Ripon City Council Minutes

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2007 - 7:00 P.M.

CLOSED SESSION:   The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m.

Counsel pertaining to Public Employee Performance pursuant to Section 54957 of the California Government Code.

ROLL CALL: Council members Elden R. Nutt, Dean Uecker, Mike Restuccia, Vice-Mayor Chuck Winn, Mayor Curt Pernice

OTHERS PRESENT: City Administrator Leon Compton, City Attorney Tom Terpstra, City Clerk Lynette Van Laar, Chief Richard Bull.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 6:50 p.m.

REGULAR MEETING

The meeting was called to order as indicated at 7:00 p.m. with Council Member Restuccia leading in the Pledge Allegiance to the Flag

INVOCATION: Tom Terpstra gave the invocation.

ROLL CALL: Council Members Elden R. Nutt, Dean Uecker, Mike Restuccia, Vice-Mayor Chuck Winn, Mayor Curt Pernice

OTHERS PRESENT: City Administrator Leon Compton, City Engineer Matt Machado, City Attorney Tom Terpstra, Planning Director Ken Zuidervaart, City Clerk Lynette Van Laar, Deputy City Clerk Jeanne D. Hall, Director of Public Works Ted Johnston, Police Chief Richard Bull, Recreation Director Kye Stevens, Bill Long, Kim Long, Stu & Brigitte Long, Thom & Diane Patton, Ginger Eskes, Mike Roberson, Andy Varian, Michelle Harris, Mark Winchell, Dennis Bitters, Navid Fardanesh.

PUBLIC DISCUSSION: No one from the public wished to speak at this time.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: MOTION: MOVED, SECONDED (WINN, NUTT) AND CARRIED BY A VOTE OF 4-0 (RESTUCCIA ABSTAINING) TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE REGULAR RIPON CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF FEBRUARY 6, 2007.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA AS POSTED (OR AMENDED):

Mayor Pernice requested that a resolution be added to the agenda to authorize the City Administrator to be the contact person for the Measure K Non-Competitive Bicycle Project (Add as Item 3D.)

MOTION: MOVED, SECONDED (RESTUCCIA, NUTT) AND CARRIED BY A VOTE OF 5-0 TO ADD ITEM 3D.

Council Member Nutt requested that Item 4B be pulled from the Consent Calendar for discussion.

Council Member Restuccia requested that Items 4I and 4J be pulled from the Consent Calendar for discussion.

Council Member Uecker requested that Item 4A be pulled from the Consent Calendar for discussion.

MOTION: MOVED, SECONDED (UECKER, RESTUCCIA) AND CARRIED BY A VOTE OF 5-0 TO APPROVE THE AGENDA AS AMENDED.

CONSENT CALENDAR, continued:

CONSENT CALENDAR, continued:

CONSENT CALENDAR, continued:

CONSENT CALENDAR, continued:

CONSENT CALENDAR, continued:

MOTION: MOVED, SECONDED (UECKER, RESTUCCIA) AND CARRIED BY A VOTE OF 5-0 TO APPROVE THE CONSENT CALENDAR.

Discussion on Item 4A.

Council Member Uecker asked why overtime on Saturday and Sunday was included.

City Engineer Machado said the work is being done on an existing roadway, and to keep the road open, sometimes the work has to be done at odd hours.

MOTION: MOVED, SECONDED (RESTUCCIA, NUTT) AND CARRIED BY A VOTE OF 5-0 TO AUTHORIZE THE MAYOR TO SIGN THE PROPOSAL FROM NEIL O. ANDERSON FOR THE TESTING AND INSPECTION SERVICES OF THE JACK TONE ROAD CLASS 1 BIKEWAY.

Discussion on Item 4B.

Council Member Nutt asked why Fireworks America sent us a 3-year contract. He also said the contract stipulates that we must use them for our next three shows for any reason. Nutt asked if we have ever used a different company.

City Administrator Compton said that this is the second company we have used.

Mayor Pernice pulled the Fireworks America contract for further review.

Discussion on Items 4I and 4J.

