Santa Paula City Council meets Monday
September 28, 2012
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula City Council
The City Council will meet behind closed doors Monday before the regularly scheduled session to continue the performance evaluation of City Manager Jaime Fontes, have a conference with the contract negotiator relative to Fontes’ contract, and then conduct a performance evaluation of Assistant City Attorney of John Cotti, who is listed as the city’s negotiator on Fontes’ contract.
Cotti’s firm Jenkins & Hogan has represented the city for about eight years, and is among those that submitted council requested proposals for city legal services.
The council will also discuss price and terms for the negotiations with Crown Disposal Co., which is seeking to purchase the city’s former wastewater treatment plant property for potential future use as a storage/maintenance facility and eventually an operation for recycling trash and a bio-digester.
The closed session will start at 5:30 p.m. in the City Hall Administrative Conference Room and, after any public speakers make comment, the council will go behind closed doors until 6:30 p.m. The continued meeting will be broadcast by Time Warner Cable Channel 10, which will replay the session according to schedule; it will also be live-streamed and archived on the city’s website for later viewing.
A proclamation will be presented to the Fire Department in honor of Fire Prevention Week, and there will be separate presentations regarding October’s Great California ShakeOut earthquake drill and the Santa Paula Clean-Up Day. Consent Calendar items include about $37,000 in write-offs, the city retaining unclaimed monies - including a check for a former employee, and various other items not normally expected to bring discussion.
There are four agenda items, including a hearing on an amendment to the Development Code related to the Density Bonus and allocation of the annual COPS public safety grant. The council will also hear an update on sewer and water charge increases, an issue that has become more heated as Santa Paulans utility bills skyrocket.
The council will also consider appointing an ad hoc committee of two members to “prepare recommendations for restructuring the current water and sewer rates.” The ad hoc committee won’t have much time: the staff report notes, “The committee will examine any and all alternatives available to the city to mitigate water and sewer rates in a way to benefit the citizens of Santa Paula,” and “The committee must report back to the entire council with recommendations on the viability of possible alternatives on or before November 17.”
City Hall is located at 970 E. Ventura Street. For more information call 933-4208.
