2021 Council Goals
1. Public Safety
a. Create virtual opportunities for the public to interact with the Police and Fire departments.
The Police Department launched “Conversation with the Chief” on March 18, 2021 via Zoom. The Police Chief will have conversations with the community every other month via the online platform. It was recently expanded to “Coffee with the Chiefs” and now includes the Fire Chief.
CCFD will be hosting its first hybrid CERT class in February which will occur both online utilizing Zoom Webinar and will be co-taught by CCFD and CVDPN. Dates to be announced on the City’s website and the FD website.
b. Encourage Police to expand the use of cameras and other surveillance technology through grants and other sources.
Two Flock ALPR cameras were requested through the Agua Caliente annual gift of 25,000.00. City Council approved the camera purchase at their March 10, 2021 City Council meeting.
Two Flock ALPR cameras, eight in-car cameras, and an additional Security Lines US intersection camera system were approved by City Council on June 9, 2021. This purchase was made using SLESA funds.
Two Flock ALPR cameras were approved for purchase by City Council on September 29, 2021 which brings our total to 8 Flock ALPR cameras deployed in the city.
c. Provide an update on the Citizens on Patrol (COP) program, policies, training and potential additional tasks they could address including Municipal Code enforcement.
A presentation was given to City council on June 9, 2021 providing them with an update of the Citizens on Patrol program and updated policies and procedures manual.
d. Provide an update to Council on gang enforcement efforts and planned improvements.
A presentation was provided to City council regarding the newly formed gang Unit and future of the unit at the June 9, 2021 city council meeting. e. Provide information and presentations to Council on the available public safety radio options and make a decision on future direction.
On March 24, 2021 the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department presented to City Council on the PSEC (Public Safety Enterprise Communication) radio options. This transition would take place once the ERICA agencies agree to move from ERICA to PSEC and the JPA is dissolved amongst the ERICA agencies.
Chief Muhr hosted an informational meeting with area fire chiefs to educate and regionalize Fire Service communications and develop a method to implement PSEC. Chief Muhr also met with Motorola Representatives to further develop a plan to migrate from VHF to PSEC.
The Fire Department plans to submit a proposal for the 2023 budget. f. Provide an update on options, costs and benefits of alternative service delivery options related to the ambulance service.
Chief Muhr provided a comprehensive presentation to Council in study session on June 23rd. Plans are proceeding to implement phase 1 early in 2022.
The first four Paramedic AO’s have begun the background investigation process and are in the hiring process in early December. Testing of AO’s is ongoing.
2. Housing and Homelessness
a. In cooperation with regional partners, non-profits and others promote rapid housing and other options for the homeless and provide a presentation and update to Council.
Staff from the CVAG regional rapid housing program provided an update to the City Council in study session on May 26, 2021.
Chief Muhr has reached out to Union Pacific Railroad regarding homeless in the Tamarisk trees that line the railroad right-of-way. So far CCFD has worked three large fires in the area between Da Vall and Date Palm.
Union Pacific has created several fire breaks in the stand of Tamarisk trees within one mile of Date Palm and the tracks. Additional improvements are ongoing and will continue throughout 2022.
b. Work with regional partners to establish annual summer cooling centers for the homeless and winter shelter services.
A network of cooling centers was available regionally but there was not one in Cathedral City. Cathedral City is an active partner in the regional efforts to provide services to the homeless.
c. Provide a discussion on tools to promote infill housing projects by reducing development costs, providing incentives or other solutions.
Many infill Housing projects have been completed or are in process throughout the city. Incentives were explored but found not to be necessary. Resources for the City were directed to two additional housing projects, which are currently under construction: (1) Cathedral Palms major rehabilitation project of 224-unit low-income senior housing and (2) the new development of a 60-unit Veterans housing project.
Low-income housing projects will require some public participation and a review of options is on-going.
3. Finance and General Government
a. Complete and implement the comprehensive fee study and initiate the Development Impact Fee (DIF) study.
On September 8, 2021, the City Council adopted an updated Master Schedule of User Regulatory Fees. The updated fee schedule went into effect on December 1, 2021. In October 2021, Staff issued an RFP for a Development Fee Study and is evaluating various firms’ responses. Staff anticipates recommending a firm to conduct the Development Impact Fee study to City Council during the January 26, 2022 Council meeting. b. Assistant City Manager – develop a plan and hire the position.
Hired Katherine Fuentes, ACM on October 2, 2021
c. Provide a presentation and recommendations to Council on the current ordinances related to the functions of our Boards and Committees and update as necessary.