Council Member Restuccia said he pulled both 4I and 4J because is concerned about a couple issues. Paragraph 3 c)(iii) “any failure of Participant to occupy the Property as his/her principal address” needs to be “primary address” because some people list a P.O. box in Nevada as their principal address, but they don’t live in Nevada.

Restuccia also said that if the first mortgage is refinanced at the original loan amount, we should be able to look at this. In a down market, we could have a 100% plus loan value. As long as it is a federally insured institution, we can get a copy of the appraisal. He said he does not want a mortgage company appraisal, because those are made to order. We need to be sure the City is still in a secure position. He said that we don’t need to turn these refinances down, be we need to know what we are getting into.

Restuccia said he is concerned about 3.c)(v) “upon a refinance or home equity loan with cash out which causes the total debt to exceed 90% of the value or exceeds $25,000 and the use thereof was not first approved by the loan committee.” He said that in the banking world, there is a legal problem with telling people what they can or cannot pull money out for even if you have a lien on the property. People with pull money out to buy a boat or car because it is tax deductible under a home equity loan but not as a boat or car loan. We should not put that kind of restriction in place if people are doing tax planning. These are not necessarily low-income people. These are city employees and such.

City Attorney Terpstra said that the language change for primary residence can be made. He added that we can rework the provision about the use of the funds – that is a legitimate concern. The intent is that we don’t want to be a part of refinances in which the loan to value exceeds 90%. We want the discretion to deny those refinancing because, just depending on when you get your appraisal, and who does the appraisal, sometimes you can get really close to the actual value of that home, and by the time you factor in the foreclosure costs, and the delinquencies that are usually there by the time of the foreclosure, that 90% on paper is closer to 100% before the City has an opportunity to go after its secured interest. This has been brought about by all the changes in the lending industry, and where they are again pushing the envelope on some of these loans. They are making loans that exceed 100% of the fair market value of the property. We don’t want taxpayer loan funds to be put at risk. Some of our earlier assumptions about security have changed because of the changes in the industry.

City Administrator Compton that we have this GAP++ program to help employees get into a home in Ripon. Some employees have a lot of equity now. Do we want to work like a commercial bank and do these refinances, and let people take the equity out to buy boat, cars, and go on vacations when we are tying up taxpayer dollars when the primary goal was to get them in a residence? Or do we want to say that if you are that well off financially, why don’t you repay the loan that the City gave to get you this house, and then refinance your loan somewhere else to buy things, and then we can use the money to help someone else. The loan committee agreed that this is not what the Council intended when we set this program up.

Restuccia said Compton is right, but that this is a good incentive for an employee because 1/10th gets relieved each year for the next ten years. It is a bonus for the employee, but we need to limit it to the 90% of today’s value. He said the lien is on there and he is still not sure we can limit it.

Referring to 4J, Restuccia said that we can allow the City to be in a 4^th position, but we need to be careful because there is a provision that says “The total yearly payments of all debt secured against the property, and all associated loan and financing fees . . ” — etcetera, means that as long as people don’t increase their payment. The problem is there are a lot of hard money lenders out there that allow you to have zero payments or 2% rate and accrual rate at 10%, and you can go backwards on these loans and put the City is a bad position. I think the person should come in and qualify all over again. We need to take the time to look at these things and protect the taxpayer’s dollars.

Restuccia also read “The Owner shall be considered as occupying the Unit if the Owner is living in the Unit for at least ten months out of each calendar year.” He said he was there when this was included, but he doesn’t remember how they came up with that. He said that the primary residence should be twelve months so we need to look at this too. He suggested that if they are living there for 10 months, they could rent it for two months.

Restuccia stated that 1/3 of the debt gets relieved over time. Why is that? He said he understands why we do it for employees, buy why for the public? He said he is for these programs. People need help, but why do we relieve the debt?

Compton said there was a lot of discussion at the time, and the program has been modified several times. This provision was not in the original program. It was added as a later date because of a letter, but he does not remember who sent the letter. The committee looked at the program and decided to make this change. Restuccia said we should look at this provision again.

Restuccia also asked if there is anything in the loan documents that allow us to ask for annual financial statements and tax returns to see if the person still qualifies. Most loan documents allow you to do that.

Terpstra said he did not know. He said we can require them to come in and provide information about their qualifications, but whether it says we can require them to provide tax returns or other specific information, he would have to check the documents.

