During Tuesday’s meeting, the council also approved energy-efficient upgrades for street lighting, a one-year extension on Signal Hill Petroleum’s conditional-use permit for drill sites and the sale of land for a new Mazda dealership.
Procedures controversy
In the wake of controversy created at the May 23 council meeting during which Wilson implemented charter-based procedures for appointing commissioners, two Signal Hill residents at the June 13 meeting voiced their dissatisfaction.
The city charter authorizes the mayor to nominate candidates for subsequent council approval, and, if he chooses, allow no nominations by other council members.
City Attorney Dave Aleshire has noted that this procedure is based on state law and is a common appointment method, though it was a significant departure for the Signal Hill council.
“In the past, it was an informal process where different people would throw out names and keep working on it until they had a majority,” Aleshire said after the May 23 meeting. “It became an awkward issue when the mayor threw out who he was not willing to nominate.”
Though Wilson had nominated enough commissioners to fill seats on the three commissions that had openings, the council did not approve all of them, leaving four vacancies for which Wilson did not make further nominations, nor allow any other council member to do so.
Wilson has stated that he knew, according to the city charter, that existing commissioners must continue to serve until they are replaced, and his choice not to continue nominating candidates would therefore not cause the commissions to become inoperable.
Nonetheless, existing commissioners being asked to continue, as well as council members, reacted vehemently to Wilson’s decision to not make or allow further nominations.
“It was one of the most unfair procedures I’ve ever seen in my 20 years on council,” said Councilmember Larry Forester after the meeting, noting that in the past, all council members were allowed to nominate candidates, even if that procedure is not specified in the charter.
Janice Montgomery identified herself as a Signal Hill resident during public business at the June 13 meeting and addressed the council, specifically Wilson, about the procedural change at the May 23 meeting.
“I’m extremely upset,” she said. “You changed it without notifying any council member what the change was until the last minute. That’s deceitful, that’s underhanded [!] and you should be ashamed of yourself.”
Wilson thanked Montgomery for her comments.
Another Signal Hill resident and former commissioner, Tom Benson, also addressed Wilson about his decisions.
“I was embarrassed for the City,” he said. “You blindsided the council. You held your own agenda.”
Benson recalled the private interview he’d had with Wilson prior to the May 23 meeting, as a candidate for commission reappointment (Wilson had privately interviewed each candidate individually) and insinuated that Wilson had based his nominations on what was discussed during that interview and not Benson’s subsequent interview with the entire council later.
“You started asking about an elected mayor,” Benson recalled of the private interview. “I said I didn’t have enough information to make an intelligent decision.”
Benson said that Wilson’s procedural decisions during the May 23 meeting make the case for not having an elected mayor.
“You proved in a matter of about an hour that we should never have an elected mayor,” Benson said. “You did more damage in one evening [!] to the City, that has undone years and years of work, and you did it for your own political interests.”
Some audience applause followed Benson’s recounting his request to City Manager Charlie Honeycutt to set aside the council’s votes for commissioner appointments because of the confusion and lack of transparency involved.
Wilson started to respond to Benson but was interrupted by Vice Mayor Tina Hansen because his doing so was out of order.
“I am unable to comment on public business from the floor,” Wilson acknowledged. “But I will say this!.”
Interrupted again by other council members for being out of order, Wilson stated that he could do whatever he wanted, which elicited shocked and bemused reactions from council members and audience alike.
“Do not demean the commissioners that have been set,” Wilson finally said to Benson amid the reactions. “That I will take offense to.”
Later, during new business, Hansen clarified why Wilson was not allowed to respond to public comments, citing California government code 54954.3(c), which states: “The legislative body of a local agency shall not prohibit public criticism of the policies, procedures, programs or services of the agency, or of the acts or omissions of the legislative body.”
Hansen explained the importance of this legislation to check the authority of a council member over comments by the public.
“You can prohibit someone indirectly by criticizing what they’ve said when they’re done speaking, or engaging them back,” she said. “Whether we like it or not, whether it’s a criticism or not, our responsibility is to sit here and listen. We should be encouraging free speech and not suppressing it.”
Wilson later qualified the criticism he received for following charter rules in making commissioner appointments.
“You can criticize me— and I’m okay with that— about the process,” Wilson said. “Every process the last three times was different, and each of us were surprised when it happened, yet we all lived with it.”
Wilson pointed out that he had described his chosen procedure to all those he had interviewed as well as the other council members by putting it in the council agenda book at the meeting prior to May 23.
But Wilson said he apologized if confusion was caused by insufficient communication on his part.
“I will apologize to the council members who felt they were blindsided,” Wilson said. “I could have sat down with each one of you and walked you through every single thing, and I will apologize if you felt that I needed to do that. [!] I did anticipate that people would read the process. I apologize if I made that assumption and should not have.”
Street lighting
The council authorized an agreement with Southern California Edison (SCE) to convert all 1,167 streetlights to energy-efficient LED lighting by mid-2018, at no cost to the City.
Presenting a detailed financial assessment, Travis Brooks, public works management analyst, showed that the City would save $43,159 more over the next 20 years by allowing SCE to change the lights rather than the City procuring and converting the portion of light poles available for purchase.
The City had already spent about $32,000 on a consultant to ascertain the benefit of this conversion and subsequently approached SCE about options.