Ordinance has been updated with the First Reading at the September 8, 2021 City Council meeting and the Second Reading at the September 29, 2021 City Council meeting.
d. Develop procedures to annually approve recurring Arts education events and proposed expenditures for the year to streamline the Council review and approval process.
Provided in Budget and separate presentation to City Council. e. Assign a Councilmember (or two) to serve as liaison to the Arts Commission, Parks and Community Events Commission and the Historic Preservation Commission for the purpose of meeting periodically with the Chair to help facilitate Commission work.
Council assignment to Commissions was discussed at study session on March 10, 2021 and assignments were made.
f. Develop a mechanism for Councilmembers to be able to introduce themselves and interact with Commission members on a scheduled basis.
A schedule was developed to allow Councilmembers to introduce themselves at Commission meetings and it was discussed with Council in study session on March 10, 2021. Councilmembers have been appearing at Commission meetings.
g. Support the Arts Commission in development of an annual Student Government Day Field Trip to inspire civic engagement; consider a Youth in government day as well.
The Public Arts Commission is scheduled to discuss this goal at their January 2022 meeting.
h. Provide a comprehensive presentation on staffing throughout the City including the use of contracts and overtime, support services, etc.
Completed during the budget process during a series of special study session meetings.
j. Conduct a comprehensive review of the City website with the goal of improving and modernizing the site.
The communications department has reached out to GoGovapps.com to upgrade the city’s GoRequest App to be more user friendly and offer more features at no additional costs to the city. Kevin Lockwood returned full- time on July 1, 2021 and began looking at ways to improve the websites by researching broken links, taking comments from previous complaints and updating the websites to be more user friendly. We reached out to various constituents to be part of a focus group and received only a few confirmations of interest. Kevin has searched for apps to serve as a feeder for all city websites for mobile use. What he has found is that government focused apps do not offer mapping and gps capabilities for offering more interactive services, rather they are built based on taking an existing website and making it function on a mobile device. Private apps offer all these great functions but have privacy issues of selling the data to third parties and privacy notices that let constituents know that the data collected (including locations) will be shared with the City as well as third party marketers.
k. Develop a mechanism to provide more frequent and more comprehensive budget updates.
Revenue & Expenditure reports will be sent to City Council in August for Period 1 (July), October for Period 3 (July – Sept), December for Period 5 (July – Nov), February for Period 7 (July – January), April for Period 9 (July – March), June for Period 11 (July – May). A full FYE report will be presented during the second Council meeting in October, and a MID-Year report will be provided at the City Council goal setting probably in mid- January.
i. Begin the process to complete the required redistricting based on the 2020 Census using appropriate consulting services.
Council approved a contract for redistricting services on November 10, 2021 and the first of four required public hearings was held on December 8, 2021. The next is scheduled for January 26, 2022 and the entire process will be completed by the mid-April deadline.
j. Provide a study session discussion on the procedures for Councilmembers to add agenda items.
Council discussed the process to add items to future agendas during a study session meeting on August 4, 2021. The Council policy implementing the change was approved by Council on August 25, 2021. k. Identify methods to formalize the process used for City Manager and City Attorney evaluations.
New performance evaluation forms and a procedure have been developed and distributed to Council and are available for use.
l. Provide a presentation on options to clean-up the ambiguities on the Mayoral rotation ordinance.
The Mayoral Rotation Ordinance was discussed in study session on August 4, 2021. An ordinance implementing the revisions was adopted by Council on September 29, 2021.
m. Review the procurement ordinance, policies and procedures.
Review provided during Study Session on December 8, 2021. Based on Council direction staff will now prepare a check list to confirm and document completion of purchasing agent duties delegated to departments.
n. Consult with the advisory commissions prior to the goal setting session to have the benefit of their input as goals are developed.
Items were received from the Parks and Community Events and the Public Arts Commissions and included in the materials for the goal-setting session.
o. Establish a searchable repository of Council resolutions available via the City website.
A study session discussion was held on October 13, 2021 and a budget amendment to purchase the software upgrade was approved on October 27, 2021. The searchable function will be available to the public in early 2022.
p. Support Arts Commission objectives to bring art into the neighborhoods.
Council approved the installation of “Passages” and “Swiss Cheese” in Panorama park, bench artwork at the Library and Memorial Park, traffic signal utility box wrapping within Downtown, and will soon consider a bench and trash receptacle painting program within Ocotillo Park.
4. Economic Development and Events
a. Continue efforts to promote the development of the 13.5 acres and work toward the start of construction.
