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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/02/2000 BAKERSFIELD e Patricia J. DeMond Jacquie Sullivan AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT LEGISLATIVE AND LITIGATION COMMITTEE Special Meeting Thursday, March 2, 2000 1:15 p.m. City Manager's Conference Room 1. ROLL CALL Called to order at 1:20 p.m. Members present: Councilmember David Couch, Chair Councilmember Patricia DeMond - (leaving at 2:40 p.m.) Councilmember Jacquie Sullivan - (arriving at 2:20 p.m.) 2. ADOPT JANUARY 31, 2000 AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Adopted as submitted. 3. PUBLIC STATEMENTS Debbie Taylor spoke regarding the draft "Guide to the Annexation Process" and that on the whole she thought the City Clerk's office did a good job. She made suggestions on clarifying language, improving the sample written protest form, and others. Barbara Fields stated that the City should pass an ordinance on annexation, not a resolution. She wanted the way protests are counted to be defined and the same process used for all annexations and made several suggestions on the types of information that should be shared with people before an area is annexed. She further urged that the time be taken to do things the correct way so that everyone understands what's going on. AI)OPI'E]) ~ SUBMT~['~I~:I)ON MARCH 23, 2000 Agenda Summary Report Legislative and Litigation Committee March 2, 2000 Page 2 Ginger Mello spoke regarding the draft "Guide to the Annexation Process" suggesting changes and pointing out what she felt were needed corrections. Liz Keogh spoke about past annexation efforts, indicating she felt the City needs to pass an ordinance, not a resolution, on annexation and develop uniform procedures. 4, DEFERRED BUSINESS A. REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION REGARDING DRAFTING AN ORDINANCE OR RESOLUTION OUTLINING THE ANNEXATION PROCESS WITH CONSIDERATION OF SUGGESTIONS FROM THE ANNEXATION TASK FORCE Councilmembers Couch and DeMond responded to questions and statements made by the speakers. Annexation areas must be contiguous to the City; one area can be combined with another area (not necessarily contiguous to each other) in the annexation process. A current council cannot bind a future council's action either in an ordinance or a resolution. Annexation protests can be filed both as a landowner and as a registered voter but will only be counted one way (as required by state law). The governing body (the City) elects the manner of determination and it views what the votes are from the standpoint of equity. This decision needs to be made by Council on a case by case basis. In the Palm-Olive annexation, landowner basis was used as it required a lower threshold for residents to meet; residents were unable to meet the threshold to stop the process. Considerable discussion ensued on the difference between a resolution and an ordinance. City Attorney Bart Thiltgen explained that an ordinance is a law that generally applies to the actions of citizens whereas a resolution is a policy decision of the Council and generally directs staff to follow certain procedures. He used the example of passing the budget by resolution. Both a resolution and an ordinance are binding and take Council action to reverse. Councilmember Couch directed City Attorney Thiltgen to send a letter to attendees who have provided their names and addresses explaining his thoughts on a resolution vs. an ordinance. He further directed staff to send Mrs. Barbara Fowler a copy of the tapes of the committee meeting and the agenda summary report. Suggestions made by presenters will be incorporated into the research to be completed by staff in refining the draft annexation guide. Agenda Summary Report Legislative and Litigation Committee March 2, 2000 Page 3 Other topics discussed included: setting a minimum standard (higher than that required by Cortese-Knox) while allowing Councilmember individuality in raising that standard; larger size than required legal notices; required wording in announcements; extended legal noticing times; individually noticing each owner in a proposed annexation area; what types of annexation should be included in a resolution ( inhabited vs. uninhabited, size, resident requested, etc.); providing a Council- approved "guide" on the City's website and at the City Clerk's Office; and the possibility of running annexation related public hearing notices on KGOV. Development Services Director Jack Hardisty indicated he would provide to the Committee a chart which showed the flow of the time line being discussed relating to the annexation process. Councilmember Couch directed minutes of this meeting be sent to meeting attendees who signed in. He also asked Mrs. Fields if the City Council adopted a resolution that had everything they wanted in it and staff followed it to a "T," would that be enough? The answer was "no"; they wanted it in an ordinance. City Attorney Thiltgen explained Cortese-Knox (state law) guides the legal annexation process used in California, and the City of Bakersfield is legally preempted from modifying such process in any manner. The City can establish procedures to be followed in pre-legal processes used by the City; thus, a resolution would be applicable in a pre-legal process as the legal process is covered by state law. He explained staff was continuing to work on a proposed guide to the annexation process for which a proposed resolution would direct staff to review for updating annually. This item was deferred to the meeting in April, tentatively scheduled for April 27 as there are conflicts with the meeting scheduled for April 20. 5. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 4:15 p.m. Staff Attendees: Assistant City Manager Alan Christensen; Administrative Analyst Trudy Slater; Assistant to the City Manager Darnell Haynes; City Clerk Pam McCarthy; City Attorney Bart Thiltgen; Assistant City Attorney Carl Hernandez; Development Services Director Jack Hardisty;. Other Attendees: James Burger, Reporter, The Bakersfield Ca#fornian; Ginger Mello; Liz Keogh; Barbara J. Fields; Ray Allen; and Debbie Taylor. (L&L~000302MIN.wpd)