During its June 25 meeting, the Signal Hill City Council agreed to reinstate a youth-sports program it had previously cut from the city’s 2019-2020 fiscal-year budget, which it then adopted.
The council also approved an ordinance updating enforceable library-behavior guidelines for the new Signal Hill Public Library opening Aug. 10.
Youth sports
Before agreeing to adopt the city’s 2019-2020 fiscal-year budget that begins July 1, the council reversed a previous decision to cut from it a youth-sports program as a cost-saving measure.
As reported in the June 7 Signal Tribune, the council had voted 4-1 during its May 30 budget workshop to eliminate the program’s $86,000 annual expense, with Councilmember Edward Wilson dissenting.
But following public comment at Tuesday’s meeting, and the news of possible unexpected additional revenue coming to the city, the council agreed to reverse its stance and allow the program to continue for at least one year while staff works with the City of Long Beach– which runs the program– to figure out alternatives.
The decision to stop subsidizing the program had been made in the wake of the Finance Department’s prediction– stated at the May 30 workshop– that city expenses would overtake its revenues within five years due to declining sales-tax income, which accounts for 70 percent of the city’s total revenue.
Therefore, in an effort to reduce costs, staff suggested at the workshop that the youth-sports program could be cut since the city’s expenses for it are not reimbursed.
Councilmember Tina Hansen explained at Tuesday’s meeting that she had voted to cut youth sports so that its $86,000 budget could be used to help more than the 30 to 50 Signal Hill kids that staff estimated participated in the program.
“I would rather spread that money over more of our residents, more of our kids– get more of our kids into an after-school program, get more of our kids into camp that can’t afford it, […] put more money into the health clinics [the city subsidizes], that we know are serving 400 of our kids,” she said.
However, two residents came forward during Tuesday’s meeting to question the council’s May 30 decision, having received a letter explaining that they should register their kids for sports in Long Beach or elsewhere.
“At what cost are we willing to sacrifice as far as having our kids not in sports?” one woman said. “[My daughter has] played every year for Signal Hill. And she’s played against Long Beach and one thing I did notice is that they already have a lot of kids, […] too many kids.”
She also said the Signal Hill program’s staff offers supervision, counselors and coaches that benefit the children.
“They learn character with losing as well as winning,” she said. “I would like clarification […] so that I can explain to my child and all her friends and the mothers that can’t be here today– but we all are aware of this– what are we going to do with our kids now?”
She suggested that if it was an issue of funds, maybe the parents and community can help raise money for the program.
Following those comments, Wilson read an email sent by another Signal Hill resident expressing the family’s disappointment at the decision.
“This program has helped my son be part of a larger group and team creating real connections to others in this community,” Wilson read from the letter. “You are taking something from this community that is priceless. No budget should cut off programs for the community’s children.”
Wilson also reminded the council that he had dissented from cutting the sports program because it contributes to public safety as well, suggesting that it could be part of the police department’s budget.
He said he would even vote against adopting the current budget– which he has never done in his more than two decades on the council– if it did not include the program.
Wilson also brought up a state bill that just recently passed into law called AB 147 which, as of Oct. 1, allows the State to collect sales tax from out-of-state online retailers who sell to customers in California.
He learned that this could bring $400,000 in additional annual revenue to the city, an estimate City Manager Charlie Honeycutt confirmed.
Honeycutt said that the additional funds would give the City flexibility to support youth sports for another year while it worked with the City of Long Beach to see about alternatives, including sharing the City’s costs.
Despite the likely possibility of additional revenue as a result of AB 147, the council unanimously agreed to adopt the budget as-is except for an amendment to add back the youth-sports expense, which will be taken from the City’s reserve funds.
Wilson said that the program allows Signal Hill to support youth in the only way it can because of its size by associating with the larger City of Long Beach, which gets grants for sports programs.
“We’re providing an avenue in which [our residents] can participate in a bigger and a stronger program than we could do, but representing us,” he said. “I think that’s what the parents want, and the kids themselves.”
The council thanked the residents who had come forward at the meeting to voice their concerns.
“This is what happens when people come in and express themselves,” Vice Mayor Robert Copeland said. “There’s often times that we do something and nobody is here to speak for or against it so we think nobody really cares.”
