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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1977-12-21MINUTES Council Chamber, Civic Center Huntington Beach, California Wednesday, December 21, 1977 A tape recording of this meeting is on file in the City Clerk's Office Mayor Pattinson called the adjourned regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Huntington Beach to order at 6:30 P.M. ROLL CALL Present: Bartlett, Wieder, Coen, Shenkman, Pattinson Absent: Gibbs, Siebert PUBLIC HEARING - PROPOSED CITY CHARTER REVISIONS Mayor Pattinson announced that this was the day and hour set for a public hearing to consider the revision of the City Charter of the City of Huntington Beach, as proposed by the Charter Revision Committee. He stated that some time in January an adjourned meeting would be held in order that Council could study and evaluate the proposed Charter revisions, together with the input given by the public. The City Clerk informed Council that all legal requirements for publication and posting had been met and that she had received no communications or written protests on the matter. Mayor Pattinson declared the hearing open. Aen Borcoman, City, addressed Council and stated that he would like to see the City Charter revisions voted upon point by point on the ballot. He stated that while he believed that Council members were underpaid, he had noticed marked absences at Council meetings. Mr. Borcoman made several other suggestions to Council regarding the imposed City Charter revisions. Frank L. Du&hi, City, addressed Council and spoke in favor of the City Attorney's position remaining an elected position, stating that in the past voters have decided by their votes that he should remain elective, as that way citizens can decide his competence and whether he is doing the job they want done. Mr. Dughi continued that he did not believe voters could differentiate between elected officials and appointed officials, giving reasons for his opinion. MEO RECOMMENDATIONS Mayor Pattinson stated that he had received a letter from Daryl Smith, Chairman of the H.B. Management Employees Organization Charter Revision Committee, suggesting changes in the proposed City Charter revisions, and directed that the letter be entered into the minutes; and that copies be made available should anyone require it. 917 Page #2 - Council Minutes - 12/21/77 December 20, 1977 Honorable of the City Council City of Huntington Beach 2000 Main Street Huntington Beach, CA 92648 Greeting: The Huntington Beach Management Employees organization has adopted the following key positions regarding -the proposed City Charter revisions: 1. Section 310 - City Attorney A City Attorney has a fiduciary relationship with the City Council, the legislative body that establishes City policy, and therefore we recommend that the City Attorney be appointed by the City Council. Further, we recommend that the City Council engage in open recruiting based on merit. 2. Section 321 - City Attorney Compensation The salary of the City Attorney should be set by the City Council as is all other City employees salaries. Should the City Council elect to support an amendment calling for an appointive City Attorney, we find the establishing of the City Attorney's salary by the City Council still appropriate. The Personnel Board is apart from the day to day affairs of the City and the City Council is in a much better position to review and evaluate the performance of all City employees and establish or increase salaries accordingly. Further, to empower the Personnel Board to estab- salaries, as does the proposed charter, is of questionable validit�►_in view of the 1ega1 requirement that the City Council alone has the power to establish the tax rate, set the budget, and approve all expenditures. 3. Sections 313, 314, and 315 - Elected City Comptroller. Creation of the position of elected City Comptroller is inappropriate in that it creates an additional and unnecessary level of bureaucracy. There is not only the traditional audit function currently in effect within the City, but also an internal auditor under the control of the City Administrator and the City Council. Further, an outside firm is engaged each year to conduct a complete audit of city records. Creation of an elected comptroller position would impede the operation of government as the incumbent in that position would seek to jus- tify his existence by adding staff and expanding the budget of his own depart- ment. Such an additional audit function would, in our opinion, be superfluous and wasteful of tax dollars. 4. Section 405 - Personnel System We €sel that department directors should be included in the personnel system. Removal of said directors would be detrimental to the management system of the City. Highly qualified directors operating by recognized professional standards is best accomplished through a personnel system and is quickly deters.-; orated through a political spoils system which encourages and promotes incom- petence. 