Tag Archives: city council recap

City Council Recap for November

By Tiana Goegebuer

The November 9th, 2016 meeting was attended by Council members Clint Lorimore, Adam Rush, and Richard Simmons, as well as Mayor Pro Tem Joseph Tessari and Mayor Ike Bootsma. The invocation was led by Pastor Mark Lee from Vantage Point Church, and the Pledge was led by Clint Lorimore. There were no Presentations or Announcements, so student Liaison Natalie Diaz gave her report, and then the meeting moved to the Public Comment section.

On the Consent Calendar, all Items were approved, with a few Councilmembers having abstained due to previous absences. In the Public Hearing portion of the meeting, Item 7.1 was passed 4-0, and Item 7.2 was approved 4-0. In the City Council Business section, Item 8.1 was passed 4-0, Item 8.2 was discussed, and the Council provided direction to the Staff.

The meeting adjourned with closing statements by the City Manager, City Staff, and City Councilmembers.

On Monday November 28th, 2016, the Eastvale City Council held a special meeting, which was attended by Council members Clint Lorimore, Adam Rush, and Richard Simmons, as well as Mayor Pro Tem Joseph Tessari and Mayor Ike Bootsma. Mayor Bootsma led the Pledge, and then the meeting moved directly into the City Council Business portion of the meeting.

The special meeting was called in order to discuss a 45-day ordinance previously put in place by the Eastvale City Council that would help to regulate the personal indoor cultivation of marijuana, as well as ban its cultivation outdoors.

According to the November 28th, 2016 City Council Agenda, “The Ordinance became effective when Proposition 64 passed on the November 8, 2016 statewide general election. Ordinance No. 16-09 will expire on December 10, 2016 unless extended by the City Council.” Thus, the purpose of the meeting was to determine whether or not to extend the ordinance.

City Staff recommended that the Council extend Interim Urgency Ordinance, thus “regulating personal cultivation of marijuana and banning outdoor personal cultivation” for 22 months and a number of days. After that period of time, the Council would revisit the ordinance and consider extending the ordinance for another year. The extension of the ordinance would not limit the Council from creating a permanent ordinance at any given time.

There is a permit process through the City that a person must go through in order to grow personal marijuana, and the maximum number of plants allowed per household is six.

The Council motioned to approve the Staff recommendation, and it passed 5-0.

City Council Meeting

By Tiana Goegebuer

The September 14th 2016 City Council Meeting was attended by Council members Clint Lorimore, Adam Rush, and Richard Simmons, as well as Mayor Pro Tem Joseph Tessari and Mayor Ike Bootsma. The invocation was led by Pastor Rob Norris from The Crossings Church.

Cub Scout Pack 803 lead the Pledge of Allegiance before presenting awards to Ike Bootsma, Richard Welch, and Jane Anderson for their work and dedication to the City. Student Liaison Natalie Diaz updated the Council on the local school’s upcoming events before the meeting progressed to the next Item on the agenda.

During the Public Comment section, multiple residents came forward to express their concerns about “birthing hotels,” where foreign mothers allegedly give birth with the purpose of having a child born as a U.S. Citizen. The residents claimed that there are approximately 12 apartments and 16 houses in Eastvale being used as a birthing hotels. They cited concerns about the safety, health, and even the effect on the housing market that these “businesses” will have on the community in the present as well as the future. In response to the statements made by the residents, the Council asked that the City Staff provide some form of report on the investigations and actions that are currently taking place to try and combat the problem and present the information at a future City Council Meeting.

After the Public Comment’s, the meeting moved to the Consent Calendar, and Item 6.1 was continued so that Staff could make amendments to previous minutes.

The Council then proceeded to 8.1, which authorized the Eastvale Chamber of Commerce to host the 2017 State of the City Address. It was approved 5-0.

8.2 authorized City Staff to spend the amount of $10,000.00 to administer the Military Banner Program. It was passed 5-0.

Item 8.3, the Chandler/Selby Project Award was passed 5-0.

8.4 was passed 5-0 in favor of awarding a contract to Econsolutions for Economic Development Consulting Services and authorized the City Manager to execute the necessary documents.

