Marvin Ramirez (left), a new maintenance worker with the Signal Hill Public Works Department, speaks at the Signal Hill City Council meeting May 22 after his introduction by Vice Mayor Larry Forester (center) and Public Works Director Kelli Tunnicliff (right).
Stormwater capture
Kelli Tunnicliff, public works director, explained to the council that Caltrans has offered the City a grant of $4.25 million to expand the Los Cerritos Channel Sub-basin 4 stormwater-capture project, which the City leads in cooperation with the City of Long Beach and the Long Beach Airport.
Phase I of the project, creating 14 acre-feet of filtered stormwater storage under the airport, began three years ago with an $11-million Caltrans grant. The new grant allows a second phase of the project to be completed over the next three years, increasing the water storage area by seven acre-feet for a total of 21 acre-feet.
One acre-foot of water is equivalent to 43,560 cubic feet or 325,851 gallons.
To take advantage of this opportunity that has no fiscal impact on the City, the council authorized entering into a cooperative-implementation agreement with Caltrans as of this month. About $3.9 million of the grant will go toward changing the existing design-build agreement with Mike Bubalo Construction Company. The remainder will amend related supporting contracts.
Tunnicliff said she anticipates that the City will also receive an additional grant of $7.5 million from Los Angeles County in the coming months that will allow expanding the facility’s capacity even further by 10 acre-feet.
She said that the State requires the City to have 30 acre-feet of such filtered stormwater storage for the City’s east side.
Vice Mayor Larry Forester explained that this requirement stems from the Clean Water Act and an MS4 (municipal separate storm-sewer systems) requirement to have a separate system for water entering into the channel to minimize pollutants.
“This is a real coup for us,” Forester said of the new grant. He thanked staff for their negotiation work.
Sustainability program
In a further effort to help the environment, the council adopted a resolution approving participation in the California Beacon Sustainability Recognition Program.
Scott Charney, community development director, said that the Beacon program is promoted by the nonprofit Institute for Local Government and coordinated by the California Public Utilities Commission with funds from its customers.
Charney said the City’s environmental efforts stem from a 2005 United Nations accord, which prompted the council to create a Sustainable City Committee (SCC) in 2008 to reach the accord’s goals by 2012 in such areas as recycling and water conservation.
Though the SCC has continued to track the City’s sustainability achievements in its annual Green City Report, it saw the need for a more appropriate tracking tool. The committee chose the Beacon program in February because it allows a uniform framework for evaluating achievements across 130 California cities and counties sharing best practices.
“There are three levels of recognition– silver, gold and platinum,” Charney said. “We were actually notified yesterday afternoon that the City is eligible for an additional award. Based on recently released data, the City, as a public agency, has achieved a six-percent energy reduction rate. Therefore, we’re eligible for a silver-level spotlight award.”
Charney and the SCC chair will serve as designated liaisons with the Beacon program.
Councilmember Lori Woods, who sits on the SCC, said that the awards could bring long-term benefits to the City.
“While this doesn’t necessarily have any fiscal impact,” she said. “it would put us in […] good position for future grants or funds or anything else that would encourage sustainability in energy reduction and water reduction.”
Property sale
As successor to the Signal Hill redevelopment agency, council members approved selling a property at 859 E. Patterson St. to EDCO Waste Services, which is currently leasing the property for use as a refuse transfer station.
Elise McCaleb, economic development manager, explained that the property is the site of two abandoned oil wells and its use is limited due to resulting pollutants.
Though the property had been valued at $87,750, that did not account for necessary environmental cleanup of the two wells, estimated to cost a minimum of $150,000 each. EDCO will pay $5,000 for the property, of which the City will receive approximately $335 in property taxes.
As part of the agreement, EDCO will further demolish two buildings on other properties, one on Cherry Avenue and another on 27th Street, and will return the demolished materials to the City.
Signal Hill resident Maria Harris addressed the successor agency, saying that the value of those demolished materials should be reported in the value of the sale. City Manager Charlie Honeycutt explained that the value of that material will be reduced by costs for its environmental treatment, which has yet to be evaluated.
Tree trimming
The council agreed to amend a contract with West Coast Arborists (WCA) for citywide tree-trimming services, extending it by three more years for an additional $406,772, totaling $787,159.
The current three-year contract is set to expire at the end of June and covered tree trimming, removal, planting and inspections.
“WCA has been very responsive to all City service requests on a 24-hour basis,” Tunnicliff said.
Forester and Tunnicliff introduced two new Public Works Department employees: Manny Ramirez, a new maintenance worker, and Jesus Saldana, a new senior engineering technician.
Forester also presented Tunnicliff and her staff with a proclamation recognizing Public Works Week from May 20 to 26. Reading from the proclamation, Forester recognized the many contributions of the Public Works department, including maintaining water, streets, parks, public buildings and refuse collection, as well as environmental programs in recycling, stormwater management and water conservation.
During the meeting’s “small-business spotlight,” Tom Barnes, owner of the recently opened B&B Hardware, spoke about his store.
“We specialize in antique hardware,” he said. “We mostly deal with older homes and we supply hardware and windows and doors […] and install most of them.”
Police database
In approving an item on the consent calendar, Councilmember Edward Wilson invited Signal Hill Police Chief Chrisopher Nunley to speak about a newly authorized police database called Coplink that will help the police better identify criminal suspects and victims through public records.
Since the mapping feature of the database relies on public reporting, Wilson and Nunley stressed the importance of residents calling the police to report potential crimes.
“If it looks like it’s out of place, it probably is,” Nunley said. “Give us a call. There’s never a call for service that’s too small for us. We’re happy to come out and investigate things to make sure that we have a safe community.”
The next Signal Hill City Council meeting will be a budget workshop on Thursday, May 31, at 6pm. The next regular meeting will take place Tuesday, June 12, at 7pm in the council chamber at 2175 Cherry Ave.