Staff is working closely with the developer through the entitlement review process. Staff completed the most recent review on July 29, 2021. In the intervening time, the developer has been meeting with Planning, Engineering and Economic Development staff to finalize details of the project. The third submittal and environmental reports are expected in March 2022.
b. Formalize the City policy to promote local hiring programs in cooperation with the business sector and encourage local business to business purchasing.
Staff is working with the City Attorney to draft a non-binding agreement with future larger employers expressing the desire to hire local whenever possible. In furtherance of this goal, staff worked with Grocery Outlet and Amazon to ensure Cathedral City residents were given hiring priority.
Economic Development provided Amazon hiring event flyers to various income restricted communities.
c. Conduct some research on available, legal incentives for business attraction.
Research ongoing for additional incentives beyond the current Sales Tax and Transient Occupancy Tax Incentives adopted via Ordinance. Sales Tax Sharing Incentive provides for up to 50% rebate of the incremental increase in Sales Tax over the base, for a period of 10 years, for the expansion of an existing business within the city; and, a 50% rebate of Sales Tax generated from the relocation, or start of, a new businesses, in the city for a period of up to 10 years.
Transient Occupancy Tax (“TOT”) Sharing Program is a similar principal:
For existing hotels, expanding and/or renovating, the City offers a TOT sharing program of up to a 50% rebate of the new incremental TOT generated. For new Hotels, the City offers up to a 75% rebate of new TOT generated. Incentives can be up to 10 years.
In all cases of tax sharing, with a new or existing business, a third-party analysis is utilized to complete a tax sharing report prior to authorizing any share of tax as there must be a public benefit finding. d. Monitor the activity of providers related to broadband capability and provide an update to Council by the end of 2021.
Coachella Valley Economic Partnership (CVEP) and Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) have secured a piggyback position to have the required conduit for fiber included in Coachella Valley Association of Governments’ (CVAG) upcoming signal synchronization project. The time frame is 2022-2024 to build out the Valley; fiber will follow.
Staff are evaluating and in active discussions with a private fiber installer to construct a City-wide fiber network. This company is currently installing City-wide fiber in Corona, Palmdale, Lancaster, Simi Valley, Placentia, and Fullerton.
5. Planning, Streets and Infrastructure
a. Complete the SCAG grant and identify and publicize the availability of bicycle facilities/loops and off-street pedestrian paths.
This Active Transportation Program (ATP) Grant is in full progress, as the kickoff presentation was made to the City Council at the October 13, 2021 Study Session. Outreach with the community started immediately thereafter and continues at this time. The ATP submittal is scheduled for submission to City Staff for review in April 2022.
b. Complete the review and approval process for the General Plan including the housing element and develop options to address infrastructure needs north of I-10 and in the area North of Ramon near Dream Homes.
The General Plan Update was approved by City Council at the July 28, 2021 meeting. Staff is working with the consultant to complete the associated zoning changes with additional changes to be incorporated with the approval of the Housing Element and the Municipal Code Update initiative.
The second draft of the Housing Element was submitted to HCD on October 25, 2021 (and is available on the City’s website) and comments received on December 22. The Housing Element was approved by the Airport Land Use Commission on November 18. The environmental review period concluded on November 29.
c. Develop a presentation on the downtown design standards for Council review.
A study session presentation is scheduled for February 9, 2022. d. Form an ad-hoc Council subcommittee (Ross and Gutierrez) to explore options for a pilot program to address parking on street sweeping days including signage and towing, text or email reminders or other options.
Council Members Ross and Gutierrez, have met and have talked with the City Manager. A proposal needs to be developed for discussion with the full Council.
e. Provide recommendations on methods and resources necessary to expedite the plan review process including a review of normal turnaround times and causes of exceptions.
The approved budget included additional personnel necessary to improve turnaround times for development review. Positions recently filled include an Assistant Planner, Permit Technician, two Office Assistants, and a part- time Chief Building Official.
From the Engineering Department perspective, the number of Projects that are being submitted to the City and being processed through the Planning and Engineering Departments have not declined. The Engineering Department continues to utilize Consultants to support the development review process, while in parallel, continuing to train new engineers on the development review process. All authorized positions in Engineering have been filled.
f. Provide a presentation on the legal methods available to reduce, over time, the number of billboards in the City.
Two study session discussions were held on August 18 and November 30.
As a result, a new ordinance is being developed to eliminate billboards in the City except along the I-10 corridor. Existing billboards will become legal non-conforming.
The new billboard Ordinance is scheduled for the February 2, 2022 Planning Commission meeting. Termination of the lease for the billboard on City property is on the January 12, 2022 Council agenda. g. Provide information through the budget process on our street maintenance efforts and funding gaps.
