CITY OF BEVERLY HILLS
455 North Rexford Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Telephonic/Video Conference Meeting
MINUTES
CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION
January 4, 2022
2:30 p.m.*
Pursuant to Government Code Section 54953(e)(3), members of the Beverly Hills City Council and staff may participate in this meeting via teleconference/video conference. In the interest of maintaining appropriate social distancing, members of the public can access City Council meetings telephonically, through live webcast, and BHTV Channel 10 on Spectrum Cable.
City Council meetings are broadcast on local Beverly Hills television and on other media platforms. Anyone who participates at the meeting and/or enters the City Council Chamber is subject to having their image displayed. These recordings will remain publicly accessible in perpetuity.
The City Council may act on any item listed on the agenda.
PRESENT: Robert Wunderlich, Mayor
Lili Bosse, Vice Mayor
John A. Mirisch, Councilmember
Julian A. Gold, MD, Councilmember
Lester J. Friedman, Councilmember
George Chavez, City Manager
Laurence Wiener, City Attorney
Huma Ahmed, City Clerk
Jessie Holzer, Transportation Planner
Daren Grilley, Assistant Public Works Director/City Engineer The meeting was called to order by Mayor Wunderlich at 2:31 p.m.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
1. AUDIENCE COMMENTS. Any person wishing to address the City Council on any matter may do so through email. However, the State open meetings law (Government Code Section 54950 et seq.) prohibits the City Council from providing a detailed response or acting upon any item not contained on the agenda posted 72 hours before a regular meeting and 24 hours before a special meeting. If you wish to address the City Council at this time, please email the City Clerk prior to or during the meeting. Please limit your email remarks to three (3) minutes in length (350 words) that can be read, so others may have the opportunity to participate as well.
Mayor Wunderlich requested for C-Information comments to be addressed during Oral Communications.
D-1
City Council Study Session Minutes
January 4, 2022
Written Comments for Item C-8: Periodic Review of Mixed Use Overlay Zone:
1. Jaleh Shaheedy
2. Vivian Bonert
3. Georgia Pine
4. Patty Karp
5. Dorothy Kamins
6. Darian Bojeaux
7. Mirit Neman
8. Michael Bonert
9. Lee Pasternak
10. Sharon Dohm
11. Allyson Wittner
12. Thomas White
13. Phil Savenick
Vice Mayor Bosse and Councilmember Gold each clarified their stance on the Mixed Use Overlay Zone. Councilmember Gold suggested for the public to research and fact check the topic.
Written Comments for Item C-7: Proposed Minimum Grid Bicycle Markings:
1. Jim Friedberg
2. Gregory Heller
3. Carlton Y.S. Lee, M.D.
4. Mary F. Campbell
5. Thomas White
A – DIRECTION
1. Connect Beverly Hills: Meet Me on Wilshire and La Cienega Design Standards Staff seeks City Council adoption of the Final Design Standards for Connect Beverly Hills:
Meet Me on Wilshire and La Cienega.
Mayor Wunderlich prefaced the presentation by announcing that the item will be focused on the project’s Design Standards.
Transportation Planner Jessie Holzer provided a brief history, spoke on the process for developing the proposed Design Standards, and then presented the final draft proposal.
Ms. Holzer and Assistant Public Works Director/City Engineer Daren Grilley each answered City Council questions about the Design Standards. Vice Mayor Bosse suggested that CCTV cameras as well as the Police and Fire Departments need to be involved.
City Council agreed that the proposed Design Standards for the Connect Beverly Hills: Meet Me on Wilshire and La Cienega project are a good start but need to be flexible. They directed staff to bring any changes back to City Council.
2. Request for the City Council to Review the City’s Voluntary Campaign Expenditure Limit and Contribution Maximum; and Propose a Recommendation for Posting Election Related Lawn Signs in Beverly Hills
This report provides the City Council Election Ad Hoc Committee’s recommendation regarding the Voluntary Campaign Expenditure Limit and Contribution Maximum. Also included, is a City Council Study Session Minutes
January 4, 2022
request for the City Council to consider a recommended timeline for Election related lawn signs.
City Attorney Laurence Wiener advised that the Councilmembers who will be candidates in the upcoming election do not need to recuse themselves from the discussion. He stated that it would be up to each Councilmember on whether they would like to abstain from the discussion or decision.
City Clerk Huma Ahmed provided background information contained in the report and spoke on the Campaign Signage and key election timelines.
