By Emily Aguilar

Eastvale – The June 10 City Council meeting was an intense one, complete with debates and worried expressions. The meeting began at 6 p.m., with Pastor Rob Norris of the Crossings church leading the group in prayer.

Before the meeting formally began, the Council had a 50-minute closed session where they discussed two litigation cases pursuant to Section 5495.9. The Council stated that there were no significant details to be presented at the moment.

With regard to Public Safety, discussion addressed the importance for the City to regulate certain commercial vehicles. It was argued that because of the heavy construction occurring in Eastvale, it was necessary to collaborate with other cities to define what vehicles are allowed to be on the road during construction.  There are two plans to adopt an appropriate code, and the Council agreed to speak about the plans in detail at a later date.

Next the Council recognized ERHS graduate, Jakob Rivera, who has served as the Student Liaison for the past year.  After Rivera was congratulated by the Council, the meeting continued with the announcement of upcoming events, including the informal tour of Reagan Elementary on June 23 (the school will “officially” open on Aug. 28); Picnic in the Park, that runs the weekend of June 26 to 28; and the Eastvale Golf Tournament to be held on Aug. 21.

There was no student liaison report.

Moving on to Public Comments, Linda Ceron from the Eastvale Chamber of Commerce took the floor to announce a Business Expo on Aug. 19 at the Eastvale Community Center.  More information on this event will be forthcoming.

Focusing on the Consent Calendar, the Council motioned to approve the meeting minutes for May 27.

For Public Hearings, Waste Management discussed increasing their rates for 2015-16 because of increases in consumer prices and green waste disposal fees.  Monthly fees will increase by $0.21.  The Council motioned approval of the decision.   The discussion then moved on to Project No. 14-1398, a plan to construct a series of homes on the northwest corner of Limonite and Harrison avenues. Originally, the blueprints allowed the plan to be set for a series of single-family homes. After some reconsideration, Stratham Homes decided to change the General Plan Amendment to include two types of single-family homes. Eastvale’s Planning Director, Eric Norris, presented the Council with three ideas for the new homes, one of which would involve 6 to 8 homes allotted onto 2,000 square feet of land, all of which would be sharing one driveway. While Norris argued the new homes would bring more citizens, there were others who argued the new homes in general would bring problems, such as additional traffic and more overflow to already impacted schools.  However, Norris upheld his belief that the houses – which would take more than two years to complete – will not cause serious problems in the City.  Also, the current Tentative Tract Map was discarded, and revisions will be discussed and updated at a later date.

There were no Old Business items.

Moving on to New Business, the Council approved resolutions for the 2015-16 fiscal year, including a new engineering design for the proposed City Hall;  WLC Architects, Inc. will be working with Eastvale City Hall Architectural and Engineering Services.  Council agreed to eventually focus on adjusting certain speed limits in the City.  The revision of landscaping regulations was not approved since the plan would not necessarily help with the conservation of water.

After New Business items, the meeting adjourned.

The June 24 City Council meeting began at 6:30 p.m., and Pastor Dennis Morales from Calvary Chapel lead the group in prayer.  Councilmen Joe Tessari and Clint Lorimore were not in attendance.

The session began with Presentations and Announcements. Mayor Pro Tem, William Link, presented a Certificate of Recognition to Jasmyne Graham, the ERHS graduate who recently became the Gatorade California Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year.  Graham, who works to be the “best she can,” excels in the 400 meter relay and 100 meter long jump, and was the 2014 track and field captain at ERHS. She will be attending USC this fall as a student athlete. Afterward, the Eastvale Community Foundation stated that they successfully brought the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Scholarship to a close, awarding $10,000 in scholarship money to Eastvale students. Although there were complications that caused the program to reach its deadline prematurely, CDBG was still able to give money to students who had applied. The Foundation also announced the Amazon Smiles Program, which is a donation program set up through Amazon.com.

The Council was then introduced to Battalion Chief Justin Scribner, who was recently employed by the Eastvale Fire Department. Scribner, who has been a Fire Captain in Riverside County since 1996, said he was “honored” to work in a “progressive new city.”

The Student Liaison Report was presented by soon-to-be ERHS senior, Julia Sung, who briefly announced that elementary schools in the district will be holding award ceremonies and promotions in late June, and River Heights was looking for donations to fund their Positive Behavior Pizza Party.

Moving on to Public Comments, Joel Seigler from the Eastvale Chamber of Commerce addressed his concerns on traffic safety in his neighborhood. He stated that due to an opening in his neighborhood, commercial vehicles have been passing through to make deliveries on his residential street.  Seigler expressed concern for the safety of children who enjoy playing in the street. The Council agreed to discuss this in further detail to come up with a solution at a later date. Next, was Bob Velker from the Chamber who announced that the Eastvale Business Expo is “a work in progress” to be set up in July. Velker said the Expo would partner with JCSD and San Antonio Medical Hospital to offer business opportunities to the public. The event will be held at the Eastvale Community Center. Noel Reyes with GM Realty then spoke on behalf of his wife to present the idea of organizing a music festival with Lewis Homes, with proceeds going to the City.  The Council agreed to look into the idea at a later date.

Three council members were absent, so the Consent Calendar was bypassed.

During Public Hearings, Council discussed the possibility of adopting a resolution to confirm a diagram for a landscaping and lighting project, which was approved.

Old Business was also bypassed, and Council moved on to New Business. The first item was a plan to repave Schleisman Road which is currently surfaced with alligator cracking, meaning that the pavement is deteriorating at alarming rates.  Construction crews will add new striping between July 13 and Aug. 21.  The project is estimated at $400,000, but the lowest bid from Hardy & Harper, Inc. came in at $333,000.  The Council approved the awarding of the contract to Hardy & Harper, Inc. and authorized the City Manager to execute the necessary documents.  The next item was a recommendation to seek a vendor to provide scanning services for the City.  There are currently 100 boxes of planning documents that need to be scanned. The project could take six months to complete and end up costing around $50,000.  The Council did not approve this recommendation.  Then, the possible adoption of a new recreational vehicle ordinance was presented, allowing RVs to park in certain locations for 72 hours – a 24-hour extension to the current limit.  Since Mayor Bootsma had originally presented the idea, the Council decided to wait for his return to further discuss it. The Council then considered an agreement with OpenGov.com, which would allow citizens to access finance documents for City projects.  The Council agreed to look into the possibilities within the next month.  Finally there was discussion about the purchase of City motorcycles and equipment, and BMW of Riverside was approved as the contact.

The meeting adjourned at 7:47 pm.