Additional MOE funding of $200,000 for streets was included in the adopted budget and 5-year CIP June 9th, 2021.
Engineering has filled the vacant positions that were authorized in the budget, which provides more staff hours to complete budgeted roadway projects this upcoming year.
g. Address a method to address the zoning code status of existing multi- family properties in single-family zones.
This will be addressed during the Municipal Code update initiative in 2022.
6. Code Enforcement
a. Develop a new Code Enforcement model including moving from just a complaint-based system, using volunteers, rebuilding staff with a customer service focus and prepare the necessary budget recommendations.
On August 25, 2021, Staff presented the framework for a new Code Enforcement model that would focus enforcement on the abatement of violations that impact the visual environment of neighborhoods, such as outdoor storage, landscaping, wrecked vehicles, and dilapidated property conditions) and focus enforcement resources on the needs of the neighborhoods. Enforcement under the new model would include creating enforcement teams and partnering with City departments (Public Works, Planning, Police) and other resources (non-profits, water agencies, etc.) based on the observed needs of the area; and promoting existing programs to help owners achieve compliance. Where the needs are less, less resources and smaller enforcement teams will be used.
The new model also proposed to establish an alternative enforcement strategy for minor single violations. In those instances, a door hanger will be left at the property and follow up will occur if subsequent complaints are received.
b. Review existing procedures and resources to address Shopping Carts that are removed from the store or shopping center and develop recommendations to improve relevant codes and procedures.
Public Works and Code Enforcement Staff made presentations to the City Council at the September 8, 2021 City Council Study Session and a subsequent Special Study Session on November 30, 2021 regarding shopping carts and the current retrieval program. Public Works will start securing the shopping cart retrieval plans from local stores starting the first of the year. The Municipal Codes relevant to the subject were reviewed by Staff and the City Attorney’s office and it was determined that the Municipal Code did not need to be changed. This also was presented to the City Council.
7. Parks and Recreation
a. Re-engage with the Desert Recreation District working toward a 2022 annexation vote.
The City Manager and Administrative Services director met with DRD officials on June 30. DRD has updated the cost estimates for the original services included and reviewed with the Parks and Community Events Commission in August and with the Council in September. Staff is now working with DRD and their consultants on a plan for community engagement and on the agreement with DRD to fund the survey work, CFD establishment, annexation materials and a public education campaign.
b. Offer smaller-scale family events at local parks.
Funding is included in the budget for the Parks and Community Events Commission to present such events and the Commission has already supported an applicant for a yoga class in the Amphitheater, which was subsequently approved by Council to begin in February.
The Parks and Community Events Commission (PACE) has already supported the “Funorama” event at Ocotillo Park this past October and is in the process of pulling together other events in the parks, such as, a Sports and Health themed event, another child focused event and a children’s concert in the park type event.
c. Take an item to the Parks and Community Events Commission to consider providing T-Ball facilities at our parks.
This was presented to the Parks and Community Events Commission on March 22, 2021 and a subsequent memo was distributed to Council. d. Support Parks and Community Events Commission priorities for improvements to our Parks facilities.
Park Improvement & Maintenance Plan along with $2 million in funding approved as part of the budget process June 9th, 2021.
e. Conduct planning and provide funding to address community desire for dog parks in the City considering both long and short-term projects.
Funding identified and approved for a Park Improvement & Maintenance Plan during the budget process.
The preliminary work and the Concept Plan for the Panorama Dog Park was completed in October and early November 2021. Staff is compiling the complete list of materials and labor for the Project to get the full costs for the Project. A Staff Report has been prepared for the initial purchase of two of the long lead items for fencing and the shade structures for the Dog Park which will be presented at the January 12, 2022 City Council meeting. The Staff Report will present options on choices of materials to purchase, as the budget is very tight. Additional materials and labor will be presented to the City Council at subsequent meetings. The target date for completion of the Project will be April 1, 2022.
f. Pursue grants for funding of the Dream Homes Park and provide periodic reports to Council.
An approximately $8.5 mil grant was awarded to the City for the construction of the Dream Homes Park to service the Dream Homes Community. Initial awardee meetings have been held and the next meeting on the next steps will be held in early January. From this meeting staff will seek authorized to initiate the solicitation for RFPS to design the Park.
g. Make the CCHS pool available for community use by the summer of 2022.
Funding to operate the pool in summer 2022 is included in the FY 21-22 and 22-23 budget. The operating agreements with the DRD and the PSUSD are being finalized for Council action early in 2022.