Written Comment:
1.Darian Bojeaux
Vice Mayor Bosse addressed Ms. Bojeaux’s comment and stated that to her knowledge, there has never been anyone from her campaign committee who has placed her campaign signs where there should not be one.
City Council Elections Ad Hoc Liaisons Councilmember Gold and Vice Mayor Bosse each spoke on the recommendation. Councilmember Gold stated that the lawn signs were not discussed at the liaison meeting Vice Mayor Bosse expressed concern about aligning the lawn sign timeline with the annual awards season as dates keep changing for those events City Council accepted the City Council Elections Ad Hoc Liaisons' recommendation. Mayor Wunderlich abstained from the discussion regarding a schedule for posting elections lawn signs. The remaining City Council agreed to recommend the Campaign Sign timeline to begin on Monday, April 11, 2022. They also directed to provide the Beverly Hills community an elections lawn signs posting schedule advisory.
3. Update to Campaign Disclosure Regulations
This proposed ordinance will update the City's 2010 campaign disclosure regulations. The proposed ordinance will broaden the disclosure obligations so that the regulations don’t apply merely to ballot measure committees but also apply to independent expenditure committees, including political action committees. Additionally, the proposed ordinance will incorporate requirements of the state DISCLOSE (Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections) act which contains detailed requirements for disclosure, and will also apply the disclosure regulations to newer forms of technology.
City Attorney Laurence Wiener presented the proposed ordinance and requested Council direction.
Written Comment:
1.Gay Abrams, Harry Abrams, Jodi Cohn, Jane Davis, M.D., Dan Demeter, Myra Demeter, Ph.D., Erica Felsenthal, Eliot Finkel, Lori Greene Gordon, Andrea Grossman, Rick Grossman, Adi Hacker, Isabel Hacker, Matt Hankin, Lou Ignarro, Ph. D., Sharon Ignarro, M.D., Lori Levi, Michael Levi, Michael Lloyd II, Susan Mishler, Wendy Nystrom, Anne Young Ostroff, Peter Ostroff, Jessica Pynoos, Jon Pynoos, Herb Reston, Ronald Richards, Elyse Salend, Thomas Schulhof, Gina Seidel, Fern Seizer, Elliot Shirwo, Ed Sigall, M.D., Howard Soloway, Trinka Soloway, Mel Spitz, Helen Sztrigler Weston, Richard Weston, Andrew Wolk, Herb Young, Hannah Zackson, M.D.
City Council Study Session Minutes
January 4, 2022
City Council agreed to update the City's 2010 campaign disclosure regulations. They requested further discussion on the monetary threshold, whether the City Council should adopt and apply a new law that mandated disclosure requirements for Limited Liability Companies, and how the DISCLOSE act should be applied to the City’s ordinance. A revised ordinance will be placed on the January 18, 2022 City Council’s Regular meeting agenda for discussion and introduction.
4. Urban Forest Management Plan
Staff seeks City Council input to and adoption of the Urban Forest Management Plan (UFMP), developed by consultant Dudek.
Item carried over to the January 18, 2022 City Council Study Session meeting.
B – ADDITIONAL ITEMS TO CONSIDER (TIME PERMITTING)
None
C – INFORMATION
5. Police Chief Dominick Rivetti Thank You Event on Thursday, December 16, 2021 This item provides information on a past Thank You Event for Police Chief Dominick Rivetti at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.
Informational report only, item not discussed.
6. State Legislative Year End Report
This report is for informational purposes only and will provide an update on state legislation.
Informational report only, item not discussed.
7. Proposed Minimum Grid Bicycle Markings
This report forwards unanimous Traffic and Parking Commission support to install shared roadway pavement markings without removing vehicle travel lanes or on-street parking.
Informational report only, item not discussed.
8. Periodic Review of Mixed Use Overlay Zone
This item will provide an update on the implementation of the Mixed Use Overlay Zone Ordinance, approximately one year after its adoption.
Informational report only, item not discussed.
9. Treasurer's Report for the Month Ended November 30, 2021 This report for the month ended November 30, 2021 includes a summary of cash receipts and disbursements and a summary of fund balances
Informational report only, item not discussed.
City Council Study Session Minutes
January 4, 2022
The Study Session adjourned at 5:47pm to the Closed Session to discuss items that are identified on the agenda.
PASSED, Approved and Adopted
this 1st day of March, 2022
HUMA AHMED, City Clerk
ROBERT WUNDERLICH, MAYOR
This meeting was broadcast on live television, on City of Beverly Hills municipal government television access Channel BHTVIO Spectrum Cable.