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Home My WebLink About12/10/04 B A K E R S F I E L D CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE MEMORANDUM December 10, 2004 TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council FROM: Alan Tandy, City Manager /~TD.,./r-',~. SUBJECT: General Information 1. We are quietly doing work in-house'on planning for the expansion of Wastewater Treatment Plant #3. We have had to accelerate it, because the rapid growth in its service area has used up its capacity sooner than was originally projected. State regulations are increasing all the time on discharge requirements. Finally, land values in the area are rapidly increasing due to the economic times. The bottom line - this will be the most expensive project the City has ever done. The sources of retiring the debt will be sewer connection fees. Increases in those rates will be required. 2. City finance and budget staff attended a meeting in Visalia this week related to a new financing program being offered in conjunction with the League of California Cities and CSAC to assist cities and counties in dealing with State budget captures. California Communities (a JPA of Cities and Counties) plans to issue' bonds to purchase Vehicle License Fee (VLF) gap receivables (owed to local agencies by the State and payable in 2006) from local agencies at a discounted rate of around 90% of their value. This receivable is the result of VLF payments held back in 2003 and, regardless of when we receive repayment, it would be considered one time monies. Potentially, this would allow agencies to receive funds owed by the State now (at about 90 cents on the dollar), rather than depending on repayment by the State in two years or later. Staff is continuing to investigate the details of the program to see if it has any applicability for our city. 3. We have retained a search firm for the Recreation and Parks Director recruitment. We project advertising,, etc. for awhile, with the first steps of the substantive process to be in February or March. 4. The City telephone system, in our rapidly changing technological environment, has become a thing of the past. Pads for key system elements are no longer available. We are beginning the process of looking at new technologies. 5. As you are aware, building activity in Bakersfield continues at an extremely high rate. A chad is enclosed from Development Services showing the issuance of building permits, by month, for the past 8 years. You will note that permits issued in FY 2004/05, to date, far exceed those from the same time period in previous years. ' (Over) Honorable Mayor and City Council December 10, 2004 Page 2 6. An update from EDCD regarding the use of Section 108 funds for southeast Bakersfield projects is enclosed. We are within a few months of successfully closing out the project. 7. The Wayside Playground rehabilitation project has been completed. A memo from Alan Christensen with information on the new equipment that was installed is enclosed. 8. The Recreation and Parks Department recently introduced on-line registration as an option for people to sign up for classes and activities. Information about the new service is attached. 9. A response to a Council request is enclosed: Councilmember Salvaq.qio · Update on the block wall on Garcia Court. AT:rs cc: Department Heads Pam McCarthy, City Clerk Trudy Slater, Administrative Analyst City. of Bakersfield Total Monthly Permits by Fiscal Year 1,40O 1,200 1,000 800 600 400 200 ........... JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN FY 97/98 FY 98/99 · , FY 99/00 . , FY 00/01 C FY01/02 , ~ ,FY02/03 .I. FY03/04 ~ ,FY04/05 P:~Annual Fee ReviewWlO PERMIT DA TA ~05 MoPermitHist by FY..xls 12/10/2004 10:08 AM BAKERSFIELD Economic and Community Development Department MEMORANDUM TO: Alan Tandy, City Managerf-X,l,~Cu~ December 3, 2004 FROM: Donna L. Kunz, Economic Development Director SUBJECT: Status of Remaining Section 108 Funds for S.E. Bakersfield The following is a summary of active projects to date relating to the use of Section 108 funds for Southeast Bakersfield: · California Avenue Streetscape: $413,500 budgeted - Installation of median streetscape, sidewalk and lighting improvements on California Avenue from Union Avenue to Washington Street. Construction started in September and is scheduled to be completed by January 1. · Brundage Lane Streetscape: $325,000 budgeted -Install median streetscape, sidewalks and lighting improvements from Chester Avenue to Union Avenue. Curb, gutter, and sidewalk work was completed July 2004. Installation of street lights to start in early January 2005 and completion by mid March 2005. · Union Avenue Streetscape: $61,500 budgeted - Install street lighting improvements on Union Avenue between Terrace Way to 4th Street. Construction is scheduled to , start in early January 2005 and to be completed by mid March 