CITY OF HIDDEN HILLS
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SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING
VIA TELECONFERENCE
Friday, March 18, 2022 at 10:00 a.m.
Consistent with Government Code Section 54953(e) (Assembly Bill 361), all members of the Hidden Hills City Council or staff may participate in this meeting via a teleconference and such teleconference locations are not accessible to the public and are not subject to special posting requirements. Members of the public may participate in the meeting electronically as indicated further below. The City Council Chambers will not be open to the public. If you are ar individual with a disability and need a reasonable modification or accommodation pursuant t the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") please contact Deana Gonzalez at 818-888-9281
MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER
A special meeting of the City Council of the City of Hidden Hills was duly held via teleconference on Friday, March 18 2022 at the hour of 10:00 a.m. Mayor Laura McCorkindale called the meeting to order and presided thereover.
ROLL CALL
Council: Mayor Laura McCorkindale
Mayor Pro Tem Steve Freedland
Council Member Eniko Gold
Council Member Stuart E. Siegel
Council Member Larry G. Weber
Staff: City Manager Kerry Kallman
City Attorney Roxanne Diaz
Administrative Analyst Chantelle Limón
City Clerk Deana L. Gonzalez
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Special City Council Meeting Minutes
March 18, 2022
Mayor McCorkindale asked City Attorney Diaz to provide the closed session report from the March 14, 2022.
City Attorney Diaz stated that there was no reportable action on the closed session item.
AUDIENCE
There were no comments at this time.
NEW BUSINESS
Consideration of Approval of a Professional Services Agreement with MNS Engineers to Provide Grant Writing Services for a Sub application to the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) for the Jed Smith Utility Undergrounding Project Mayor McCorkindale asked City Attorney Diaz to provide information the conflicts of interest that several Council Members have and the process that the City Council will take so that we are able to discuss and vote on this item.
Ms. Diaz presented the following report:
The matter before the council is approval of a contract for a grant consultant to assist City Staff in filing the next steps for a grant for an undergrounding project. City Staff without any involvement of the Council, submitted a grant application, with the first step being the submittal of a Notice of Interest. In that Notice of Interest, the project identified is called either within 500 feet of the boundaries of the Jed Smith project, or 1,000 feet of the boundaries of the Jed Smith project. The only Council Member that is located more than 1000 feet is Mayor McCorkindale. The conflict of interest rules require that if a council member has a conflict, they must state the conflict, recuse themselves and not participate.
However, the FPPC regulations also recognizes that there may be a situation where there are not enough members, because of a conflict, to conduct business. Essentially have a quorum and conduct the city's business. Regulation 18705, the Legally Required Participation Rule, provides the guidance of when a decision needs to be made and there is no alternative source of decision making, how those members that have a conflict can Special City Council Meeting Minutes
March 18, 2022
participate. In this case, the amount of the contract is over the limit authorized to the City Manager. That said, under the rule, I will go through each of the conflicts to provide the legal basis for the conclusion that there is no alternative source of decision making. Council Member Siegel is within 500 feet of the project boundaries. Council Member Freedland is within 500 feet of the Council boundaries. Council Member Gold is within 500 feet of the Council boundaries. Council Member Weber is within 1000 feet of the Council boundaries. If a matter involves property located within 500 feet or less than 1,000 feet of the property line of the parcel, unless there's clear and convincing evidence that the decision will not have any much material impact on the official's property, that Council Member or that official has a conflict of interest and, in this case, there is no clear and convincing evidence that there will not be a measurable impact on that property based on all the discussions that have been had with respect to the removal of the poles. If a property is located more than 500 feet, but less than 1000 feet from the property line and the decision would change, for example, the character of the property, the market value or development potential or the highest and best use, then there is a conflict, and in this case because of the discussions that we've had with respect to the removal of the poles. I don't think that we can say that there is no material impact on that particular parcel within 1000 feet. Under the legally required participation rule in order for us to move forward with this item, and because there is only one Council Member and there needs to be three to have a quorum and participate, two Council Members will be chosen to participate by a random means of selection. City Manager Kallman has a clear bowl, and will show everyone and the camera the names of each Council Member and deposit them into the bowl.
City Manager Kallman showed the clear bowi to the camera and showed each paper with the individual council member's name on it and placed it in the bowl. He then selected two pieces of paper, one at a time, and selected the paper with Council Member Weber, and Council Member Siegel's names on them.
City Attorney Diaz announced that Council Member Siegel and Council Member Weber will participate and Council Member Gold and Council Member Freedland will maintain their conflict of interest and will recuse themselves. Ms. Diaz stated for the record the conflict, so if the Council was in person, Mayor Pro Tem Freedland and Council Member Gold would have leave the room, so they will leave the Zoom meeting and the meeting will continue with this item. Under the rules the quorum has met the minimum number of Members required to conduct business. This item requires a majority vote to move forward, which is three votes. Mayor Pro Tem Freedland and Special City Council Meeting Minutes
March 18, 2022
Council Member Gold left the zoom meeting so only the Mayor and Council Member Siegel and Council Member Weber remained on zoom.
Administrative Analyst Limón provided a brief summarization of the staff report.
Upon MOTION of Council Member Siegel, seconded by Council Member Weber the Council approved the professional services agreement with MNS Engineers to provide grant writing services for a sub application to the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) for the Jed Smith Utility • Undergrounding Project in the amount of $10,290 was approved by a 3-0 vote (McCorkindale, Siegel and Weber voting yes).
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before the Council, the meeting was adjourned at 10:11 a.m.
Imecorkendal
aura McCorkindale, Mayor
ATAEST: