MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE
CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BRADBURY
HELD ON TUESDAY, JULY 19, 2022
AT THE BRADBURY CIVIC CENTER
600 WINSTON AVENUE, BRADBURY, CA 91008
CALIFORNIA GOVERNMENT Pursuant to California Government Code Section 54953(e) (1), CODE SECTION 54953(e) (1): the City is allowing Councilmembers, Staff and the public to participate in this meeting by means of a Zoom video or telephone call. Participants will be able to hear the entire proceedings and be able to speak during Public Comment, Public Hearing, and other authorized times. Members of the public must maintain silence and mute their microphones and MEETING CALLED TO ORDER: The Regular Meeting of the City Council of the City of Bradbury was called to order by Mayor Pro-Tem Lathrop at 7:00 p.m. followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
ROLL CALL: PRESENT: Mayor Pro-Tem Lathrop, Councilmembers Barakat, Hale, Lewis and Bruny
ABSENT: None
STAFF: City Manager Kearney, City Attorney Reisman,
Assistant City Attorney Kranitz, City Clerk Saldana and Management Analyst Musa
APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Mayor Pro-Tem Barakat made a motion to approve the agenda to proceed with City business. Councilmember Hale seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.
DISCLOSURE OF ITEMS REQUIRED BY In compliance with the California Political Reform Act, each City GOV. CODE SECTION 1090 & 81000 Councilmember has the responsibility to disclose direct or ET SEQ,: indirect potential for a personal financial impact as a result of participation in the decision-making process concerning agenda items.
City Attorney Reisman stated that he was not aware of any conflicts of interest.
PUBLIC COMMENT: None
CONSENT CALENDAR: All items on the Consent Calendar are considered by the City Council to be routine and will be enacted by one motion unless a Councilmember requests otherwise, in which case the item will be removed and considered by separate action. All
Resolutions and Ordinances for Second Reading on the
Consent Calendar are deemed to "waive further reading and adopt."
A. Minutes: Regular Meeting of June 21, 2022
B. Minutes: Adjourned Meeting of June 26, 2022
C. Resolution No. 22-19: Demands & Warrants for July 2022 D. Monthly Investment Report for the month of June 2022 Minutes CC Meeting
July 19, 2022
E. Resolution No. 22-20: Authorizing Signatures for Accounts in the name of "City of Bradbury"
F. Second Reading and Adoption of Ordinance No. 383:
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
BRADBURY, CALIFORNIA, AMENDING VARIOUS PROVISIONS
OF TITLE IX (DEVELOPMENT CODE) OF THE BRADBURY
MUNICIPAL CODE RELATING TO SENATE BILL 9 AND
SECONDARY LIVING QUARTERS
G. Resolution No. 22-21: Approval of Project Funded by SB1:
The Road Repair and Accountability Act
CORRECTION TO MINUTES AND City Manager Kearney stated that there was one correction to DEMANDS & WARRANTS: the June 21, 2002 minutes (first paragraph on page 5). Mayor Lathrop (not Councilmember Hale) requested that Burrtec's power point presentation be included in the agenda packet next City Manager Kearney stated that there is a correction to the Demands & Warrants. Checks #17026 and #17027, payable to RKA, have been voided and the charges related to the Starlite Sewer Extension removed. The Starlite Sewer Extension is a Bradbury Estates Project and should not be billed to the City.
Replacement Checks #17040 and #17041 to RKA have been
added to the revised Demands & Warrants.
MOTION TO APPROVE Councilmember Hale made a motion to approve the Consent CONSENT CALENDAR: Calendar as amended. Councilmember Lewis seconded the motion, which was carried by the following roll call vote:
APPROVED: AYES: Mayor Lathrop, Mayor Pro-Tem Barakat,
Councilmembers Hale, Lewis and Bruny
NOES: None
ABSENT: Councilmember Bruny
Motion passed 5:0
PRESENTATION BY SOUTHERN Jeannette Soriano, Government Relations Manager, was online CALIFORNIA EDISON POSTPONED to make a presentation to the City Council regarding Edison's TO AUGUST MEETING: wildfire prevention efforts. Due to technical difficulties with the sound, the City Council asked Ms. Soriano to attend the August City Council meeting to make the presentation in person.