Councilmember Keir Jones concurred that hearing the residents made the council feel the personal impact and import of its decision.
Hansen asked staff to arrange a meeting with all Signal Hill families involved in youth sports so they know to get more involved.
“[It] would be nice to […] explain all this to them and talk to them about how they need to advocate as well,” she said.
Library rules
Given that the new Signal Hill Public Library’s grand opening is scheduled for Aug. 10, the council approved new behavior guidelines for its users that library staff and the police department can enforce.
Aly Mancini, community-services director, said that the library’s board of trustees in 1928 had written its previous guidelines and that the code has remained unchanged since the board disbanded in 1966.
She said that encoding new guidelines allows the police department (PD) to step in if library staff needs it to.
“The PD has no legal recourse for actually removing the patron from the facility unless an actual crime is being committed,” Mancini said.
She said that amending Chapter 2.88 of the city’s code would help create an open, respectful and inclusive facility for all patrons.
The updated code prohibits inappropriate and disruptive conduct, including excessive noise, aggressive behavior, extreme body odor, blocking paths, sleeping in the library and bathing in its restrooms, Mancini said.
The rules of conduct will be posted in the library and include a process for appealing suspensions, she added.
During public comment, a man addressed the council about how the new guidelines are inconsiderate of the homeless.
“The issue of bathing and being around someone that’s ‘aromatic’– I understand they’re not pleasant to be around– [but show] just a little mercy, a little compassion for them,” he said. “Because when they come into a public place like this and the restrooms are locked, what are their resources? Are they subject to being arrested for defecating on themselves?”
Mancini responded that the library’s goal is to help people.
“If we notice that someone perhaps might need some additional resources, we would absolutely call over to the PD and ask for one of our officers– Officer Moreau (who works with the homeless)– to come over and offer resources to that individual,” she said.
After much discussion involving its members’ own experience, the council asked for a few changes to the proposed guidelines before approving them, including raising the minimum age at which a child can be left unattended from 8 years old to 10, and reducing the age from 17 to 14 after which a child cannot lie on the library floor, which creates safety and fire hazards.
The council also extensively discussed patrons sitting on the library’s floors, noting how people do so at bookstores and college libraries. It agreed to allow sitting as long as it didn’t pose safety issues.
“We’re not trying to […] make an environment in which people feel uncomfortable in coming there,” Wilson said.
Other business
The council also conducted other business, including:
• Approving the City’s uniform schedule of fees discussed at the May 30 budget workshop, which includes raising resident fees for after-school programs by 10 percent as of Jan. 1, 2020, to help recover the City’s costs.
• Agreeing to continue subsidizing children’s health services for patients who can’t afford them through giving $5,000 each to the Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital and The Children’s Clinic.
• Agreeing to extend the City’s contract collaborating with the Signal Hill Rotary Club for another year to provide brown-bag, fresh-food distribution to homebound seniors twice a month, at a budgeted cost of $17,298, of which $8,298 is from a community-development block grant.
• Approving three leases of City land to auto dealerships to allow parking and inventory storage beginning July 1, one in conjunction with Signal Hill Petroleum since it owns the land’s surface rights.
• Agreeing to contractual cost-of-living adjustments for police and city employees.
Presentations
Mayor Lori Woods introduced Nichole Delahunte, a new Finance Department account specialist, and Matt Tryon, a water-systems superintendent with the Public Works Department.
Woods also introduced Patty Vanwinkle, owner of Pet Pantry at 1929 E. 28th St., during the meeting’s “Small Business Spotlight.”
“Patty is my pet-food lady,” Woods said. “I have a cat and a dog, and if there’s anything going on with my animals, I ask her and she recommends the best thing.”
Vanwinkle said she is passionate about animals and works with 14 rescue groups. She also said she has received 144 pet-food recalls in the past eight months that were not publicized.
“I started 21 years ago as a dog and cat nutritionist because I lost a 155-pound Japanese Akita to cancer and I wanted to know why,” she said. “So we did an autopsy and we found out it was the food he was eating. Well, I adopted him too late.”
The next Signal Hill City Council meeting will take place Tuesday, July 9, at 7pm in the council chamber at 2175 Cherry Ave.