2005. The Section 108 HUD contract deadline for City expenditure of the above funds is December 31, 2004. The City recently requested a 6 month deadline extension from HUD. Staff anticipates a written reply by the end of the year. · Career Counseling/Training Center Facility: $200,000 - Funds were allocated for a job/career training center to be located on Housing Authority of the County of Kern (HACK) property at East California Avenue. However, recent correspondence from HACK indicates that due to cutbacks in state and federal funding, the S.E. training center is not be feasible at this time. The Section 108 HUD contractual deadline for City expenditure of these funds is January 3'1, 2005. To preserve these loan funds, a letter requesting reprogramming of the $200,000 to an existing Section 108 eligible pool project and a deadline extension to July 1,2005, was mailed to HUD in early September. To date no official written reply from HUD Washington has been received. Staff anticipates a written reply by the end of the year. xc: Raul Rojas, Public Works Director Alan Christensen, Interim Recreation and Parks Director S:\Section 108 Documents\SEActivityUpdateDec04.doc Recreation &Parks om .. ~ CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE DATE: December 9, 2004 TO: Alan Tandy, City Manager FROM: Alan Christensen, Director Recreation and Parks SUBJECT: Wayside Playground Equipment Project Wayside Park Playground rehabilitation project has been completed. All of the old - playground equipment and concrete were removed from the site and new equipment installed. This project was funded by CDBG in the amount of $210,000. The project includes an area that has a composite structure for 2-5 year old children and another area for the 5-12 year old children. Amenities include a play structure, slides, swings, handicapped accessible surfacing in the play area and a shade structure. A safety audit was performed by an outside consultant on all of the newly installed equipment and surfacing. It has passed all state and federal safety guidelines for playground equipment. RECEIVED' DEC 1 0 2004 CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE MEMORANDUM December 9, 2004 TO: Alan Tandy, City Manager FROM: Alan Christensen, Director of Recreation and Parks/~j / ~ SUBJECT: On-line Class Registration Recreation staff sent letters to regular customers introducing on-line registration and payment for recreations classes and activities. Each customer has a user name (area code and phone number) and password (first name) assigned to them for use 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We hope this service will reduce the number of trips made to our offices and make registration and payment easier for our customers. Attached is a copy of the letter. B A K E R S F I E L D ® 1990 November 19, 2004 Dear Customer: Re: ONLINE ACTIVITY REGISTRATION NOWAVAILABLE! We-a¥~-lS-leased-to-annou nce~th at-the-Gity-of-Bake rsfield;-Recreation-and-Parks Department is now offering you, our customer, ONLINE registration for your favorite classes or activities 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! You can access WebTrac through our city web site address which is located at www.bakersfieldcity.us and do the following: 1) Go to the blue tool bar at the top of the page and click on "ONLINE SERVICES." 2) Select "Recreation & Parks Registration." 3) Click on "Go to Online Re,qistration" (at the bottom of the page in blue type). 4) Enter your USERNAME which is your area code and home phone number with no hyphen or spaces. 5) Enter your PASSWORD which is your first name. For your convenience, enclosed is the Winter 2004 and Spring 2005 Activities pamphlet. This information is also located on the city website listed above. We-bo? ' t ' ' f-y ' , feel free to contact our office at (661) 326-FUNN. Sincerely, Recreation and Parks Department Enclosure "We create a quafity community through people, parks, and programs." RECREATION AND PARKS 900 Truxtun Avenue · Suite 100 · Bakersfield · California ° 93301 (661) 326-FUNN · Fax (661) 852-2140 f~TY MANAGER'S OFFICE B A K E R S F I E L D PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT CITY OF BAKERSFIELD MEMORANDUM December 7, 2004 TO: ALAN TANDY, CITY MANAGER FROM: RAUL M. ROJAS, PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR ~ j SUBJECT: UPDATE - BLOCK WALL ON GARCIA COURT Council Referral ft967 Councilmember Salvaggio requested staff respond in writing to Doda Omelaz and address her concerns in detail regarding the hole in the cul-de-sac block wall on ~ Garcia Court. The fence covering the opening in the block-wall at Garcia Court and Panama Lane has been installed. A narrow gate had to be installed so that the Parks Department could get to a water valve located inside the new fenced area. The Parks Department will put a lock on the gate. REFERRAL 967 GARCIA COURT BLOCK WALL_Update.doc ,'