1 Page #3 - Council Minutes - 12/21/77 We appreciate the opportunity to participate in the hearing scheduled for December 11, 1117, and forward these remarks to you in advance of that hearing. With regards to the remainder of the proposed charter revisions, the MEO feels that the Charter Revision Committee has made many good recommendations that we feel will be of great benefit to the City of Huntington Beach in the years to come. Very truly yours, Daryl D. Smith, Charter Revision Committee Chairman Zoe E. Ralph, City, addressed Council and stated that she concurred with most of the proposed City Charter Revisions, but regarding Section 301 - City Council Compo- sition, she would favor the idea of councilmatic districts, and gave reasons for her opinion. Regarding the elected City Treasurer, she did not understand the reference to a Comptroller, and saw no reason why the City should be deprived of being able to vote Warren Hall back into office, stating that he had been doing a fine job. Regard- ing the City Clerk, Mrs. Ralph was of the opinion that this position and all the elected positions were arranged so that the total populace could have something to say in City business. She stated that Council complains that citizens do not care enough about City business but this would take the matter out of their hands entirely. In her opinion, the City. Clerk and all the elected City officials should be kept as elected officials. With regard to Boards and Commissions, Mrs. Ralph stated that this matter was being turned over to the City Council with responsibility of those positions going to them which will again, take it out of the hands of citizens. In her opinion, the only way citizens can continue to care is by having somebody in these positions to whom they can complain. George Williams, Chairman of the City Library Board, addressed Council on behalf of the Board and stated that by unanimous action they had requested Council to consider the provisions in Section 407, and Section 607 of the Charter. Section 407 removes all Boards and Commissions in the Charter, leaving them to the various whims of each newly elected Council. Mr. Williams stated that the Library Board had no concern for the present Council, but subsequent new members could decide that the City does not need books or libraries and he was concerned that perhaps the Library Board could be eliminated. He stated that there is at present no constitutional guarantee that the Library Board would continue and this would hold true for all Boards and Commissions. Mr. Williams suggested that the City should have a constitutional guarantee to con- tinue our federal constitution of checks and balances to ensure citizen participation at all levels of Boards of Government and not leave it up to the City's newly elected Council, whereby three or four members could conceivably eliminate the Library Board, the Parks and Recreation Commission and various commissions. With regard to Special Levies, Mr. Williams stated that the 15 cents tax limit for Libraries was established in 1937. He suggested that Council consider increasing this amount; which would not, he stated, mean necessarily that it would be used but would allow the Library Board to meet future needs of the City. He suggested that the tax limit be raised more equitably with the growth and assessed valuation of the City. George C. McCracken, past Mayor of Huntington Beach was introduced by Mayor Pattinson. Mr. McCracken commended the Charter Revision Committee on their work. He stated that he believed the City Attorney should be an elected position. Among various reasons for his opinion, Mr. McCracken stated that as an elected official, the City Attorney has the chance of disagreeing with Council. Mr. McCracken also believed that the City Comptroller should be an elected position. With regard to the City Clerk, Mr. McCracken stated that he did not agree with the proposed Charter Revision. He feels that the office of the City Clerk is a place similar to that of the library, 9 Page #4 - Council Minutes - 12/21/77 hall of records, title company, etc. where citizens can come to look at whatever records they may desire. In his opinion, the previous City Clerk, Paul Jones, and the present City Clerk have both worked well with the public; handling elec- tions and various matters with which citizens are concerned. Referring to Section 402, 3 and 4, "in the absence of the City Administrator the Assistant City Admin- istrator can approve a Department Head being appointed," Mr. McCracken stated that in his opinion, should they both be absent simultaneously, the Department Head appointed by them should have the approval of Council. Mr. McCracken stated that he was aware of the pressure of newspapers on political candidates. He believed that where the City is in the position of selecting the newspapers abitrarily for legal advertising, it would be putting itself in a vul- nerahle position. Ed Zschoche stated that he was in favor of a Mayor/Council form of government, or the election of five Council persons by district and two at -large for the purpose of gaining City-wide representation of the people. He believed the rapid growth of the City over the past several years and the increased population made it an impossible task for a part-time City Council to represent the City. Mr. Zschoche believed that by electing Council members by district, the electors would have the opportunity of knowing their representatives and he or she would get to know them. The 'at -large' system allowed only the loudest and richest voices to be heard and not necessarily the most valuable. Mr. Zschoche gave other advantages, which would result through