The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About06/25/04 B A K E R S F I E L D CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE MEMORANDUM June 25, 2004 TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Tandy, City Manager ~'T&~/r-'~5. FROM: Alan SUBJECT: General Information 1. Thanks to the LAFCo Board for taking the proper action with respect to postponing the decision on the Sphere of Influence for 60 days. Enclosed is a letter I wrote to the city manager of Shafter, again, volunteering us for a public meeting to negotiate and seeking a response to my compromise proposal. 2. While we have adopted our FY 2004-05 budget within the required time frame, we now wait to see what will happen at the State level. As the Governor and the Legislature continue to their negotiations, they still have not agreed on the terms of the proposed local government "protection" amendment. An article from the June 23rd Sacramento Bee is enclosed. 3. We are very pleased to announce that the Ice Sports Center has been awarded.the Beautiful Bakersfield Award in the public/private partnership category. Next yeai' it should be McMurtrey! 4. The Board of Supervisors approved the City-County animal control contract this week. It will become effective on July 1st. 5. Congratulations to Jack Leonard, who has been promoted to fill the vacant position of Building Director, due to the retirement of Dennis Fidler. Jack has served as the Assistant Building Director since 1993 and is well-equipped to step into his new position. 6. Pool attendance statistics for the past week are enclosed. McMurtrey continues to be the major draw, but there has been increased usage at the neighborhood pools. 7. Per the enclosed memo from EDCD, Victory Circle is in compliance with the terms of their loan with the City by hiring the required number of new employees in the third year of the agreement. 8. I will be out of the office next Thursday and Friday. John Stinson will be in charge, and the staff will be able to contact me, if necessary. 9. A response to Councilmember Carson's request for recommendations on suitable tYi~es of trees for planting in Lowell Park is enclosed. AT:rs cc: Department Heads Pam McCarthy, City Clerk Trudy Slater, Administrative Analyst BAKERSFIELD Alan Tandy ° City Manager June 24; 2004 Mr. John Guinn, City Manager City of Shafter 336 rpacific Avenue Shafter, CA 93263 Dear John: With the postpOnement of the LAFCO hearing until August, there are now 60 more days available. Bakersfield City Council members and staff continue to be willing to meet with a committee .from Shafter as long as such a session is public. I also assume You will be responding to my compromise proposal of June 16th. City Manager cc: Honorable Mayor and City Council Virginia Gennaro, City Attorney Jack Hardisty, Development ServiCes Director Raul Rojas, Public Works Director Florn Core, Water Resources Manager ~Bill Turpin, LAFCO Executive Officer City of Bakersfield ° City Manager's Office ° 1501 Truxtun Avenue Bakersfield, California ° 93301 (661) 326-3751 · Fax (661). 324-1850 The 'Sacramento Bee -- sacbee.com -- Budget.pact could be days away Page 1 of 3 This story is taken from Politics at sacbee.com. B u.d-g.et- .pact could be days away By Aiexa .H. Bluth and Lesli A. Maxwell-- Bee Staff Writers - (Published Sune .2-004) Key players in state budget negotiations said Tuesday that they have largely resolved most outstanding issues and that lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are three to four days from reaching an accord. With days to spare before next week's start of the new fiscal year, sources close to the talks said informal understandings have been reached in several key areas. Among them, Schwarzenegger is expected to relent on some of his proposed higher education and social services cuts, while legislators plan to agree to allow the governor to proceed with his plans to seek $460 million in state .payroll savings, sources said. Restoring some of the university cuts would deliver a key victory for Assembly Democrats. The reversal also would allow the admission in the fall of at least some of the thousands of students who were turned away from the UniverSity of California and the California State University systems. Tt also, however, would pose major logistical challenges for students and their families who would have to scramble to enroll for classes, pay for them and find housing with little .more