CITY OF HIDDEN HILLS
П
REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING
(IN-PERSON AND VIDEO CONFERENCE)
6165 Spring Valley Road
Monday, July 10, 2023 at 5:30 p.m.
NOTE: The Hidden Hills City Council and City staff will be participating in this meeting in- agenda and non-agenda items in person, via Zoom or by email as indicated below.
MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
A regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Hidden Hills was duly held via teleconference and in person on Monday, July 10, 2023 at the hour of 5:30 p.m. Mayor Steve Freedland called the meeting to order and presided thereover.
ROLL CALL
Council: Mayor Steve Freedland
Mayor Pro Tem Eniko Gold
Council Member Joe Loggia
Council Member Laura McCorkindale
Council Member Larry G. Weber
Staff: City Manager Kerry Kallman
City Attorney Roxanne Diaz
City Engineer Dirk Lovett
City Clerk Deana L. Gonzalez
Upon MOTION of Council Member Loggia, seconded by Council Member McCorkindale, and unanimously approved by roll call vote, it was resolved to excuse the absences of Mayor Pro Tem Gold and Council Member Weber.
City Council Minutes
July 10, 2023
AUDIENCE
There were no comments.
CITY COUNCIL COMMENTS
Council Member Weber's wife Nanette on August 15
The City Council will hold a Special meeting on July 24 at 4:00 pm to review and discuss the proposed funding package for the Fiber to the Home project.
The next Regular City Council meeting will be held on Monday, August 28 at 5:30 pm.
STAFF COMMENTS
City Manager Kallman reported that the goats are back in the City for brush clearance along the City's perimeter.
City Attorney Diaz reported that at the last City Council meeting on June 26, 2023 there were two items on the closed session. There is no reportable action on either item.
CONSENT CALENDAR
Demand List
B. Consideration of Approval of a Debt Management Policy in Compliance with Government Code and Industry Best Practices
C. Consideration of Approval of a City Logo Refresh Design Council Member Loggia requested that items B and C be pulled from the consent calendar.
Upon MOTION of Councilmember Loggia, seconded by Councilmember McCorkindale, and carried unanimously on roll call vote, it was resolved to approve item A of the consent calendar as submitted.
City Council Minutes
July 10,2023
On Item B, Council Member Loggia had the following questions:
1) In the first section of debt issuance and management policy, and that the purposes of 2) In bullet point 4 where it says the level of which the City obligates itself, is managed within available resources, and represents a minimal cost to general taxpayers. What does it mean? Mr. Ferguson responded that is intended to get at is that the City won't over extend itself, based on whatever the funding sources are to repay the debt. If it's a general fund, then the City working with its consultant would ensure that projected revenues are sufficient, or more than sufficient to cover that service. 3) On page 3, in the second full paragraph that starts with "it is the policy of the City to ensure that proceeds of debt." It says whenever reasonably possible, the proceeds of the debt will be held by third party trustee, and the City will submit written requisitions for such proceeds and it has to come from the City Manager. Shouldn't it at least require the City Manager and at least one City Councilmember as a matter of internal control of where the funds are going? Mr. Ferguson responded that he has not seen that because once we put together a financing plan, the financing plan is built into the documents. It is certainly within the City Council's purview to add a second person to review, such as a Councilmember.
Mayor Freedland agreed with Councilmember Loggia's point that the City's procedure is that when the City writes checks to its vendors, etc., it always requires two signatures, and would like to see the document adjusted to require that. 4) My next question is regarding the next paragraph where it says, "any approval of debt by the City Council that is not consistent with this Debt Policy shall constitute a waiver of the Debt Policy". Is what you are saying is, we can waive it at any time. Scott Ferguson: That's right. It's not law, so it has the flexibility to allow waivers. If the Council wants to approve any waivers, or take an action to approve any debt or any financing that are at variance with anything in the policies, we could certainly require that a change come back before the City Council.
5) My next question is in disclosure requirements. There's a little bit of a conflict between point one and point three where the City Manager is going to act as the City's Disclosure Coordinator, but then it states that as part of the review process, the Disclosure Coordinator shall submit all official statements for approval to the City Manager. Is that a best practice? Or should we have a just somebody designated differently as a Disclosure Coordinator? Such as the City Treasurer? Mr. Ferguson agreed. City City Council Minutes
July 10, 2023
Attorney Diaz stated that it's usually the Finance Director, so our City Treasurer would work.
6) My last question is in the last paragraph, where it basically says the Disclosure Coordinator is going to make sure that everybody in the City staff and the City Council knows what their individual and group responsibilities are. Is there going to be a document laying that out for us? Mr. Ferguson: when it gets to that stage, an agenda staff report will be prepared, and that will summarize the state of the securities laws and how that informs the City Council's responsibilities in in the eyes of the regulators.
