The Signal Hill City Council deliberated over two impactful decisions at its Oct. 24 meeting.
First, it authorized, in conjunction with the new Signal Hill Municipal Financing Authority, the issuance of lease-revenue bonds to help fund the new library.
It also directed staff to prepare a voter-participation encouragement plan to consolidate the municipal election date with statewide elections, as per new state law. Voters will choose whether to consolidate the election date and to which date, November or March.
In other business, the council approved steps to move forward with the new dog park and apply for a grant to mitigate the cost of two new electrical vehicle (EV) charging stations.
Library bonds
The council held a joint public hearing with the newly formed Signal Hill Municipal Finance Authority (which consists of the same members as the council) on issuing bonds to help fund the new Signal Hill Public Library.
According to Suzanne Harrell of Harrell & Co., the City’s financial consultants, the total cost of the library project is approximately $14.375 million, of which $8 million would need to be funded through issuing lease-revenue bonds. The total bond issuance would be for $9.225 million, including its costs.
Existing library funds of $5.3 million are from a 2011 tax-allocation bond issuance and another $1.1 million are from funds remaining after construction of the police station.
The total cost of the library includes a 10-percent contingency and covers such features as solar-power installation and new furniture.
The council and the financing authority unanimously decided to approve issuing the bonds, but for an increased amount such that the total issuance does not exceed $10 million.
“We do have a number of projects in addition to the library that are going to be coming forward,” said Mayor Edward Wilson, who suggested the change. “If we can afford more, and it doesn’t delay the project, and doesn’t have any significant negative material impact, [!] then it may behoove us to move the number to not-to-exceed $10 million.”
The council concurred that the additional amount could go toward refurbishing the community center. Harrell said that, per tax law, the additional amount could be spent on any capital-improvement project within three years.
Wilson also expressed interest in ensuring enough funding so that the new library would be realized as envisioned.
“We are building one of the biggest and best assets we can have, next to the police station,” he said. “And I would want to make sure that it’s fully functional, [that] it’s state-of-the-art when it opens.”
Harrell said that the bond issuance would be scheduled for early December so the library construction contract could be awarded on Dec. 12. City Manager Charlie Honeycutt said that a low bid was received on Oct. 17 and that construction is scheduled to begin in December or January and take about 14 months to complete.
Election date
Continuing discussion from the previous meeting on Oct. 10, Honeycutt reminded the council that the State requires the City to submit a voter-participation encouragement plan by Jan. 1, 2018, to comply with Senate Bill (SB) 415. The plan must indicate how the City will consolidate the municipal election with the statewide primary or general election date, by no later than Nov. 8, 2022.
The purpose of SB 415 was to increase voter participation in cities such as Signal Hill where voter turnout for the last municipal election was 25 percent or more less than the average turnout for the last four statewide elections.
SB 568 was passed in September, however, moving the statewide primary election date from June to March and allowing municipalities to consolidate to that date instead of November. So now the City has a choice as to whether to consolidate to the March statewide primary election date (in even-number years) or the November general election date. The City’s current municipal elections are held in March of odd-numbered years.
The consolidation law also allows that local terms of office can be adjusted to be shorter or longer by 12 months as a result of adjusting to the new election schedule.
Honeycutt explained that if the election date were consolidated to the November date, with the first such election in 2020, then this would shorten terms of office for city officials elected in 2017 and 2019 by four months. If the election date were consolidated to March, with the first in 2022, then the same terms would be extended by 12 months.
Currently, the City’s next regularly scheduled general municipal election will be March 19, 2019, during which Signal Hill voters must approve an election date amendment to the city charter.
After much discussion, during which most councilmembers supported the March consolidation date for various reasons, including that it’s the least disruptive, the council ultimately decided to leave the decision up to voters.
“Because we have our charter, we have to [!] put on the ballot the question, ‘Should we change?'” Wilson said. “So, if that’s the case, why not allow our residents to vote on the date as well, at that time? If we do that, then we’re allowing people to participate in this process of democracy that we have.”
Vice Mayor Tina Hansen asked what would happen if voters turned down the charter amendment to consolidate the election date, as per state law.
“We don’t know,” Honeycutt said. “We have an opinion from the attorney general’s office that says that even charter cities have to comply with this law, but there’s no court case that says so. No one’s sued on the issue yet.”
The council unanimously voted to direct staff to prepare the required plan to submit to the State indicating that the City will consolidate to the statewide primary election date of March in even-numbered years (with the first being March 2022, replacing the currently scheduled March 2021 municipal election).
However, the council also directed staff to work with the city attorney’s office on a charter amendment for the 2019 municipal election ballot. The ultimate decision on whether to change the City’s election date to comply with state law, and if so, to which date, will rest with Signal Hill voters.
Dog park
The Community Development Department hosted a public hearing and presented the council with a “negative declaration” report finding no significant adverse environmental effects or other nuisances related to the new dog park planned at 3100 California Ave.
Kelli Tunnicliff from Public Works said that the department had received no comments after posting public notification about the project, including from property owners within 300 feet of the site who had been mailed notices.
The council voted unanimously to adopt a resolution accepting the negative declaration.
Construction of the dog park is expected to begin in early November and take about 60 days to complete.
Charging stations
Tunnicliff shared with the council a presentation by the state’s Mobile Source Review Committee (MRSC) in order to then apply to the MRSC for a grant to fund two planned EV charging stations.
“The grant requires the council to acknowledge receipt of this presentation, authorize staff to apply for the grant and authorize us to utilize AQMD (Air Quality Management District) subvention funds previously allocated to our City as matching funds,” Tunnicliff said.
She explained that the grant would provide a 75-percent match to the AQMD funds for EV charging stations, up to $50,000.
The cost of two dual-charging stations the City plans to install in the community parking lot at City Hall is $67,000, so the grant would only necessitate the City using $17,000 of previously allocated AQMD funds instead of $35,000.
Tunnicliff said the charging stations are intended for City vehicles but would also be available for public use.
The council accepted the MRSC presentation and approved the grant application.
Halloween invite
During public business, Pastor James Kaddis of the Calvary Chapel in Signal Hill invited councilmembers to attend the chapel’s annual “Let Him Shine” program on Halloween night at the Signal Hill Elementary School, 2285 Walnut Ave.
“The purpose of the event was basically to get kids off the street during Halloween night,” Kaddis said of the first such event 11 years ago.
Kaddis said that last year almost 4,000 kids and parents attended the program, and 120 volunteers distributed about 5,000 pounds of candy.
“We do games, we do rides, we do music,” he said. “We want [kids] to understand that there is a community of people that care about them.”
The next Signal Hill City Council meeting will take place Tuesday, Nov. 14, at 7pm in the council chamber at 2175 Cherry Ave.