than two months before fall classes open at UC and CSU. OffiCials at UC Berkeley and UC Davis said they don't know how many redirected students they could take on such short notice or how many would want to break commitments they have made to other schools. "Even though i't would be good news for many students, and we will cooperate to accommodate as many as we can, it would also be another disruption in their lives," said Yvonne Marsh, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs at UC Davis. CSU campuses, already accustomed to enrolling new students in the spring, might consider reinstating freshman applicants at the beginning of 2005, as well as this fall, if the governor changes course, said CSU spokeswoman Colleen Bentley-Adler. The governor also is expected to retreat, at least partly, from plans to cut.the amount the state contributes toward wages for home-care aides to the disabled. This concession, sources said, would help the-Republican governor win support for his budget from the Senate's top Democrat, Senate President Pro Tem .lohn Burt°n. Despite tentative .agreement in some areas, however, budget teams for the Legislature and the httt~ ://www. sacbee.com/content/t~olitics/v-t~rintJstorv/9752885t~- 10675851 c.html 6/23/2004 The Sacramento Bee -- sacbee.com-- Budget pact could be days away Page 2 of 3 governor budget teams were-furiously seeking middle ground Tuesday on the two largest remaining problems. They involve a .proposed constitutional amendment to protect local government funding and a 'plan to borrow to pay state pensions and cut pension benefits .for new State workers, sources said. "There are clearly a number'of issues that are still points of concern and those are being talked about," said H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for the governor's Department of Finance. Leaders still object tO a deal.the governor struck .in May. with leaders frOm cities and counties, who agreed to take $2.6-billion in cuts over two years as long as Schwar~enegger supports a constitutional amendment 'to protect their funding in the future. A bipartisan group of lawmakers and some elected officials from around the state complain that the deal would cement into law a flawed local government funding system that discourages localities from developing affordable housing. Legislative leaders and the governor have been trying to win support for a less-strict measure that still would bar the state from grabbing money from local governments to fill its own coffers, sources said; Another remaining issue dividing budget negotiators is Schwarzenegger's plan to sell $1 billion in bonds to pay state pensions. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association recently said it would abandon its legal challenge of the pension bond plans as long as lawmakers require state workers to contribute more of their paychecks for retirement benefits. The group also has asked for changes to the pension system for workers hired in the future. "We put forward a proposal that ... Will remove the potential for another round of legal challenges," Palmer said. But Democratic 'leaders dislike the notion of asking workers to pay more toward their pensions without negotiating with workers unions, and legislators are seeking alternatives to issuing the bonds. Once legislative leaders and Schwarzenegger reach accords on the remaining issues, a two- house budget committee that has not met in more than a week is expected to rubber-stamp the agreement and send a budget to the full Legislature. Once the Legislature accepts a budget, it will be sent to Schwarzenegger for his signature and line-item vetoes. Schwarzenegger spokesWoman Nargita Thompson said Tuesday the governor "expects the Legislature to work hard through Friday." "If no agreement is reached by then, he intends to work through the weekend with them to resolve it," she said. Schwarzenegger has vowed to sign a budget on time this year, a promise that many considered lofty because of the state's mammoth deficit and dismal track record. http ://www. sacbee.com/content/politics/v-r~rint/storv/9752885r~- 10675851 c.html 6/23/2004 The Sacramento Bee -- sacbee.com -- Budget pact could be days away Page 3 of 3 Governors have signed on-time budgets just twice in the past decade. But Schwarzenegger and key lawmakers have said for weeks that they expect to finish the budget on time.and that talks have gone smoothly, a departure from past years when lawmakers have been 'locked in bitter standoffs. "The governor as well as legislators from both sides of the aisle have expressed a willingness to work together," said Gabriel Sanchez, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker'Fabian NOfiez. '!We're working full time toward crafting a fiscally and socially responsible budget, and we are continuing to make progress." About the ,Writer The Bee's Alexa H. Bluth can be reached at (916) 326-5542 or ~b.I..uth~sa~cb.e.e,.f;f~.m. Go to: Sacbee / .Ba.ck_...