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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/22/16 Minutes - Regular MeetingCITY OF DIAMOND BAR CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION MARCH 22, 2016 STUDY SESSION: M/Lyons called the Study Session to order at 5:33 p.m. in Room CC -8, South Coast Air Quality Management District Center, 21865 Copley Drive, Diamond Bar, CA 91765. Present: Council Members Carol Herrera, Ruth Low, Steve Tye, Mayor Pro Tem Jimmy Lin, and Mayor Nancy Lyons Staff Present: James DeStefano, City Manager; Ryan McLean, Deputy City Manager; David DeBerry, City Attorney; Bob Rose, Community Services Director; David Liu, Public Works Director; Greg Gubman, Community Development Director; Dianna Honeywell, Finance Director; Kimberly Young, Senior Civil Engineer; Ken Desforges, IS Director; Anthony Santos, Senior Management Analyst; Alfa Lopez, Management Analyst; Amy Haug, Human Resources Manager; Mandy Jiang, Human Resources Intern; and Tommye Cribbins, City Clerk. HRM/Haug introduced Intern Mandy Jiang, who works in the City Manager's Department. ® FY 2016-17 CITY COUNCIL GOALS AND OBJECTIVES — Discussion and Action. DCM/McLean confirmed Council's direction on Items 1 through 4 which were discussed at the last Study Session on March 1. He stated that he made adjustments based on Council's direction on the Item 2.5 wherein he noted the arterial streets in detail including Grand Avenue, Diamond Bar Boulevard and Golden Springs Drive to provide some clarity. For Item 4.6 staff edited the "quiet zone" item to adjust it so that the goal was more to secure its funding partners and sponsors to fund that quiet zone to seek out options rather than committing the City to what could be a million dollar project. DCM/McLean continued with his presentation with Item 5. 5. Provide an open, efficient and responsive local government. Item 5.1 includes "launch a redesigned City website" — The City has had a City website provided by a company known as Vision Internet for about 13 years which has undergone cosmetic changes during that time. Because technology changes so rapidly, staff believes it is time to go out to bid for a new and complete renovation of the website. C/Tye surmised that none of the website is done internally. DCM/McLean explained that staff manages the content but the website is hosted off-site and the design is done by the private firm. MARCH 22, 2016 PAGE 2 CC STUDY SESSION DCM/McLean continued by stating that staff wants to clean up the website, modernize it and add new features to make it more user- friendly. Item 5.2 is to "launch a comprehensive update to the City's smartphone application." Apparently, inside the building wifi does not allow the Apple iTunes store. The City has a Diamond Bar App that is available on the Android store and the Apple itunes store. At this time it is functional and staff is in the process of updating it but there will be more information and services available moving forward. This app has information on City Hall and City Council and has a reporting feature so that residents can take a picture of the area of their concern and send it to City Hall. C/Low asked if the Diamond Bar App required the user to provide their GPS location. CM/McLean responded that the individual can geo-tag his location for identification. C/Low asked if it was optional. DCM/McLean said he believed so but would defer to PIM/Roa who is currently updating the system. Item 5.3 is to "market the new website and application" to let people know that this Is the hub for the City's information on a 24/7 basis including services the City provides electronically. Staff would want to develop a campaign to drive users to those outlets because it provides instantaneous information about nearly all of the services and information the City has available to the public. Item 5.4 is to make DBty which is available on Time Warner and Verizon as a live -stream on the City's website so that individuals can tune in in real time. C/Tye said he thought that could be done now. DCM/McLean said that there is live streaming of the Council meetings but the on -demand channel is not available at this time. DCM/McLean continued that with respect to Item 5.5, staff has been making an effort to "image and catalogue the City's documents" Council has authorized staff to purchase a new records management system which is a very in-depth and long process that includes the purging of files and setting them up so that they are appropriate to be MARCH 22, 2016 PAGE 3 CC STUDY SESSION sent off-site to be scanned or to be scanned in-house. This effort will continue at a faster pace during the next year. Item 5.6 — staff would like to "expand online services portals", particularly in the Planning and Building and Safety world which would include "online permits and business license applications". Staff will look into what other cities are doing and what works in order to make this application as easy and user-friendly for the public to move forward with their projects in the simplest and most cost-effective way as possible. The City has a Business License renewal portal which eliminates a lot of staff time and streamlines the process for the public as well. C/Tye asked if this online service would do away with counter service. DCM/McLean responded "No" that the City would