The City Manager, Staff, and Council Members presented reports before the meeting closed at 8:23 p.m.

 

 

DB City Council Meeting

By Natalie Kim

Diamond Bar – The October 4 Diamond Bar Council meeting began with several presentations. First, the Council presented Captain Jeff Scroggin with a City Tile, thanking him for his years of service at the Diamond Bar/Walnut Sheriff station. Although the Council was disappointed to bid farewell to the Captain, they wished him well in his future. Captain Scroggin introduced his replacement, Captain Al Reyes. Captain Scroggin praised the new Captain’s devotion, hard work, and ability. Captain Scroggin also assured residents that, as Captain Reyes lives very nearby, his ideals and the ideals of residents will be very much in line. The Council also presented See’s Candies with a City Tile, recognizing the store as the City’s Business of the Month for the month of October, 2016.

Next, the City Manager introduced Deputy German Perez, also a new addition to the Diamond Bar/Walnut Sheriff’s station. The City Manager also updated the Council on Diamond Bar’s Restaurant Week. Twenty restaurants are participating in the City’s Restaurant Week, featuring a wide variety of cuisines and special deals only available from the week of October 8-24.

Following the public comments, the City Manager read the schedule of future events, which consisted of Diamond Bar’s Restaurant Week from October 8-24; a Planning Commission meeting on October 11; the first meeting of the General Plan Advisory Committee on October 12; a Traffic and Transportation meeting on October 13; Barktoberfest on October 15; and a City Council meeting on October 18.

The Council then approved most items on the consent calendar, which included the minutes from the City Council meeting of September 29; minutes from the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting of July 28; minutes from the Planning Commission meeting of July 26; ratification of a check register totaling $1,548,966.28; the Treasurer’s statement for the month of August, 2016; a joint resolution with the board of supervisors of the county of los Angeles, the City Council of the city of Pomona and the city of Diamond Bar, approving and accepting the negotiated exchange of property tax revenue resulting from  the reorganization of territory known as City of Pomona Reorganization 2015-14, consisting of detachment of territory of from the city of Diamond Bar and annexation to the city of Pomona and withdrawal from the County Public Library System; a professional engineering services contract for on-call soils and geotechnical engineering services with Leighton and Associates, Inc., Ninyo and Moore, and Willdan Geotechnical for a period of three years; and a on-call traffic and transportation engineering services contract with DKS Associates, Fehr & Peers, Iteris, Kimley Horn, Sasaki Transportation Services, and Stantec for a period of three years. The Council tabled the an item to appropriate traffic impact mitigation funds in the amount of $20,000 to the fiscal year capital improvement program budget, adopting a resolution approving plans and specifications for the construction of the Grand Ave./Diamond Bar Blvd. street clock and median improvements project  to CEM Construction Corp., to be resumed upon completion of the general plan update. Following a brief public hearing, the Council also adopted a resolution amending the City’s Community Development Block Grant Program for the fiscal year of 2016-17 to reprogram funds to the Morning Canyon ADA Parkway Improvements Project from the CDBG Unallocated Balance in the amount of $225,000.

After individual reports and comments, the Council adjourned until October 18, at 6:30 p.m. at the Government Center Auditorium.

Council Recap

By Tiana Goegebuer

The August 10th, 2016 City Council Meeting was attended by Council members Clint Lorimore, Adam Rush, and Richard (Dickie) Simmons, as well as Mayor Pro Tem Joseph Tessari and Mayor Ike Bootsma.

Natalie Diaz, the Student Liaison from Eleanor Roosevelt High School, kicked off the meeting by presenting her report to the Council. She discussed the quickly-approaching first day of school and back to school nights, as well as the progress of the STEM program at ERHS.

In the Public Comment section of the meeting, a representative of Dr. Augustine Ramirez Intermediate School commented on the construction taking place near the campus. He expressed his appreciation to the city for doing a great job working with the schools and construction companies to make after school pick-ups as smooth as possible.

Both items on the Consent Calendar (6.1-6.2) were approved 5-0.