Councilmember Loggia thanked Mr. Ferguson for his time. He would like to make a suggestion that on page two, second paragraph, "City will submit a requisition only after obtaining the signature of the City Manager", we add in the Mayor as well and change the Disclosure Coordinator from City Manager to City Treasurer. All Councilmembers were in agreement to those changes.
Upon MOTION of Councilmember Loggia, seconded by Councilmember McCorkindale, and carried unanimously on roll call vote, it was resolved to approve item B of the consent calendar with those changes suggested above per Councilmember Loggia.
Councilmember Loggia withdrew his question regarding the logo, so Upon MOTION of Council Member McCorkindale, seconded by Councilmember Loggia, and carried unanimously on roll call vote, it was resolved to approve item C of the consent calendar as submitted.
NEW BUSINESS
A. Consideration of a Proposal from RRM Design Group to Provide a General Plan Update Assessment
City Engineer Lovett presented the following report:
the City adopted a General Plan in June, 1973, which is, in effect, the constitution of the П City and poles is, a wei as probe ons entrphyeical anil, intral and on miy resources; California Government Code Section 65302 requires that a general plan contain City Council Minutes
July 10, 2023
seven elements; the last significant General Plan update was in 1995; in 2023 the City Council adopted a goal to update the City's General Plan; a proposal from its planning consultant, RRM Design Group was received, which includes a two phase approach; phase 1 would include research and information gathering including: evaluating the City's General Plan's conformance with State laws and current standards, meetings with staff, and a public study session and also include an environmental evaluation; the finished product of phase 1 would be a report of their assessment, along with recommendations and suggested upgrades; this report could then be included in a request for proposals that City staff would circulate to other consultants for the phase 2 work (upgrading the General Plan); RRM's proposal for phase 1 is in the amount of $21,500, and is included in the approved FY 2023/24 City budget.
The Council discussed the potential costs of $100,000-$400,000 for phase 2 and they decided that phase 1 is important to deem what is necessary to be done in phase 2 to bring the General Plan up to date and in compliance, and hopefully keep the potential cost on the lower side of the range.
Upon MOTION by Councilmember McCorkindale, seconded by Councilmember Loggia, and unanimously carried on roll call vote, it was resolved to enter into an agreement with RRM Design Group for phase 1 of the General Plan update, as proposed in their April 11, 2023 proposal, in an amount not to exceed $21,500 and authorized staff a 10% contract contingency ($2,150) for extras and unforeseen conditions.
B. An Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Hidden Hills Amending the Section 1-6-2 of the Hidden Hills Municipal Code Related to City Council Meetings City Attorney Diaz presented the following report:
at the June 12, 2023 City Council meeting, the City Council discussed whether the City should hold only one meeting a month, instead of two in light of several factors: City historically cancels several meetings a year for various holidays, summer recess, fiesta; the agendas may be "light" on business; one meeting a month is common place among other small municipalities; the City Council gave direction to move to one meeting a month; the proposed ordinance amends Section 1-6-2 of the City's Municipal Code regarding city council meetings and provides that the City's regular meeting will be the second Monday of each month; in case there is a holiday on that day, the previous language provided that the meeting will be held on the following business day, which is a Tuesday. This date may not always be the best day to hold a meeting so the proposed ordinance states that in case of a holiday, the meeting will be held on the fourth Monday of the month. This allows for City Council Minutes
July 10, 2023
some continuity in the meeting schedule for both the public and the City Council since the City has had meetings on the fourth Monday for many year; alternatively, the City may call a special meeting anytime it is needed.
After discussion by the City Council, and Upon MOTION by Council Member Loggia, seconded by Councilmember McCorkindale, and unanimously carried on roll call vote, it was resolved to introduce by title only and waive full reading of Ordinance No. 386 amending the City's Municipal Code related to City Council meetings, holding one City Council meeting a month on the second Monday of the month, and keeping the previous language provided that the meeting will be held on the following business day, which is a Tuesday.
CLOSED SESSION
Conference with Real Property Negotiators Pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.8; Assessor's Parcel Number 2049-013-015, City Negotiator, Kerry Kallman, City Manager; Negotiating Party, Ashim and Sonal Kumar; Under Negotiation, Price and Terms of Payment
Upon MOTION of Council Member McCorkindale, seconded by Councilmember Loggia and unanimously carried, it was resolved to adjourn to closed session at 6:18 p.m. to address the items listed above.
The City Council returned from closed session and the City Attorney announced that in closed session the Council discussed the items listed above, and that no reportable action was taken.
ADJOURNMENT
Jeana L. Gonzalez, CMC, City Cler