Restuccia said he wants to be sure the right people are getting the loans – the people that truly need the help. A lot of people have a lot of money with low AGIs, but they qualify while sitting on a couple of million dollars in tax free treasuries or Series E bonds. That is wrong.

Terpstra said the other issue is continuing to qualify and how to stay on top of that.

Mayor Pernice pulled Items 4I and 4J and sent them to the Affordable Housing Committee for further study. He asked Council Member Restuccia to put his questions in written form and submit them to Development Specialist Prater.

Chief Bull said his Department looked at what is causing the traffic to detour to Spring Creek Drive. The traffic and speed have increased on Spring Creek Drive. He said that Milgeo is a collector street, and the traffic needs to be brought back to Milgeo. He said that, while traffic was a problem on Milgeo before, the traffic will be reduced because other streets now go through.

Mayor Pernice asked for public comments.

Tim Hern, Ripon, said he would be disappointed to see the stop signs removed. He said stop signs should be added to Spring Creek, not put the problem back on Milgeo.

End of public comments.

Chief Bull said his first concern is for safety, and if was not a good idea, he would not do it. He said that speed has gone down. Milgeo is more residential and less rural.

Council Member Nutt said he would like to see a sign on Spring Creek.

City Engineer Machado said that much of Spring Creek is still in the county so we cannot add signs there. Milgeo is a wider street with striping, so it is designed to handle the traffic. Spring Creek is a narrow, winding street with no striping.

Chief Bull said he will do a study on Spring Creek after the stop signs have been down on Milgeo for sixty days.

MOTION: MOVED, SECONDED (WINN, NUTT) AND CARRIED BY A VOTE OF 5-0 TO APPROVE CHANGING TWO 4-WAY STOP-SIGN INTERSECTIONS EACH TO 2-WAY STOP-SIGN INTERSECTIONS AT MILGEO AT CYPRESS POINT AND MILGEO AT AZALEA STREET, ALLOWING TRAFFIC TO FLOW ON MILGEO AVENUE.

DISCUSSION ITEMS, continued:

Chief Bull showed videos of the thermal images to show how much detail can be seen. He said that these spotlights can be mounted on the cars used for the graveyard or swing shift. The thermal imager works through fog and smoke. He said this will help prevent vehicle burglaries. He said the thermal imager can detect cars that have been recently used because they are still warm.

Mayor Pernice asked for public comment.

Thom Patten, Ripon, said he is always concerned about diminishing liberties, but he could see in the image that the person was carrying a weapon. He said that anything that protects our officers is good.

Bill Long, Ripon, asked if the Department really needs 10 spotlights.

End of public comments.

Chief Bull said the spotlights will be used only on swing shift or graveyard, so that is only half our vehicles. The question is how to do our job the most effectively.

Vice Mayor Winn said that networking is more effective.

Council Member Nutt said that the bad guys are waiting in the dark. Anything that helps a police officer is a great thing.

Mayor Pernice said that the more tools we can give them, the safer we are.

MOTION: MOVED, SECONDED (PERNICE, NUTT) AND CARRIED BY A VOTE OF 5-0 TO APPROVE THE PURCHASE OF 10 THERMAL IMAGER SPOTLIGHTS AND AWARD THE SOLE-SOURCE BID TO AUTOLIV NORTH AMERICA.

DISCUSSION ITEMS, continued:

City Engineer Machado said the City has some grant money for this project, and the rest is already in the budget.

Council Member Uecker asked if we have worked with this company before.

Machado said the City has worked with him on several projects.

Mayor Pernice asked for public comments.

There were no comments from the public at this time.

MOTION: MOVED, SECONDED (RESTUCCIA, UECKER) AND CARRIED BY A VOTE OF 5-0 TO ACCEPT THE BID AND AWARD THE CONTRACT FOR THE JACK TONE ROAD CLASS 1 BIKEWAY TO GEORGE REED, INC.

REPORTS

City Administrator: No Report

City Attorney: No Report

City Engineer: No Report

Planning Director: Zuidervaart said that the Council of Governments wants to present a blueprint plan to determine how California will develop between Bakersfield and Redding as the population grows. A presentation will be given on March 1, between 6:30 and 8:30 at the Community Center to give the public a chance to give input.

