City Council Meeting

CITY OF GALT MINUTES REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers, 380 Civic Drive, Galt, California Tuesday, March 15, 2016, 6:45 pm The Mayor called the meeting to order at 6:45 pm. Council Members present: Payne, Heuer, Campion, Powers and Crews. Staff members present: City Manager Palazzo, City Clerk Settles, and City Attorney Rudolph. ADJOURNED TO CLOSED SESSION: 2. CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL – EXISTING LITIGATION pursuant to Government Code section 54956.9(d). Name of case: City of Galt v. 7 Starr LLC, et al, Sacramento Superior Court Case No. 34-2014- 00173138. RECONVENED TO OPEN SESSION: The Council reconvened to open session at 7:00 pm at which time the City Attorney announced there was no reportable action. The meeting was called to order at 7:07 pm by the Mayor. Council Members present: Payne, Heuer, Campion, Powers and Crews. Staff members present: City Manager Palazzo, City Clerk Settles, City Attorney Rudolph, Community Development Director Stewart, Interim Finance Director Boyd, Human Resources Administrator Islas, Parks & Recreation Director Solis, Interim Police Chief Drummond and Public Works Director Winkler. OPENING CEREMONIES - Silent prayer was observed, the flag salute was recited and the City Clerk read the video statement. AGENDA APPROVAL, ADDITIONS AND/OR DELETIONS: None. PRESENTATIONS: None. PUBLIC COMMENTS - The Clerk announced that members of the audience could address the Council on any matter which is not on the agenda but within the subject matter jurisdiction. She advised the location of the speaker sheets, asked that speaker sheets be presented to the clerk prior to addressing council and advised that each person would have a five-minute time limit to speak. Al Baldwin invited the community out to the Eggstravaganza on Saturday, March 19, 2016. CONSENT CALENDAR - Consisting of Items 1 through 4. 1. SUBJECT: Minutes of the regular meeting of March 1, 2016. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Accept the minutes as submitted. GALT CITY COUNCIL MINUTES REGULAR MEETING OF MARCH 15, 2016 PAGE 2 2. SUBJECT: City of Galt Warrants. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Approve the warrants. 3. SUBJECT: Single Audit Report Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2015. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Accept the City of Galt Single Audit Report for fiscal year ended June 30, 2015. 4. SUBJECT: Treasurer’s Report for period ending December 2015. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Accept the Treasurer’s Report as submitted. ACTION: Upon a motion by Campion, seconded by Powers, the consent calendar was approved by a unanimous roll call vote. SCHEDULED MATTERS - PUBLIC HEARING: None. REGULAR CALENDAR: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT: 1. SUBJECT: Annual 2030 Galt General Plan and Housing Element Progress Report for 2015. RECOMMENDED ACTION: 1) Review the Annual 2030 Galt General Plan and Housing Element Progress Report for 2015; 2) Provide an opportunity for public comment; 3) Consider the Galt Planning commission’s recommendation; 4) Direct staff to make any needed modifications to the report; and 5) By motion, accept said report and direct staff to submit it to the Governor’s Office of Planning and research and the Department of Housing and Community Development in accordance with Government Code §65400. Stewart gave the agenda report. ACTION: Upon a motion by Powers, seconded by Heuer, accepting the Annual 2030 Galt General Plan and Housing Element Progress Report for 2015 including the Planning Commission amendments and direct staff to submit it to the Governor’s Office of Planning and research and the Department of Housing and Community Development in accordance with Government Code §65400 was approved by a unanimous roll call vote. PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT: 2. SUBJECT: Adoption of Proposed Water Rates. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Adopt Resolution No. 2016-16 that the city council adopt the proposed water rate adjustments set forth in the public notice sent to customers and property owners, effective March 15, 2015; including an annual inflationary adjustment through 2020. Winkler gave the agenda report and introduced John Griffin, Contract Senior Civil Engineer, who gave the presentation. Campion requested a rate review after one year of implementation. Winkler said once the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was released a follow up memo which would include additional information on the rate implementation would be sent to Council sometime before January 2017. GALT CITY COUNCIL MINUTES REGULAR MEETING OF MARCH 15, 2016 PAGE 3 Ralph Cortez thanked the Public Works Department for their assistance understanding the meter billing. Jean Thuotte was unhappy with the meter charge. Darren Mitchell said the rate increase would affect the proposed school bonds. Richard Martin was unhappy with the metered rate. Rick Walters was unhappy with the proposed rates. Jean Thoutte wanted included on the new billing the prior reading and the current reading. ACTION: Upon a motion by Heuer, seconded by Powers, adopting the proposed water rate adjustments set forth in the public notice sent to customers and property owners, effective March 15, 2016, including an annual inflationary adjustment through 2020 failed with Payne, Campion and Crews dissenting. Heuer said the City had followed the process and needed to move forward on the rates. Powers asked for suggestions from the council members who voted against the motion. Payne and Crews wanted the forty percent fixed and sixty percent metered. Habib Isaac, Raftelis Financial Consultants, said the City would have to go through the Proposition 18 noticing again and hold a new public hearing. Rudolph said the Council could change the water rates by following the process of Proposition 218. He said one option was to adopt the rates that were brought forward under Council direction and then direct staff to move forward with the process to implement the forty percent fixed and sixty percent metered. Rick Waters said the rates were not revenue neutral. Payne said review the rates in one year and if they were not revenue neutral, adjustments could be made at that time. ACTION: Upon a motion by Payne, seconded by Heuer, adopting Resolution No. 2016-16 and re- examining the rate in one year, was approved with Campion and Crews dissenting. COMMUNICATIONS: None. CITY CLERK’S REPORT: None. COMMENTS BY STAFF: Boyd said the Finance Department received an award for excellence in financial reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association. Stewart reminded Council of the Special Meeting on March 23, 2016. Winkler said February conservation was twelve and half percent. Palazzo thanked Drummond for his time with the City. Rudolph appreciated working with Drummond and thanked him for staying for almost a year. Drummond said Galt was a great community and had a sound team. COMMENTS BY CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS/FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS GALT CITY COUNCIL MINUTES REGULAR MEETING OF MARCH 15, 2016 PAGE 4 VICE MAYOR PAYNE: said the Eggstravaganza would be “egg-citing”. COUNCIL MEMBER HEUER: thanked Chief Drummond for his leadership. COUNCIL MEMBER CAMPION: Nothing. COUNCIL MEMBER POWERS: asked to bring back discretionary funds at the next regular meeting and thanked Drummond for his time with the City. She invited the community to attend the Eggstravaganza Event on Saturday, March 19, 2016. MAYOR CREWS: thanked Chief for his service to the community. There being no further business to come before council, the mayor adjourned the meeting at 8:58 pm. Respectfully submitted, Donna Settles City Clerk