(o_sto. rly Contact Bee..~gstomer.Se~ice /~dvertise.Online I Priyacy. Policy I Terms of Use I Help I S!te Flap News I ~S~_rt_s I _Business I Pf)!.itic5 I Opinio0. I Entertainme_n_t I Lif_e_s.~_ I _Tr_ayel I Women Cla_ssifieds I _Hom_e~s I _C_ars_ I Jobs I Sho_~.pjn~g GUIDE TO THE BEE: I Subscribe I .Contacts_ 1 Advertise I Bee Events I Community Involvement [ Sacramento Bee Web sites ] _Sacbe_e.co_m I SacTicket. com I Sacr_amento.com This article is protected by copyright and should not be printed or distributed for anything except personal use. The Sacramento Bee, 2~.00 Q St., P.O. Box 15779, Sacramento, CA 95852 Phone: (916) 321-1000 htto://www.sacbee.com/content/~olitics/v-t~rint/storv/9752885~-10675851 c.html 6/23/2004 Aquatics Programs Attendance June 18th - 25th McMurtre¥ Attendance % of total Recreation Swim 5,451 64.9% Other Programs 903 44.4% Total 6,354 60.9% Beale ReCreation Swim 676 8.1% Other Programs 124 6.1% Total 800 7.7% Jefferson Recreation Swim 966 11.5% Other Programs 145 7.1% Total 1,111 10.6% MLK Recreation Swim 509 6.1% Other Programs 79 3.9% Total 588 5.6% Silver Creek Recreation Swim 794 9.5% Other Programs 785 38.6% Total 1,579 15.1% All Pools Recreation Swim 8,396 100.0% Other Programs 2,036 100.0% Total 10,432 100.0% i B A K E R S F I E L ',ITY MANAGER'S Economic and Community Development Department MEMORANDUM June 17, 2004 TO: Alan Tandy, City Manager,, FROM: Donna L. Kunz omic Development Director SUBJECT: VICTORY CIRCLE EMPLOYMENT STATUS - YEAR 3 Agreement No. #00-207 (executed 8/16/00) between the City of Bakersfield and Victory Circle, provided a $49,906.19 repayable loan for permit fees and equipment to assist the company in their relocation. The loan is to be repaid at zero (0%) interest at the end of five years if all the terms and conditions of the agreement are met. The employment terms required, - the company would create 5 jobs in Year 3 (a total of 21 jobs over five years), - of those workers hired, at least 51% must be Iow- and moderate income individuals. The company has submitted their required third year employment report. The Victory Circle agreement estimated the number of jobs created by the third year would be 11. Through the third year of operations they have hired 16 new employees, exceeding the total number of employees estimated within the agreement. The company hired one employee during the employment year, with 100% of the single hire qualifying as Iow- and moderate income individual. Therefore Victory Circle has met the terms and conditions required in the agreement, and is not required to pay off the loan this year. I propose we send a letter like we do with other such loans, which merely reflects the ministerial action of agreement compliance for the third year of the agreement. With approval from you, we will immediately mail the letter. Cc: Victory Circle file P:\CLIENTS\Victory Circle~T memo Year 3.dot DEPARTMENT OF RECREATION AND PARKS DATE: June 25, 2004 TO: Alan Tandy, City Manager FROM: Alan Christensen, Director Recreation and Parks~ SUBJECT: TREE PLANTING AT LOWELL PARK Ref000816 (WARD 1) Councilmember Carson referred to staff a request by the Harper family to plant a tree at Lowell Park on July 8th. Please contact Councilmember Carson regarding the type of tree recommended for planting. Per Councilmember Carson's request staff reviewed the various tree species that would grow well in the Lowell Park area. Staff recommends the Valley Oak tree. This tree has the characteristics of a long life, a large tree that requires little maintenance and is a Valley native. If this tree specie is not acceptable to the Harper family some other possibilities are: Chinese Elm, Hackberry, Camphor, Italian stone pine, Sycamore, Coast Live Oak, or the Liquidambar Staff will contact Councilmember Carson with the recommendation as well as the other possible options. S:\Council Referrals 2004\Ref000816.doc June 25, 2004 (12:00PM)