never do away with counter service. Item 5.7 — "develop an updated e -government plan". Staff would like to look at all of the aforementioned items and strategize their rollout and do the same with future items, whatever they may be and the IS Department will provide their expertise in these areas by gathering information from other cities and putting together a strategy for e- government apps. C/Low asked if the system has provisions for safety. DCM/McLean responded that the security on the City's e -government site is beyond that of most cities. ISD/Deforges said that the system is very secure. It is part of everything that the City does and is ongoing. He further stated that the City does testing of its own network and systems as well as vendor partner systems which is a part of the vendor contract which insists that the City is allowed to test them as well and let them know when they need to make corrections or updates on their sites as well. C/Low asked where the digitized records are stored. DCM/McLean explained that they are stored on a City server. 6. Provide and maintain high quality public facilities, infrastructure and equipment. 6.1 Develop and consider options for a property -based assessment to fund parks and recreation and athletic field capital improvement proiects. DCM/McLean stated that one of the items on Council's MARCH 22, 2016 PAGE 4 CC STUDY SESSION Agenda tonight is to consider the hiring of a consultant that would kick off this process, do some polling work to determine the level of support. The measure would need a voter -approved measure in November if approved by the City Council to go forward. The measure would generate some revenue to do new construction of parks and recreation facilities and athletic fields as well as, renovations to existing facilities. 6.2Complete annual fiscal year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) protects on time and within budget. DCM/McLean said that Council would consider this item as part of its annual budget to make sure that any projects done by the City which have variables that come up but staff will do its best to make sure the full plan is in place in the next fiscal year. 6.3Develop plans to incorporate the streetscape features of the Grand Avenue Beautification project at other arterial intersections and City entry points. DCM/McLean said this would be the next steps related to the Grand Avenue project that was recently completed. There are a couple of projects at the western side of Golden Springs that are on the CIP as well as at Temple Avenue and staff would use the designs that were put in place at Grand Avenue and Diamond Bar Boulevard to expand those to other entry points throughout the City to unify the theme. M/Lyons said she thought the City already had plans to do this PWD/Liu said that staff has the guideline to use the Grand Avenue project as a format, but each location is unique in that staff has to look at the existing right-of-way to make sure the ultimate improvements work within those areas. The two locations at Diamond Bar Boulevard and Temple Avenue and Golden Springs Drive at Calpet Drive are monument signs. Other sections such as Brea Canyon Road at Diamond Bar Boulevard is in process and the decorate poles have been ordered. Plans and specs are being finished and bids will be solicited for construction within the next month or so which will come back to the City Council for consideration. CM/DeStefano stated that the median area in front of the Kmart from Golden Springs Drive to the freeway will be designed to get ready for the Kmart development to coincide with the physical development or start on the heels of the project in 2017. The project wants to be open by March 2017. Whether staff can do what it needs to do to meet the construction schedule there is a lot to be determined. MARCH 22, 2016 PAGE 5 CC STUDY SESSION C/Tye asked if the project would include improvements to Gentle Springs. CM/DeStefano said it would not include the Grand Avenue style beautification elements on Gentle Springs but Gentle Springs will have to be developed to at least the centerline for what is the McDonald's and Kmart property. C/Low asked if pedestrian features could be included to encourage people to walk across the street. 6AComplete a parks and facilities infrastructure inventory and maintenance schedule. This item is currently in process. 6.5Review all current landscape maintenance contracts and update associated scope -of -work necessary to meet current needs and standards. Staff is planning to do this on a regular basis to make sure that the City's contractors are meeting the needs. There are new facilities coming online in the next couple of years including Diamond Canyon Park, Larkstone Park and as of now other unnamed facilities. C/Tye asked if the City had received adjustments from its landscape contractors due to the fact that there are no more medians. CSD/Rose responded that the City received a rebate during construction and at this time the contractor is evaluating the amount of time they will spend spraying for weeds, especially this time of year, as opposed to the cost of mowing. 