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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/10/2013 Special Meeting55:0103 Arcadia City Council /Successor Agency to the Arcadia Redevelopment Agency and Senator Dr. Ed Hernandez 24th Senate District Special Meeting Minutes Thursday, October 10, 2013 8:00 a.m. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Segal called the meeting to order at 8:10 a.m. Present: Council Members Amundson, Harbicht, Kovacic, Wuo and Segal Others Present: Senator Dr. Ed Hernandez Iso Nakasato, Field Representative to Senator Hernandez Rob Charles, District Director PUBLIC COMMENTS Scott Hettrick, CEO of the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce appeared and asked Senator Hernandez to expand on what he planned on talking to Mayor Garcetti about relative to the Gold Line. Senator Hernandez explained that his number one concern is the make -up of the Metro Gold Line Construction Authority Board and the dollars that are going to transportation in the Eastside of Los Angeles County; and that his conversation with Mayor Garcetti will be that the San Gabriel Valley is part of Los Angeles County and the Metro Gold Line Construction Authority Board is a regional board, not only a Los Angeles- centric board. Senator Hernandez explained the need to build a relationship if they are going to make sure all of Los Angeles County, especially the San Gabriel Valley, has access to transportation dollars. Senator Hernandez stated that he will propose to bring the transportation measure that failed back; and that he will ask Mayor Garcetti to consider changing the make -up of the Metro Gold Line Board so that all cities are better represented. Senator Hernandez thanked the City Council for meeting; that he requested this meeting because he knew very little about Arcadia and would like to build a relationship with staff and the school district to find out what issues are important in the cities he represents. a. Report and discussion regarding Senate Bill SB7 (Prevailing Wage) Senator Hernandez stated that he voted for SB7, and felt that prevailing wage was important; he indicated that charter cities are not required to undergo the prevailing wage requirement, but would lose that benefit from the state if prevailing wage was not paid; and indicated that SB7 is currently on the Governor's desk and is not sure if it will get signed. City Manager Lazzaretto provided a brief overview of S137 and the funding that could be affected; he explained that Arcadia currently demands prevailing wages on federal projects because it is required, and that for state projects, staff looks at the low bidder. b. Report and discussion regarding the State Controller's action on redevelopment City Manager Lazzaretto provided an overview on this matter. 10 -10 -13 55:0104 Senator Hernandez indicated that he would definitely look into the issue and assist Arcadia in any way possible; he stated that he has interjected with other cities regarding these types of issues and would be more than happy to go with the City to the State Controller's Office and the Governors' Office, if necessary; and offered to make any phone calls needed or lobby on the City's behalf. C. Report and discussion regarding Governor Brown's Realignment Program Senator Hernandez reported that the Feds recently looked at releasing an additional 10,000 inmates; that the Governor is not willing to release those individuals, and is looking at realigning some money from the general budget to pay for either shipping inmates out of state and /or putting them in other prisons within the State. Senator Hernandez explained that the courts may mandate that the State release additional inmates; that he is committed at the State level not to release additional inmates, and to do whatever is needed to get funds at the local level for the realignment; and that they have proposed to the courts a two year delay in order to create an independent commission to look at how to structure recidivism and inmate population. Senator Hernandez further explained that this issue originally started because the courts ruled that the inmates were not receiving proper health care, and the State had to pay billions of dollars in additional health care; the Senator mentioned that he will communicate with the City and would not vote to release prisoners even if it means voting to send them out of state or increase money from the general fund to do so. d. Report and discussion regarding Municipal NPDES (Stormwater) Program Senator Hernandez considers this an unfunded mandate that will be pushed on all the cities; that the Regional Water Quality Board feels strongly about keeping the beaches clean, but this is sometimes at the expense of the cities he represents; he stated that he agrees with having clean water, but does not know which cities will be responsible for all the bacteria levels. The Senator explained that there are various proposals and methods to get compensated; he indicated that he is looking at ways to address this and one of the ways would be when the water bond gets opened up he would not put in a vote unless it is guaranteed that the San Gabriel Valley is going to get a significant amount of resources in ground water clean -up and recycling assistance, which is what he did for the last water bond and was successful. No other business was discussed at this meeting. The meeting adjourned at 9:10 a.m. ATTEST: Mayor of th0citylisr, .. . 2 10 -10 -13