Mortgage assistance program
Denise Teora, a community-outreach liaison from Keep Your Home California, a federally funded foreclosure-prevention organization, gave a presentation on the programs her group offers.
The Unemployment Mortgage Assistance Program provides temporary assistance to eligible home-owners who have suffered involuntary unemployment. The Mortgage Reinstatement Assistance Program helps eligible homeowners reinstate their first mortgage loan if they have fallen behind because of short-term financial difficulties. The Principal Reduction Program helps eligible homeowners who have experienced a financial hardship obtain sustainable mortgage payments by reducing principal loan balances. The Transition Assistance Program provides one-time funds to help eligible homeowners transition to new housing after executing a short sale or deed in lieu of foreclosure.
To qualify, a homeowner must: own and occupy the home as their primary residence; meet program income limits; and have a documented, eligible hardship. The property must be: located in California; not abandoned, vacant or condemned; and a single-family, one- to four-unit home. The mortgage must be: serviced by a participating servicer; a first mortgage lien (home equity line of credit is not eligible); and delinquent or imminent default.
Those interested in applying for one of the programs may call 1-888- 954-KEEP (5337) or visit keepyourhomecalifornia.org .
Rooftop solar systems
The council conducted a second reading and adopted an ordinance to expedite permitting procedures for small residential rooftop solar systems, in response the Solar Rights Act, under which cities and counties must enact an ordinance that creates a streamlined permitting process for small residential rooftop solar-energy systems by Sept. 30.
The law also requires California cities and counties to substantially harmonize their processes so that they are consistent with recommendations in the current version of the State’s Solar Permitting Guidebook.
Guest registration cards
The council discussed amendments to the city’s municipal code relating to inspection of hotel and motel guest registration cards, to be in compliance with a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling.
Signal Hill Police Chief Michael Langston explained that in late 2013, staff became aware of the ruling that allows police officers to review the guest registry of hotels and motels at any time without judicial process. Hotel and motel operators would face penalties if they refuse to cooperate with officers.
“After the Ninth Circuit Court ruling, our city attorney determined that enforcement of Signal Hill Muncipal Code 5.18.060 was invalid under the Ninth Circuit Court’s ruling,” Langston said. “At that time, we began seeking consent from the hotel-motel operators to review guest-registration cards, and the Ninth Circuit Court’s decision was appealed. In June 2015, the United States Supreme Court essentially upheld the earlier court decision and said that it’s appropriate to amend our municipal code to reflect that ruling. Our city attorney has drafted an amendment to Section 5.18.060, and staff is recommending that council approve this amendment.”
Mayor Forester, Vice Mayor Woods and Councilmember Wilson voted to approve the amendment.
Water-conservation efforts
Travis Brooks, the city’s public works management analyst, presented an update on progress the City has made on its water-conservation goals.
He said that although water usage during the last few summers had increased, it has been comparatively lower this summer and that the decrease puts the City within the 12-percent-reduction tier.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”400px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Screen-Shot-2015-09-04-at-2.39.11-PM.png” align=”right” lightbox=”on” caption=”Signal Hill Mayor Larry Forester (far left) introduces Natalie Saenz (center) as the city’s new police dispatcher/jailer. Also pictured is Signal Hill Police Chief Michael Langston.” captionposition=”right”]
“We’re really achieving a pretty large reduction here through the summer as a result of our messaging and the response from the community,” Brooks said.
Police dispatch and records
After a presentation by Langston, the city council voted to authorize the city manager to enter into an agreement with Cyrun— a company headquartered in Santa Cruz that offers a Windows-based integrated software system for public-safety organizations— to purchase a replacement computer-aided dispatch and records-management system for the police department in the amount not to exceed $67,000 in annual maintenance costs.
Langston explained a number of challenges the police department is facing in using the current software, which he characterized as “basic,” including having to use the Long Beach Police Department to input new officers’ information into the system and not being able to retrieve the basic number of calls for service.
Langston said that Cyrun made a proposal that included offering a replacement system and waiving the initial costs of using that system in favor of retaining services through a maintenance agreement only.
Browning High School
The council expressed concerns regarding a contractor’s request for an extended construction schedule for Browning High School. City Manager Charlie Honeycutt said he has looked into the matter.
“Staff had been made aware that the contractor who’s building the Browning High School had gone to the City of Long Beach and asked for extended construction hours— essentially from 7am to 10pm during the week and from 7am to 5pm on Saturdays,” Honeycutt said. “We have expressed concern about that. Apparently, the contractor may have gotten a little ahead of themselves and not even notified Long Beach Unified [School District] staff that they wanted to seek out these extended hours. So, I’ve personally been in contact with the deputy city manager’s office in Long Beach to make them aware that Signal Hill is concerned about that length of extended hours— happy to work with them on that— and then I also understand that Long Beach Unified doesn’t necessarily support that either, so we’ll continue to monitor that situation.”
Mayor Forester asked Honeycutt to bring that item back to council on Sept. 15.
Postponed items
The council chose to reschedule discussions of two agenda items until the all councilmembers are present: changing the meeting days for city council meetings and planning commissions; and increasing the hourly rate for special counsel legal services provided by Filarsky & Watt LLP.
ROPS
Acting as the successor agency to the city’s former redevelopment agency, Forester, Woods and Wilson met after the city council meeting.
Pursuant to AB1x26, which ended redevelopment, the successor agency is required to adopt a recognized obligation payment schedule (ROPS) every six months. The upcoming ROPS cycle covers the period from Jan. 1, 2016 to June 30, 2016.
The successor agency adopted a resolution to adopt ROPS 15-16B and submit it to the Signal Hill Oversight Board for its review and approval.
CERT class
Vice Mayor Woods announced that 27 community members recently completed the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program class, which was offered on three consecutive Saturdays.
“Now there’s an effort to start another class, probably after the 1st of next year, pending the LA County Fire Department’s schedule, to get more people trained,” Woods said. “And they continue to connect those CERT-trained, community individuals together to come up with their own plans in their own communities and roll out the next step of our emergency-preparedness program, which is called Map Your Neighborhood. We’re hoping that the CERT-trained members can go into their community and implement the next phase of Map Your Neighborhood and get people connected and prepared at the individual home and neighborhood level.”
The next Signal Hill City Council meeting will take place at 7pm on Tuesday, Sept. 15 in the council chamber of City Hall, 2175 Cherry Ave.