APPROVAL OF CONSULTANT City Manager Kearney stated that Government Code Section AGREEMENT WITH DE NOVO PLANNINC 65302(g) regulating General Plans requires the City to update GROUP FOR UPDATE OF THE SAFETY its Safety Element (the Safety Chapter of the Health and Safety CHAPTER OF THE HEALTH AND SAFETY Element) with the revision of the Housing Element.
ELEMENT OF THE GENERAL PLAN:
California Government Code Section 65302(g) relating to Safety Elements of the General Plan has been amended to include analysis of additional topics, including those related to wildfires and climate adaptation and resiliency. While the recent mitigation plan addresses many of the wildfire
requirements, it does not address climate adaptation and resiliency. Staff does not have the expertise to prepare this update.
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The City reached out to two consultants that is has been working with to obtain a proposal for the update of the Safety Chapter of the Health & Safety Element. Only De Novo
Planning Group provided a response. De Novo is a well-
respected planning firm that has prepared Safety Element updates for a number of cities (i.e. Gardena and Hawhorne).
PROPOSAL: De Novo has provided a proposal for $37,250. The project is billed on the time expended, but it is a "not-to-exceed contract." Staff has checked with other cities updating their Safety Element as to costs and it is in line with those cities.
RECOMMENDATION: • Is recommended that the City Council approve th greement between the City ot Bradburv and De Nov
Planning Group, Inc. for services to update the City's Safety Element and a not-to-exceed amount of $37,250.
DISCUSSION: Councilmember Hale inquired why we need to do this now.
Assistant City Attorney Kranitz stated that it is usually done concurrently with the Housing Element Update. Councilmember Bruny asks if there was anything else the City has to do as part of the Housing Element Update. Lisa Kranitz clarified that the Safety Element is part of the General Plan, not the Housing layor Bruce Lathrop inquired about the due date. Ci
anager Kearnev stated that the broiect schedule is include in the proposal.
Councilmember Lewis stated that he would like to see a work product from De Novo, because he is afraid they will take another city's Safety Element and just cut and paste it for Bradbury. Acting City Attorney Kranitz stated that the Safety Element is not a cut and paste project.
MOTION DIED DUE TO A Mayor Lathrop made a motion to approve the Agreement LACK OF SECOND: between the City of Bradbury and De Novo Planning Group, nc. for services to update the City's Safety Element at a not-to xceed amount of $37,250. The motion died to a lack o
Assistant City Attorney Kranitz stated that the City could be sued for not having a complete General Plan.
Mayor Lathrop wants De Novo to focus on fire safety.
DISCUSSION POSTPONED TO Councilmember Hale suggested to postpone the discussion for AUGUST MEETING: one month and get a sample of another city's Safety Element.
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DISCUSSION ON THE UPCOMING City Manager Kearney stated that this is a discussion about the RETIREMENT OF THE CITY CLERK: upcoming retirement of Claudia Saldana, the City's long-term City Clerk, and the challenges associated with her departure.
This is an informal discussion with no formal recommended actions. Rather, this item seeks initial input from the City Council on how they would like to proceed. It is expected that there will be multiple discussions on this item in the next few months.
City Manager Kearney stated that Claudia Saldana started working for the City of Bradbury on June 16, 1988. Thirty-four (34) years later, Ms. Saldana has decided that she will be retiring sometime next year (2023). At this point, the exact date has not been finalized yet.
Claudia's position has morphed with the City's needs over the last 34 years. Today Claudia's position has three main
functions. These roles and responsibilities are equivalent in other cities to 1) City Clerk, 2) Accounting Technician, and 3) Executive Assistant to the City Manager.