6.6 Develop a fleet management and replacement plan. M/Lyons said that earlier for items 1 through 4 was there an item about looking at pricing for contract classes. DCM/McLean said he did not believe that was an item for that on this list but there is a user -fee study which looks at all contract class fees. 7. Provide high quality community and recreation programs and services that meet the needs of the diverse Diamond Bar community. 8. Develop and maintain a professional and effective workforce to serve the public. MARCH 22, 2016 PAGE 6 CC STUDY SESSION 8.1 Conduct succession planning efforts to prepare for a transitioning workforce. DCM/McLean said that Diamond Bar is fortunate to have a number of good people that stay with the City for a long time. At a certain point there will be some transition and staff wants to make sure that it is ready and able to serve the Council and the public so these efforts will be conducted through the Human Resources Division and the City Manager's Office. 8.2implement a new employee performance management system, including a revised evaluation process, form and training. This is something that ties into all of the objectives under this goal. Staff wants to make sure that it is maintaining its performance standards and that supervisors are working with staff on a regular basis to make certain that the City is providing good performance and correcting any issues that need to be corrected. This will fall under the performance management system that staff will roll out in the next year. 8.3Expand employee training and leadership opportunities that result in improved customer service. Staff is always looking to find ways to improve service to the public whether learning to use new systems that make it more efficient or learning how to do better performance management. In addition, staff is working on a new training calendar that will likely be rolled out for new employees in the next year which will provide options for everyone to improve and continue offering good service. DCM/McLean concluded that once the City Council has set forth its recommendations, staff will bring back an edited/revised version for Council Consideration at its next meeting. MPT/Lin stated that in the private sector one begins with a vision from which one can work back to set goals for each department. As far as the Goals and Objectives that have been discussed this year he has no issue but suggested that perhaps next year the Council could start with a vision first. C/Herrera said the Council used to have a vision printed in the notebooks the agendas were in which was the vision for Diamond Bar. However, the Council no longer has notebooks for the agenda packets. CM/DeStefano recommended that the Council take action on the Goals and Objectives before it so that staff can move forward with the current year's budget and appropriate funding to match up with the Goals and Objectives. That said, there is ample opportunity to MARCH 22, 2016 PAGE 7 CC STUDY SESSION work on a vision, a mission statement, updated goals and objectives for Community Services to provide overall. With respect to the items C/Herrera refers to, staff used to provide the Council with a written copy of the Vision Statement and the overarching goals that were within the 1995 General Plan which covered a lot of territory but not everything such as the implementation through Human Resources and others. There has never been that level of detail in the Master Plan for Development and it would be very appropriate to take some time over the balance of this year to begin looking at all of that and get some contemporary thought as the General Plan document is gearing up to go through its revision process and with that, the overarching value statements, etc. that the Council has that lead to everything else the City does. That stated, the Council could create a Goal/Objective within one of the existing eight categories, or perhaps create a new category, to add the discussion to the list. Council Members concurred. DCM/McLean said he would create some language and make sure to include it in the revised version that comes back to the City Council for consideration. C/Low asked if there were state mandates included in the goals. DCM/McLean said none in particular. There are always state mandates that the City must conform to but none of these goals were created in response to state mandates. C/Low asked if the City was neglecting any of the mandates that had to be done in this document. DCM/McLean said "not that he is aware of." CM/DeStefano said that probably the closest is Item 4 which discusses the City's General Plan which is mandated by state law. Diamond Bar has a General Plan which is going through an update process and as it proceeds through that process staff will make sure that it meets the current and anticipated future requirements of state law. CM/DeStefano confirmed to C/Low that the update of the General Plan is included in the list of Goals and Objectives for FY 2016-17 and said that it was a multi-year project that Council will see repeated next year. MARCH 22, 2016 PAGE 8 CC STUDY SESSION CDD/Gubman said that as an example, one of the mandated elements is the Circulation Mobility Element and there is a state mandate that requires whenever a City goes through a General Plan update they need to incorporate complete streets in their Roadway Master Plan. So the City has to accommodate multiple modes of transportation including automobiles. C/Herrera said she felt the list was very busy and was more detailed this year than ever