to address legal, personnel, and other matters where additional confidentiality is important. The Regular (evening) Session typically starts at 7:00 p.m., and often has a specific listing of 20-40 different items ready for formal votes. Items on the "Consent Calendar" are heard all at once, unless a Council member has removed (aka "pulled") an item from the Consent Calendar for specific discussion and separate vote. If an item on the agenda is recommended to be "continued", it means that the item won't be heard nor voted on that evening, but will be pushed forward to another noticed meeting. Public Comment is welcomed at both the Study Session and the Regular Session. The public can comment on any item on the agenda. If you want to comment on a Consent Calendar item that was not pulled from the Consent Calendar by a Council Member, you will want to do so at the time listed on the agenda — right before the Council votes on the entire Consent Calendar (it's Roman Numeral XIII on the posted agenda). if an item is pulled, the Mayor will offer that members of the public can comment as that specific item is heard separately. Additionally, there is a specific section of Public Comment for items not on the agenda, but on a subject of some relationship to the city government. 2 The Council meets in the Council Chambers at 100 Civic Center Drive, off of Avocado between San Miguel and East Coast Highway. There is plenty of parking in the parking structure behind City Hall. You are always welcome to attend in person, but you can also watch on TV (Channels 3/31) or on your computer. This Insider's Guide is not an attempt to summarize every item on the Agenda —just the ones that seem of specific interest to Dave. You are encouraged to read the full agenda if you'd like —to do so, click here: https://newportbeach.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx