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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/13/2005 B A K E. R S F I E L D ~'~/'('~ ~~"-'~"~ Zack Scrivner, Chair Staff: Alan Christensen Sue Benham For: Alan Tandy, City Manager David Couch AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT LEGISLATIVE AND LITIGATION COMMITTEE Monday, June13, 2005 1:00 p.m. City Manager's Conference Room, Suite 201 Second Floor - City Hall, 1501 Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield, CA 1. ROLL CALL Called to Order at 1:05 p.m. Present: Councilmembers Zack Scrivner, Chair; Sue Benham; David Couch 2. ADOPT MARCH 14, 2005 AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT .Adopted as submitted. 3. PUBLIC STATEMENTS 4. DEFERRED BUSINESS A. Report and Committee recommendation regarding Illegal Dumping-- Forfeiture of Vehicles City Attorney Ginny Gennaro provided an overview on the information included in the Committee packet. The County of Kern recently passed an ordinance that allows deputy sheriffs to seize vehicles from persons who have used the vehicle as a platform from which to dump waste matter, such as used mattresses, etc. The County's ordinance was modeled after a City of Oakland ordinance allowing for the forfeiture of vehicles of persons who bought illegal drugs or solicited prostitutes from their vehicles. The City of Stockton has a similar ordinance, but it was recently challenged and found invalid because it denied due process. If Bakersfield were interested in pursuing such an ordinance, it should provide for at least two hearings. If a hearing were requested, the hearing should occur very quickly--within 48 to 72 hours. It was noted if the City adopts such an ordinance, it could still be challenged. LEGISLATIVE AND LITIGATION COMMITTEE AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Monday, June 13, 2005 Page 2 The Kern County ordinance provides that once the vehicle is seized by Code Enforcement or the Kern County Sheriff, a notice is posted and a notice is given to all the lien holders of the vehicle. If anyone receiving the notice requests a hearing,, the hearing must be held within two days. The District Attorney's Office also must send out appropriate hearing notices and Conduct hearings if necessary. Once the hearing process is finalized and the vehicle is sold, the storage costs and cost of selling the vehicle are deducted. A large percentage of the money from the sale goes to the District Attorney's Office since that office bears the cost and expenses of actually holding the forfeiture hearings. The balance goes to the County. The City Attorney explained the City could enact such an ordinance, but first staff should assess the additional staff time for the Police Department and Code Enforcement and a risk/benefit analysis should be done. It will also require cooperation from the District Attorney's Office as they most likely would be prosecuting the underlying crime. Staff suggested it would be good to have a meeting with the County to assess how their ordinance is working, and if they have been able to recover money from the vehicles they have seized versus the actual expenses incurred. The Committee requested staff to meet with the County to research if such an ordinance would be worthwhile and evaluate the risks versus the benefits. As it will take a couple of months to evaluate the County's ordinance, the information will be brought back to the Committee in August. The Committee discussed the August 8th date for the Committee meeting and unanimously voted to approve canceling the August 8th date and setting a special meeting on August 29th at 1:00 p.m. City Attorney Gennaro will report back to the Committee at the August 29th Committee meeting on the County's illegal dumPing ordinance. B. Discussion and Committee recommendation regarding RV Parking on City Streets City Attorney Gennaro explained the City's ordinance was changed about a year ago to provide if a vehicle were parked on the street for more than 72 hours, a citation could be issued and the subject vehicle' must then move 1/2 mile away or to private property for 72 hours. The Police Department has the option to issue a citation rather than tow the vehicle away as a means to educate the public. When a vehicle is towed away, it is very costly for the owner to get it back. Assistant Chief Bryan Lynn stated the citations seemed to have brought about more compliance. LEGISLATIVE AND LITIGATION COMMITTEE AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Monday, June 13, 2005 Page 3 Committee Chair Scrivner referred this back to the Committee because of the difficulty his constituents are having backing out safely when large RV's or vehicles are parked next to a driveway. City Attorney Gennaro will provide the Committee Chair with the information used by the Committee during the initial review of this issue when the ordinance Was amended with the 72 hours provision, including the survey of ordinances from other cities. Committee Chair Scrivner, who was not serving as a Councilmember during the time the ordinance was amended, will review the information and advise staff if further Committee review is needed at this time. 5. NEW BUSINESS A. Discussion and Committee recommendation on the 2005 Legislative Platform Assistant City Manager Alan Christensen pointed out two paragraphs under General Government with obsolete language regarding legislation on the 2004 ballot. It was noted if new legislative issues should emerge, the Platform could be updated to reflect current trends. Committee Member COuch made a motion to strike the two paragraphs and forward the 2005 Legislative Platform to the Council for adoption. The Committee unanimously approved the motion. B. Review and Committee recommendation on City Annexation Policy City Manager Alan Tandy provided an update. Recently a letter was received from LAFCO which explained the implementation of new rules. These rules impact different types of annexations differently. Staff has been working with LAFCO for clarification. For certain types of annexations the new rules have extended the processing time to one year and four months to as much as two' years or longer. Most infill and popular annexations are looking for services.' For example, services such as sewer to replace nonfunctional septic tanks. Two years is a long time to wait when services are needed. City Manager Alan Tandy explained the City has no control over the new LAFCO rules. In an effort to move the process along more quickly, the City Clerk was requested to go through the City's process and to mark and note where changes' could be made to eliminate duplication and suggest changes to make the City's process more efficient. LEGISLATIVE AND LITIGATION COMMI']-I'EE AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Monday, June 13, 2005 Page 4 City' Clerk Pam McCarthy provided an overview of the material provided in the packet with suggested changes to the pre-application process, hearing process, and resolution especially for areas where annexation is desired or the area is uninhabited. The suggested changes were to take out repetitive action and areas where the City no longer has the legal authority as the steps are now taken by LAFCO. For example, with the changes to State Law, LAFCO now conducts the Protest Hearing and makes the final decision regarding annexation. The last time the Committee reviewed this issue, Committee Member Couch volunteer to be a committee-of-one to work on the issue with staff and bring the information back to the Committee. He again volunteered to act in this capacity. The Committee agreed for Committee Member Couch to meet with staff and work on the details and report back to the Committee at the August meeting. 6. COMMITTEE COMMENTS 7. ADJOURNMENT , The meeting was adjourned at 2:00 p.m. Staff present: City Manager Alan Tandy; Assistant City Manager Alan Christensen; City Attorney Ginny Gennaro; City Clerk Pam McCarthy; Assistant Chief of Police Bryan Lynn; and Deputy City Attorney Allen Shaw Others Present: Reporter/camera from Channel 23 cc: Honorable Mayor and City Council S:~AC\05 Legislative&Litigation\Il 05junl3surnmanj.doc