before. In the past there would be just the bold section of the goals and not all of the detail because it is up to staff to figure out how to implement it. This year Council is being provided all of the detail and she believes that if staff does all of this within a one year timeframe they will be super busy. C/Tye said it is never the goal to get all of this done within 12 months. C/Herrera said that is true and many of these are multi-year. In short, she approves the goals. MPT/Lin reiterated that at the end of the year his company scores each of the goals with a letter grade and input a champion's name after each of the items but in this case, that will not work because multiple parties will be responsible. M/Lyons said she agreed with C/Herrera that there are a lot of items listed and she wondered what would get accomplished so it seemed to her that that the Council might want to add that every year when new goals are set the Council look at what the City set out to accomplish the prior year and score those items in some manner. DCM/McLean said that he would be providing a matrix and staff would be providing quarterly updates for each of the items to the City Council. M/Lyons commented that during the year some items may no longer be considered goals. DCM/McLean reiterated that there will always be things that come up that may change priorities and the Council will be updated on those items. In addition, staff can provide a summary at the end of the year as a report to the City Council. M/Lyons felt the Council should be able to view the report prior to considering the next fiscal year's Goals and Objectives. MARCH 22, 2016 PAGE 9 CC STUDY SESSION C/Tye asked about the schedule for replacing trees. CSD/Rose said that tree replacement is done on a 6 -month basis because the best time to plant trees is in the spring and fall. WASTE HAULERS CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS — Discussion and Action. MA/Lopez presented staff's report stating that in 2009 the City Council approved exclusive franchise agreements with Waste Management (residential) and Valley Vista (commercial). Negotiations were led with the assistance of legal counsel and a contract consultant which resulted in the existing eight year agreements that became effective in August 2010 and are set to expire in August 2018. There are two options for procurement of solid waste services. City Council can direct staff to enter into exclusive negotiations with current haulers or seek competitive bids through an RFP process. MPT/Lin asked if it was legal for cities to enter into a single -source waste hauler contract. CM/DeStefano responded affirmatively. Some cities have a single -source, some cities segregate it out like Diamond Bar does and in some cities it is chaos with multiple haulers in the city. MA/Lopez continued that the first option, exclusive negotiations, can typically be completed within a six-month timeframe in which case the agreements would be opened and negotiated exclusively with the current haulers. Some of the benefits that often result with exclusive negotiations is general service continuity, fewer interruptions to service, overall fewer adjustments for the community and improvement to existing services. Should the City Council chose this option, if favorable terms are not agreed upon, the City can switch to the competitive bid process which offers considerable flexibility since there is slightly more than two years prior to expiration of the current contracts. The second option is to seek competitive bids through an RFP process which ensures services are competitively priced, may result in new and innovative programs, allows for open competition between service providers and would seek to provide an opportunity to improve existing service to the community. Due to the complexity of securing competitive bids, this process requires more time (a year or so) than the exclusive negotiation process. Staff is seeking City Council's concurrence on its preferred option for securing solid waste services in the City. Staff's recommendation is to MARCH 22, 2016 PAGE 10 CC STUDY SESSION bring back to the City Council at a future date an agreement with a consulting expert to negotiate solid waste contracts on behalf of the City. Based on City Council, staff will move forward with the objective to have a new agreement in place prior to the August 2018 expiration date and the City Council will be provided updates during future study sessions. C/Tye asked if the same consultant as last time could be used. CM/DeStefano said he would like to because they were outstanding. C/Tye said he would go with CM/DeStefano's assessment. However, his frustration was that they did not listen. He believes the City got a good contract and that the City has good haulers but the one thing that stands out in his mind was that it was brought to the City's attention that in the contract that it called for all new bins and he feels as he felt at the time that if it still worked why would it be replaced and that it was not necessary and should be taken out of the contract but when the contract came back it was still there. It seemed to him that if their business was confined to "consulting" it was all cookie cutter. He asked what it cost the City last time for the consultant. CM/DeStefano said he thought it was about $100-$150,000. C/Tye said if it is that much and it costs $162,500 to see that it is unique to Diamond Bar, would that be a choice? CM/DeStefano said that HF&H was the consultant the City used. Diamond Bar does this once every six, eight, ten years. The waste haulers do this a hundred times a year and they have far more experience than Diamond Bar will ever have. Diamond Bar needs an equal partner on its side to work with the waste haulers. So, a company like HF&H which is absolutely outstanding, has done this hundreds of times. To the point of the potential fora cookie cutter, they will look at what all of the other cities are doing, what the regulations may require and going forward, what Diamond Bar wants out of the contract for local purposes and needs, so it will be a combination of some best standard practice for which they are better equipped to know about as well as, local things this City wants to do. There will be plenty of time to deal with any of those discretionary items and given that staff wants to start the process so early we are doing so deliberately as we did the last time so that Diamond Bar will not be boxed in up against the deadline of a contract expiration. There is plenty of time to sort all of this out and to make sure that everything we ask for is covered. C/Herrera said she agreed with CM/DeStefano's recommendation. C/Tye asked how many consultants are in the waste hauler business. MARCH 22, 2016 PAGE 11 CC STUDY SESSION CM/DeStefano said he did not know the number but he knows that there are not very many and HF&H is the best which is why the haulers do not like HF&H. Eight years ago there was pushback from both haulers about HF&H because they know what they are doing and Diamond Bar wanted a level playing field with our experts up against their contract negotiators. Going forward, the City will have to hire a consultant which will be the decision of the Council and there will be discussions, negotiations, policy choices, etc. that we want to make as we move forward. _Staff wants to start the process early as was previously done to put the City at an advantage with time. Staff wants to start the process with Option 1 because the City has had great success with the City's and customer relationships with Waste Management and Valley Vista and based on that success, staff would like to offer an exclusive to those two firms to work with us to work toward the best contract for this community. Should that not work out it will be opened up to anyone else in the waste business that wants to bid. Through that whole process there will still be plenty of time to get it all done. Nothing will be done to box in the City and put it at a disadvantage. And the strategy worked very well for the City in 2008-2009. C/Low asked how the City would know what a competitive bid was unless it released RFPs. CM/DeStefano responded because the City would be hiring an outstanding partner like HF&H who has done hundreds of these over the years and knows what the best practices are, knows what the proper points and values are. They helped Diamond Bar greatly last time because they know what everybody in the industry is doing — what the haulers want, what cities are agreeing to, why those things take place, what the City should be asking for and pushing for and what the City might be more flexible with. Diamond Bar is not an expert in the waste hauler negotiation business. Valley Vista and Waste Management are. C/Tye said that residents pay $90 per quarter ($30 per month) and his fear is that some haulers will come in at $40 per quarter, promise everything and Diamond Bar could be stuck with a long-term agreement that the hauler did not live up to and there are waste haulers that have behaved that way that are suing cities and the cities are suing the waste haulers. He believes that Diamond Bar has two of the best haulers and thinking about three or four that are, in his opinion, not reputable, it is a real risk for Diamond Bar to go the way of an RFP as its first option. MPT/Lin asked how many waste haulers there were. MA/Lopez responded that she came from Costa Mesa and their commercial business was split up among 10 haulers on an open permit system which created somewhat of a nightmare with respect to projects, confirming who was providing service, and managing reports, etc. MARCH 22, 2016 PAGE 12 CC STUDY SESSION CM/DeStefano said that at one time Diamond Bar had 13 haulers in the City that were fighting with each other and stealing customers. It was chaos. CM/DeStefano said that staff believes that the City's success over the years will prove once again that Diamond Bar can get the best hauler(s) and continue to serve the customer base very well. One should be aware of how many customers are served in the City and how few complaints are put forth. Both companies do a really good job, are engaged in the community and do a variety of things for the community including supporting events, etc. They have good price points, they have good sales and service and it has worked for Diamond Bar. So the idea through Option 1 is to give those two existing haulers an opportunity to come to a successful conclusion with the City for X number of years going forward. And again, if that does not work, we open it up to the other companies that might be interested in a Diamond Bar contract. When Diamond Bar moved forward in 2008 with this same process it put a significant amount of pressure on those two haulers. Diamond Bar did not have a deadline, they had a deadline. Council directed staff to move forward with Option 1, which is to release the RFP for the consultant, bring staff's recommendation for review and approval, and move forward with an exclusive negotiation process with the two existing haulers. Public Comments: None ADJOURNMENT: With no further business to come before the City Council, M/Lyons adjourned the Study Session at 6:24 p.m. i (2�o- Tommye Cribbins, City Clerk The foregoing minutes are hereby approved this 5th_ day of Aj ,r l MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY OF DIAMOND BAR MARCH 22, 2016 STUDY SESSION: 5:33 p.m., Room CC -8 ► Goals and Objectives for FY 2016-17 — Discussion and Action. ► Waste Haulers Contract Negotiations — Discussion and Action. Public Comments: None Recess: Study Session Recessed to the Regular Meeting at 6:24 p.m. CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Lyons called the Regular City Council meeting to order at 6:33 p.m. in the South Coast Air Quality Management District/Government Center Auditorium, 21865 Copley Drive, Diamond Bar, CA. CM/DeStefano stated that during tonight's Study Session, Council reviewed the second half of the proposed FY 2016-17 Goals and Objectives which have been posted on the City's website. Council proposed some changes and directed staff to bring the revised document back to the City Council at its next meeting for formal adoption. In addition, the Council received a report on the Waste Haulers contract negotiations which is beginning well in advance of the 2018 contract expiration date. Council gave direction to staff to commence the process which includes hiring a consultant to assist the City in determining what type contract will come back to the City Council for formal approval. This process includes first right of negotiation with the two existing waste haulers. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Mayor Lyons led the Pledge of Allegiance. INVOCATION: Randy Lanthripe, Pastor, Church in the Valley provided the invocation. ROLL CALL: Council Members Herrera, Low, Tye, Mayor Pro Tem Lin and Mayor Lyons. Staff Present: James DeStefano, City Manager; Ryan McLean, Deputy City Manager; David DeBerry, City Attorney; Ken Desforges, IS Director; David Liu, Public Works Director; Bob Rose, Community Services Director; Dianna Honeywell, Finance Director; Greg Gubman, Community Development Director; Amy Haug, Human Resources Manager; Kimberly Young, Senior Civil Engineer; Anthony Santos, Senior Management Analyst; Alfa Lopez, Management Analyst; Cecilia Arellano, Public Information Coordinator; Mandy Jiang, Human Resources Intern, and Tommye Cribbins, City Clerk. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: As Presented. MARCH 22, 2016 PAGE 2 CITY COUNCIL 1. SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS, CERTIFICATES, PROCLAMATIONS: 1.1 M/Lyons and City Council Members presented a Certificate of Recognition to Diamond Bar High School Student Hailey Shi, for her participation and winning 1st Place in the 17th Annual Holocaust Art & Writing Contest at Chapman University. 2. CITY MANAGER REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: CM/DeStefano reported that the First Phase of the SR57/60 Confluence Project construction effort began recently in front of the former Honda and Burger King property. The First Phase of this multi -phased project will take about 15 months to complete and will provide a new westbound onramp to the SR57/60 under the Honda Dealership sign which was removed about a week ago. In addition, the center median is being removed to allow for striping of an additional northbound/eastbound left -turn lane. This is a Caltrans project and Diamond Bar will work with Caltrans to assist residents with their questions or concerns about the project. CM/DeStefano stated that at the end of last week Metro announced a $120 billion plan to generate resources for a wide variety of transportation improvements in Los Angeles County and consider whether to put all of these items before the voters with a ballot measure in November 2016 that would add an additional sales tax percentage to the total percentage to generate funds to build the infrastructure. Much of the infrastructure will be located a considerable distance from Diamond Bar but serving Los Angeles County residents and visitors, etc. If this measure passes, a large portion of the resources would come to Diamond Bar including the $205 million necessary for the final phase of the freeway improvement (confluence) project for the mainline improvements to improve capacity and flow where the 57 and 60 now crossover. This will be an important consideration for voters should this matter come before them for consideration to decide whether an additional sales tax would be appropriate to fund regional transportation improvements specific to Los Angeles County including the SR57/60 portion in Diamond Bar. CM/DeStefano said that last Wednesday the City saw the opening of Smart & Final Extra. Vons was very successful over many years and was the "King" of the grocery operators in Diamond Bar in overall volume. Vons was sold to Haggen as a result of their merger with Albertson's which did not go well for Haggen. Unfortunately, the