The City Clerk and Executive Assistant roles are quite similar and can be seen merged in other cities; however; they are starkly different than the responsibilities of the Accounting Technician. Given the differences, City Manager Kearney stated that he is expecting difficulties recruiting for the position City Manager Kearney stated that the cities of Bradbury, Rolling Hills and Hidden Hills are often compared to one another since their city populations, budgets and staff sizes are relatively similar. When inquiring about their staffing situations, the City of Rolling Hills employs a City Clerk who also acts as the City Manager's Assistant; however, they contract out all of their financial work. The City of Hidden Hills has a City Clerk, but also has an Accounting Specialist that manages all of the City's finances.
Some inquiring was done with the financial firm serving the City of Rolling Hills. The City of Rolling Hills currently contracts with a firm for an Accountant at $84/hour, two Accounting
Technicians at $26/hour each, and a Finance Director at $79/hour. Rolling Hills has the firm do most things financially related, which includes CPA type work, grants management, payroll, budgeting, budget presentations, budget reports to the City Council, bank deposits, etc. At this time more exploration would be needed on a firm's level of invoivement if Bradbury were to move forward with a financial firm.
City Manager Kearney stated that the current Finance Director, Suresh Malkani, gets paid $80/hour and he comes to the office once a week for ½ day.
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Salary is another issue once Claudia retires. City Manager Kearney stated that in his opinion salaries and salary scales have been able to remain below market rate throughout the years because Claudia's long tenure with Bradbury. The City Manager (CM) and Management Analyst (MA) have historically approximately once every 1.5 years. As the CM and MA have come and gone, Claudia remained the stabilizing force at City Hall. This rang true when Kevin Kearney first arrived as CM.
Both the CM and the MA had left at the same time in 2017 for better paying jobs, and it was Claudia's tenure that allowed the City to remain stable for approximately two months until an Interim City Manager was appointed.
To help facilitate this discussion, Staff provided the City Council with following items: 1) Accounting Specialist job
description from the City of Hidden Hills, 2) City of Avalon's Deputy City Clerk/Senior Administrative Assistant to sow how a City Clerk's roles are sometimes merged with other
administrative (non-financial) roles and 3) the City of Rolling Hills' recent City Clerk/Executive Assistant recruitment.
DISCUSSION: City Manager Kearney stated that the situation that we had in 2017, when two employees left at the same time, could happen again. Councilmember Lewis stated that all City Staff should be cross-trained for such an event.
Councilmember Hale inquired about getting a payroll service.
Councilmember Bruny suggested to hire a replacement for Claudia six months before she retires. Councilmember Lewis felt that three months would be enough time.
NO ACTION TAKEN: nis was an intormal discussion and the Citv Council took r ormal action. It is expected that there will be multip
discussions regarding this item over the next few months.
MATTERS FROM THE CITY MANAGER: City Manager Kearney stated that Bradbury Night Out is next Thursday, July 28, 2022 from 6-8 p.m. Councilmember Hale stated that he will be out of town.
MATTERS FROM THE CITY ATTORNEY: City Attorney Reisman stated that he has a report for the Closed Session.
MATTERS FROM THE CITY COUNCIL:
MAYOR LATHROP: Nothing to report
COUNCILMEMBER BARAKAT: Nothing to report
COUNCILMEMBER HALE: Nothing to report
COUNCILMEMBER LEWIS: Nothing to report
COUNCILMEMBER BRUNY: Nothing to report
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ITEMS FOR FUTURE AGENDAS: Presentation by Southern California Edison in person at the August 16th meeting.
CLOSED SESSION
PUBLIC COMMENT REGARDING None
CLOSED SESSION ONLY:
RECESS TO CLOSED SESSION: The City Council adjourned to a Closed Session to discuss the following: Conference with Legal Counsel
V. City of Bradbury
Case No.: Los Angeles Superior Court #22STCP01381
REPORT FROM CLOSED SESSION: City Attorney Reisman reported that the City Council met in Closed Session to discuss Existing Litigation and voted unanimously to instruct the City Attorney and Assistant City Attorney to approve a settlement agreement and issue a check.
ADJOURNMENT: At 8:00 p.m. Mayor Lathrop adjourned the meeting to a regular meeting to be held on Tuesday, August 16, 2022 at 7:00 p.m.
CITY OF BRADBURY
ATTEST:
Claudia Saldano
ITY CLERK - CITY OF BRADBUR'
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