Retiring Planning Director Ernie Tyhurst said that this was his last day with the City of Ripon after 31 years, 3 months, and 20 days. He said he has missed 10 Christmas days, 8 Thanksgivings, and many birthdays, but he would do it again to serve the community. He said the benefits are memories for the rest of his life. Tyhurst said there were many challenges, some things accomplished, some things unfinished, but he hopes he left the City a better place. He said he has confidence that Zuidervaart can do the job. Tyhurst thanked the Council for the opportunity to serve.

Vice Mayor Winn said he is proud of the whole staff, and thanked everyone for their hard work.

Chief of Police: Bull demonstrated a new fingerprint scanner that the Department now has. He said officers can take a fingerprint when on patrol, and within 40 seconds they will have an identity if the person is in the database. He said that Ripon is the second agency in California to have this capability, and it was ready to work immediately because we have the MESH system.

Recreation Director: Stevens said he has made contacts about other locations for the dog park. He received a positive response from the county, but not from the Corps of Engineers.

Director of Public Works: No Report

City Council: Restuccia resigned from the Audit Review Committee stating he has a conflict of interest.

Winn said he is working with Frank Ferral on the recycling program. They have reduced the hauling costs which increased the revenues to the school by $1,000 each month. He said they are working on adding more items to what can be recycled.

Winn said he has received a lot of interest from the media regarding retail store aisle widths. He said this issue is not about Wal-Mart, but about all retail. He said he is not trying to micro-manage stores, but to make them safer.

Mayor Pernice said it is difficult to see Ernie Tyhurst leave. Pernice also announced that this is City Engineer Matt Machado’s last meeting and his last day is Friday. Pernice said that City Administrator Compton said he never met an engineer as talented at Matt. Machado is leaving to work for Stanislaus County.

City Engineer Machado said he appreciates everyone, and that a job is a job, but the people make it special. He thanked the Council for the opportunity to work for the City of Ripon.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY:

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.

Ripon Community Redevelopment Agency Minutes

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2007

AFTER COUNCIL MEETING

ROLL CALL: Directors Elden R. Nutt, Dean Uecker, Michael P. Restuccia, Vice-Chairman Chuck Winn, Chairman Curt Pernice.

OTHERS PRESENT: Executive Director Leon Compton, City Engineer Matt Machado, City Attorney Tom Terpstra, Secretary Ken Zuidervaart, City Clerk Lynette Van Laar, Deputy City Clerk Jeanne D. Hall, Director of Public Works Ted Johnston, Police Chief Richard Bull, Recreation Director Kye Stevens, Bill Long, Kim Long, Stu & Brigitte Long, Thom & Diane Patton, Ginger Eskes, Mike Roberson, Andy Varian, Michelle Harris, Mark Winchell, Dennis Bitters, Navid Fardanesh.

PUBLIC DISCUSSION: No one from the public wished to speak at this time.

CONSENT CALENDAR

MOTION: MOVED, SECONDED (NUTT, WINN) AND CARRIED BY A VOTE OF 4-0 (RESTUCCIA ABSTAINING) TO APPROVE THE CONSENT CALENDAR.

Marshall Linn, Urban Futures, gave a PowerPoint Presentation regarding the City’s Tax Allocation Bonds recommending that the time-limit be extended for the receipt of tax increment by 3 years with SB1045 and SB1096 amendments, refund the Agency’s Tax Allocation Bonds of 2000, and include a new money component to raise approximately $4.1 million of new money, non-housing proceeds and $1.5 million in escrowed proceeds.

Mayor Pernice asked for public comment.

No one from the public wished to speak at this time.

MOTION: MOVED, SECONDED (WINN, UECKER) AND CARRIED BY A VOTE OF 5-0 TO APPROVE REFUNDING THE 2000 TAX ALLOCATION BOND FOR THE PURPOSE OF ANNUAL DEBT SERVICE SAVINGS TO THE AGENCY AND TO GENERATE NEW MONEY FOR FUTURE REDEVELOPMENT PROJECTS.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.