At the Feb. 27 Signal Hill City Council meeting, council members, staff and members of the local Cambodian community join Okhna Thary Ung (center, holding proclamation) on the council dais, after the council recognized her 25-year service to the Cambodian community.
Fee workshop
The council agreed to conduct a public workshop on May 1 at 6pm to discuss changing or increasing 155 public-service fees. The council had begun this discussion at its previous meeting on Feb. 13 but decided to postpone it to get more input from each department as well as the public.
At the Feb. 13 council meeting, Finance Director Scott Williams had shared results of a user-fee study revealing that the City is subsidizing expenses for certain services by not charging users the full costs.
The study identified and accounted for the “fully burdened” cost of each City service, including total labor and overhead, finding, for instance, that certifying a document costs $18.85 but the City is currently only charging $10 for that service.
“We’re going to have to raise fees, so that’s not the question,” Mayor Edward Wilson said at the Feb. 13 meeting. “It will be ‘How much do we think we should raise [them]?'”
Code violations
The council held a public hearing to consider a code-violation appeal for a property on the south side of East 29th Street between Atlantic and California avenues.
In response to a complaint in July 2017, the City has informed the owner of the property multiple times that the lot could not be used for outdoor storage. The City has observed storage containers and vehicles, including RVs, on the lot, as well as construction debris.
The City has further asked the owner to restore the lot’s grading after it had been altered to bury construction debris, and the owner also had to address the property’s stormwater-runoff violation.
“No plans have been reviewed or permits issued for either grading, stormwater or fencing,” said Scott Charney, community development director. “In addition, there is no business license activity associated with the property.”
Ben Agarwal, an agent of the property owner, New Mesa Partners LLC, appealed to the council for leniency for two reasons: first, that the tenant to whom he had leased the property should be responsible for compliance, and second, that he has been unable to develop the property in over 10 years of ownership because the City has not built any roads adjacent to it nor any water or electrical infrastructure.
“It cannot be that your code is such that my property becomes useless,” he said. “To this date, I have not come across one use that the [City] staff has identified for my property. This seems, to me, very unfair.”
Vice Mayor Tina Hansen said that the code violations and development of the property are two separate issues and that the owner, not the tenant, is responsible for obtaining permits and ensuring compliance with codes.
“The owner is the person who has the obligation to go to the City before they bring in a tenant and confirm that it’s an approved land use, to get a plot plan, to get the licenses, to get whatever they need to put that land use there,” Hansen said. “The owner is responsible for going to the property and making sure it’s being maintained.”
Regarding the development issue, Wilson confirmed with staff that approved land uses are available on the City’s website.
Under the City code, the property owner has 15 days to submit a restoration plan and then 45 days to implement the plan. However, City Attorney Dave Aleshire said that if the property owner fails to do so, the City can take action.
“The City has an ultimate remedy, which is to remove all the materials itself and then lien the property for whatever cost the City incurs in cleaning up the property,” he said.
Charney said that the City would not wish to resort to legal recourse.
“Our goal is voluntary compliance,” Charney said. “What we’re looking for is to address stormwater and safety issues and also ensure it’s not used improperly [for] storage.”
The council voted to follow staff recommendations in adopting a resolution authorizing the city manager to commence abatement procedures in accordance with the municipal code if the nuisance is not abated.
“Again, the goal is not to be adversarial,” Wilson said. “The goal is to [ensure] compliance.”
CDBG funds
The council also held public hearing on allocating new CDBG funds.
Aly Mancini, community services director, explained that the City will receive $56,950 in new CDBG funds for the fiscal year 2018-2019 under the Los Angeles County Urban County allocation from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The council agreed to authorize the city manager to allocate the allowed maximum of 15 percent of the funds toward the City’s biweekly food distribution program to seniors, with the remaining 85 percent allocated toward installing a rubberized play surface at Calbrisas Park in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
That additional funding will be added to the existing $49,396 of CDBG funds from the previous fiscal year allocated for the Calbrisas project, bringing the total to $97,804.
Kelly Tunnicliff, public works director, said that the City still needs about $100,000 to also build play equipment there and that the project won’t start until the fund totals approximately $200,000.
She said the park’s renovation design is still in preliminary stages.
Police pension
Staff introduced a resolution-of-intent and ordinance for the council to approve, authorizing an amendment to a contract between the council and the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) pertaining to Signal Hill Police Officers’ Association (SHPOA) members.
The council approved the ordinance, which adds a section to the City’s contract with CalPERS allowing the officers’ 3-percent pension contributions to be credited to their individual CalPERS accounts.
The changes are a result of recent contract negotiations between the City and SHPOA.
Presentation
Wilson presented a proclamation to Okhna Thary Ung recognizing her more than 25 years of dedicated service to the Cambodian community in Long Beach.
Wilson said the many people from the Cambodian community attending the meeting were only a small sample of those she has touched.
“If you look around the room, you’ll see that she is admired and adored by many, many people,” he said.
Reading from the proclamation, Wilson noted Ung’s service and dedication to both the Cambodian and greater-Long Beach communities.
“Thary is currently the honorary goodwill ambassador of the Cambodian American Business Association,” he read. “Thary is a firm believer in social justice, equality, [has] a strong commitment to improve the community, and has a [!] big heart for the people.”
Ung expressed her appreciation to the council, staff and Cambodian community for the honor.
“Thank you for coming out here in the cold night,” she said, “to help celebrate this legacy together.”
The next Signal Hill City Council meeting will take place Tuesday, March 13, at 7pm in the council chamber at 2175 Cherry Ave.