There were no Public Hearings, so the topic moved to 8.1. The Council discussed making recordings of each meeting available to the public via YouTube, Vimeo, or SoundCloud. Recordings of the meetings are currently available on the City website, but the new platform would allow listeners to toggle and listen to the portions of the meetings they would like to focus on, instead of having to listen to its entirety. Meaning, citizens who were unable to attend the meeting physically to would be able to hear the entire thing or just parts of it at their own discretion. The Council approved the use of YouTube as a platform to share the City Council Meetings 5-0.

The City Manager and Staff Members encouraged residents to attend Eastvale Day on September 10th at the LA County Fair. There will be an Eastvale Community Day parade at noon for which Eastvale Dignitaries will be in attendance, along with the 2016 Eastvale Community Hero, Jane Anderson. It was also discussed that the City had received a number of phone calls regarding the dead-end on Riverboat Drive, west of Hamner Avenue. The calls prompted the City to discuss looking into additional options that would alert drivers to the fact that it is not a through street.

The meeting ended with closing statements by the Council members.

The August 24th, 2016 City Council Meeting was attended by Council members Clint Lorimore, Adam Rush, and Richard Simmons, as well as Mayor Pro Tem Joseph Tessari and Mayor Ike Bootsma. The invocation was led by Pastor Ed Moreno from New Day Christian Church.

The Public Safety Commission updated the Council on their upcoming projects, which included updates on grant status, construction progress, and a few of the items on their agenda for the coming month. Next, Student Liaison Natalie Diaz gave her report on the events taking place in the local schools. She started by saying that “The school year is in full swing,” and then began listing some of the unique activities that each school will be hosting over the course of the next few weeks.

There were no Public Comments, so the meeting progressed to the Consent Calendar. Item’s 6.1 through 6.8 were all approved 5-0.

The meeting then progressed to the Public Hearings section of the meeting, and item 7.1, the Verizon Cell Tower Appeal, was presented. The applicant, Kevin Sullivan, a Verizon representative, presented the project and the information requested by the Councilmembers at the July 13th meeting. In a PowerPoint, Sullivan presented the design plans for a 50 ft. cell tower disguised as a palm tree that would be built on Grapewin Street. He discussed the improved coverage for Verizon customers that would be a result of the new facility, and said that the tower would not result in any material visual impact. At the request of the Council at the July 13th meeting, Sullivan also presented information on a few possible alternative sites for the facility. After Verizon evaluated the other locations, the conclusion was that from both a technical and planning standpoint, the Grapewin site was still the most effective and would cause the least impact to the surrounding communities. With that, Verizon asked that the City approve their requests to move forward with the project.

With the conclusion of the presentation, Mayor Bootsma opened the floor to comments from the public. Three citizens stepped forward one after another to state their support for the project, followed by three citizens who were opposed to it. Some of the concerns stated by those opposed included the possibility of the tower being a visual nuisance, that the antennas would not withstand the high wind speeds, and that there were better alternative locations available. Sullivan, representing Verizon again, addressed the concerns by saying that the structure would be sound and would look the way it was presented to the Council. After further questions and comments by the Councilmembers, the item was approved 3-2, with Simmons and Tessari voting against it.

Item 8.1 was approved 5-0. The Council then moved to Item 8.3, which was a report on the Roadway Adoption Program’s progress. The program allows local groups, people, and organizations the opportunity to adopt local streets and keep them litter free over a 1-year time period. The responsibilities of the individual or group would be to remove litter 6 times per year and write a report after each clean-up event. After 2 successful clean-up days, the “owner” of the roadway would have their name placed on a recognition sign on that street. Councilman Simmons and a citizen expressed concerns that the program would be used as a commercial endeavor that businesses would use as an avenue for advertisement. The Council voted to approve the draft of the Program 4-0 (Tessari had to step out to take a phone call), as long as the staff looked into ways to prevent the program from being used for advertisements.

The next Item on the agenda, 8.2, opened a discussion about the future of the Eastvale Community Foundation, which recently had 4 officer positions vacated, leaving the Foundation unable to conduct business. As a result, the Council voted to suspend the Foundation, have the City staff take over the books as well as the military banner program, and cancel this year’s golf tournament, and it passed 5-0.

The meeting concluded with closing statements by the City Manager, City Staff, and the Councilmembers. It adjourned at 9:45.