Community workshops will be conducted to discuss public opinion about such factors as the color and strength of the new lights.
SHP CUP
The council adopted a resolution extending the conditional-use permit (CUP) for Signal Hill Petroleum (SHP) to continue operating seven oil-drilling sites for one year. This would allow continued operation of these sites while the City continued negotiating with SHP on a land development agreement, specifically for Heritage Square (the former Fresh & Easy site).
Answering the council’s concerns about a history of continued extensions on this CUP, Scott Charney, community development director, indicated that there is forward progress being made on the agreement.
“We are envisioning having to do another extension,” he said. “[But] we would have a draft agreement for your consideration within a year. That’s our goal.”
A representative from SHP noted that in the last 15 years, the company has abandoned 95 oil wells in the city and created seven new ones. They have also paid about $10,000,000 in various fees and taxes, developed two major commercial centers— Town Center West (anchored by Food 4 Less) and Signal Hill Gateway (anchored by Home Depot and Ross)— and cleaned up land for 250 homes at the top of Signal Hill.
“We very much look forward to this long-range view of an overall master plan for the property that’s left in the city,” he said.
[aesop_image img=”https://signal-tribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Council-2-1.jpg” credit=”Anita W. Harris | Signal Tribune” align=”right” lightbox=”on” caption=”Mayor Edward Wilson (left) and Police Chief Christopher Nunley (right) introduce newly promoted Senior Police Officer Paul Buccat (center) at the Signal Hill City Council meeting June 13.” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off”] Mazda dealership
As successor agency to the City of Signal Hill Redevelopment Agency, the council adopted a resolution approving the sale to Three D Holdings of three acres of property at 1400 East Spring St. for development into a new Mazda dealership with an investment of $2.5 million.
“We are excited about this new opportunity in the city,” said Wilson.
California Crown
The council approved three maintenance-related proposals for the California Crown tract. (Wilson recused himself from voting on these since he is a resident of that area.)
The first was to levy and collect assessment for Landscape and Lighting Maintenance District No. 1 (LLMD), which was formed in 1992 to pay for the maintenance of common landscaped areas within the California Crown tract. (California Crown has no homeowners association.)
The assessment includes a proposed increase of 1.86 percent (following the consumer price index [CPI] increase), amounting to $10 to $16 per lot, depending on type, for fiscal year 2017-18. A public hearing on this was also set for June 27.
The council also authorized awarding a contract to Corner Keystone Construction, which had submitted a bid for $22,700 to paint the LLMD’s exterior landscaping walls and wrought-iron fencing. Painting is scheduled to begin July 10 and be completed by early August. The City plans for this painting to be done every five years.
Finally, the council authorized a request for proposals (RFP) to be issued for bidding on new landscape maintenance services for the LLMD.
Grissel Chavez-Arredondo, deputy director of public works, explained that the current landscape contractor has been employed since 2008 at a cost of about $29,000 annually. However, the City is seeking more competitive contractors since residents are reporting dissatisfaction with the frequency of current service.
The City currently makes inspections of landscaping every two weeks, but with a new contractor, they will inspect every week for the first month and also follow up with local residents.
[aesop_image img=”https://signal-tribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Council-3-1.jpg” credit=”Anita W. Harris | Signal Tribune” align=”right” lightbox=”on” caption=”From left: Mayor Edward Wilson, new part-time accounting manager Angelina Garcia and Acting Finance Director Scott Williams at the June 13 Signal Hill City Council meeting” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off”] Building code
The council approved an ordinance amending Title 15 of the City’s municipal code entitled “Building and Construction” and approved its submission to the California Building Standards Commission.
Paul Armstrong of the Building and Public Safety Department presented to the council about California cities having to consider adopting new state codes by addressing each city’s specific concerns.
For Signal Hill, he said, those considerations are related to petroleum production and drainage because of the slope of the hill.
Signal Hill’s modifications to the state building code thus involve fencing permits, soil movement, underground electrical wiring and water-pressure regulation.
Presentations
Wilson and Scott Williams, acting finance director, introduced Angelina Garcia, a new part-time accounting manager with the Finance Department. She has previously worked for the cities of Irvine and El Segundo, and she runs half-marathons.
Wilson, along with Police Chief Christopher Nunley, also introduced Paul Buccat, who was recently promoted to senior police officer, having served in the Signal Hill Police Department for 10 years.
Buccat had served for eight years in the US Coast Guard and is currently a reservist. He also spent four years undercover with the Los Angeles County Narcotics Task Force (known as L.A. Impact) and was involved in the seizure of $135 million in drug money.
“Thank you [!], everyone from Signal Hill and the Signal Hill Police Department, for giving me the opportunity to take this challenge as a senior officer,” Buccat said.
Hansen invited Jaden Balajadia and Eric Perez, Boy Scouts from Troop 140 who were attending the meeting, to go to the podium and address the council.
“We’re working on our Citizenship of the Community merit badge,” Balajadia stated.
[aesop_image img=”https://signal-tribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Council-1-1.png” credit=”Anita W. Harris | Signal Tribune” align=”center” lightbox=”on” caption=”Boy Scouts Eric Perez (far right) and Jaden Balajadia (at podium) address the Signal Hill City Council during its June 13 meeting.” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off”] The next Signal Hill City Council meeting will take place Tuesday, June 27, at 7pm in the council chamber at 2175 Cherry Ave.