districting the election of Council members. He was in favor of a two -term limit on City officials. Mr. Zschoche gave several other suggestions regarding the proposed Charter Revisions concerning location of meetings within the City. He stated that he was in favor of keeping the City Attorney and the City Clerk positions elective. Stan H. Sabin commended the Charter Revision Committee on the many hours spent by them on the revision of the Charter. He was in favor of the City Attorney remaining an elected position, giving reasons for his opinion. Mr. Sabin was also of the opinion that salaries should be set by the Personnel Board rather than Council. He was also in favor of the City Clerk's position remaining elec- tive. Don P. Bonfa, City Attorney, commended and congratulated the Charter Revision Committee on the excellent work they had done on the revisions and the many hours spent by them in achieving their goal. Mr. Bonfa stated that he believed the City Attorney's position should remain elective, giving reasons for his opinion. He remarked that it was regrettable that some Council members may wish to "play politics" with the City Attorney's salary. He believed that there should be some method of setting the City Attorney's salary independent of the City Council and gave various suggestions for accomplishing this. Mr. Bonfa stated that he was not afraid to go on record for all to know where he stands on these, crucial issues. Warren Hall, City 'treasurer, stated that he was of the opinion that the Charter Revision Committee had oversimplified the proposal which they had submitted to Council and he had a few questions which were not answered in the proposed Charter revisions, such as the need for a Library Director, the need for a Police Chief, a Parks Director, a Public.Works Director, City Treasurer, Finance Director, or any other departmental head positions, with duties defined, which we have at pre- sent occupied by professionals. Mr. Hall continued that all these position de- scriptions and duty descriptipns have been eliminated from the Charter by the 100 Page #5 - Council Minutes - 12/21/77 proposed revisions. In his opinion the duty descriptions provide the organizational framework of the City government which has successfully operated the City for the last 15 years, through the 'wild growth' which we have experienced. He stated that he has been impressed over the past few years with the professionalism of the Depart- ment Heads and believes this is due to the fact that these people are able to devote their time to getting the job done rather, than the concern of political ties and the mere maintenance of the continuity of their own positions. Mr. Hall stated that he was surprised that the Charter Revision Committee had proposed the elimination of the position of elected City Treasurer, that possibly it had been eliminated because to include it would have made it difficult to explain the elimination of all the other Department Heads and their duties, that perhaps they could not contrast the Treasurer's duties with that of the Finance Director if there are no Finance Director's duties defined. Mr. Hall pointed out what he believed to be an inconsistency in that the positions of the City Attorney and the City Clerk were defined in the proposed Charter when no others were so defined, and speculated on the reasoning for this action. He stated that any four Council persons could select the City Administrator and appoint political appointees as Department Heads, even if there were no departments. He. believes that the people should be allowed to vote on the elimination of these descriptions and executive positions within their government as a separate item on the ballot. He requested Council to consider the opposition which will grow to the much needed improvements in the Charter if it is not broken up into increments which the people understand. Mr. Hall stated that he personally would do whatever he could to defeat the proposed Charter change if the public is not given individual choices in these very major changes being proposed. Councilwoman Wieder commented on a full-time Mayor for the City of Huntington Beach. She also stated that most other cities have appointive City Attorneys and City Clerks. Discussion was held between Councilwoman Wieder and Mr. Harold Bauman, Chairman of the Charter Revision Committee regarding various matters including the consultant employed to review the proposed Charter revisions. Mr. Bauman stated that the con- sultant did not make any of the proposed revisions to the Charter. On motion by Pattinson, second Bartlett, the public hearing on the proposed City Charter revisions was continued to January 9, 1978 at 7:00 P.M., in the Council Chamber. The motion carried unanimously. Mayor Pattinson asked that those people who had addressed Council at tonight's meeting refrain from addressing Council at the forthcoming continued hearing. An 7nTrRv3wfF.mT On motion by Pattinson, second Bartlett, the adjourned regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Huntington Beach adjourned to January 3, 1978 at 6:30 P.M. in Ronal B-S, Civic Center. The motion carried unanimously. ATTEST: 6 2 �,r ' J/.021 City Clerk and ex-officio Clerk of the City Council of the City of Huntington Beach, California Alicia M. Wentworth City Clerk Ronald R. Pattinson Mayor 101