Diamond Bar store closed a short time later. During the bankruptcy process the City was actively marketing the site on behalf of grocers that the City hoped would give consideration to that location and those who labored tirelessly in this effort were able to talk Smart & Final Extra into placing a bid for the Diamond Bar store. Fortunately, Smart & Final Extra was the successful bidder and was awarded the store by the bankruptcy judge. Smart & Final Extra has been in business for a week and has been very happy with the public reaction and response. He encouraged residents to take MARCH 22, 2016 PAGE 3 CITY COUNCIL advantage of this business. Many of these types of decisions to place a restaurant or retail operation come from the dedicated members of those private companies who serve on the real estate side of the operation. These folks look at the site, demographics, work the numbers and determine whether the site is appropriate for their product. Pat Barber, VP of Real Estate for Smart & Final happens to reside in a nearby city. Pat has been in that business for a very long time and was very open to placing a store in Diamond Bar for which the City is very grateful. 3. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Theresa Lee spoke about Millennium and the extension of its Tract Map which she believes was granted inappropriately. She cited state and local codes and said the extension has a time limit and needs to be filed in writing which was not done and therefore believes that the Map has expired and as a result, in order for the developer to develop this particular piece of land they would need to bring a new application, tender the appropriate fees, do a new EIR and then proceed. Michelle Yi, DBCEA, spoke about what is happening between Millennium representative Kurt Nelson and the homeowners association regarding Tentative Tract Map 53430 and reiterated reasons she believes the Tract Map should not be approved. Chia Teng reiterated his concerns about what he felt was Millennium's inappropriate cutting of trees and stockpiling, and what he considered to be bogus documents and contradictory statements by City officials. Rai Marwah reiterated his concerns about the Millennium Project and requested the City to reconsider their approval. Kurt Nelson spoke regarding the past speakers and their efforts to defeat a project which has been approved and which is meeting all of the conditions of that approval and that this is a private matter between the association and the developer and is not the concern of the City Council. Lew Herndon said he understood that students from Diamond Bar High School would be present this evening to accept a $5,000 check from the Diamond Bar Community Foundation to the Diamond Bar High School Music Department for their upcoming production. Mr. Herndon recited the mission of the Foundation and propounded about their support of community groups and City events and activities. For more information or to participate in the Foundation's efforts, go to www.thedbcf.orq. Approximately 90 percent of the Foundation's programs are youth oriented. MARCH 22, 2016 PAGE 4 CITY COUNCIL 4. RESPONSE TO PUBLIC COMMENTS: M/Lyons thanked Mr. Herndon on behalf of the Council for all that the Diamond Bar Community Foundation does, especially for the youth. 5. SCHEDULE OF FUTURE EVENTS: 5.1 Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting — March 24, 2016 — 7:00 p.m., Windmill Community Room; 21810 Copley Drive. 5.2 Annual Easter Egg Hunt — March 26, 2016 — 10:00 a.m., Pantera Park, 738 Pantera Drive. (Pancake Breakfast hosted by Fire Explorers Post 19 beginning at 8:30 a.m.) 5.3 State of the City — March 30, 2016 — 6:00 p.m., Diamond Bar Center, 1600 Grand Avenue. 5.4 City Council Meeting — April 5, 2016 — 6:30 p.m., AQMD Government Center Auditorium, 21865 Copley Drive. 6. CONSENT CALENDAR: C/Tye moved, C/Low seconded, to approve the Consent Calendar with MPT/Lin abstaining from approval of Item 6.5 (Warrant Numbers 115551 and 115637). Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: Herrera, Low, Tye, MPT/Lin, M/Lyons NOES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: None ABSENT: COUNCIL MEMBERS: None 6.1 WAIVE READING IN FULL OF ALL ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS AND ADOPT THE CONSENT CALENDAR. 6.2 APPROVED CITY COUNCIL MINUTES: 6.2.1 Study Session of March 1, 2016 — As presented. 6.2.2 Regular Meeting of March 1, 2016 — As presented. 6.3 RECEIVED AND FILED PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES — Regular Meeting of January 28, 2016. 6.4 RECEIVED AND FILED PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES: 6.4.1 Regular Meeting of January 26, 2016, 6.4.2 Regular Meeting of February 23, 2016. 6.5 RATIFIED CHECK REGISTER — Dated February 25, 2016 through March 16, 2016 totaling $1,680,851.92. MARCH 22, 2016 PAGE 5 CITY COUNCIL 6.6 SECOND READING AND ADOPTION OF ORDINANCE NO. 04(2016): AMENDING SECTIONS 2.20.040 AND 2.20.070 OF CHAPTER 2 OF THE DIAMOND BAR CITY CODE RELATING TO THE ADMINISTRATION OF ITS PERSONNEL SYSTEM. 6.7 a) AUTHORIZED THE CITY MANAGER TO ENTER INTO A MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU) WITH THE CITY OF INDUSTRY ESTABLISHING A REIMBURSEMENT AGREEMENT FOR CONSULTANT COSTS RELATED TO THE PREPARATION OF JOINT FASTLANE AND TIGER TRANSPORTATION FUNDING GRANT APPLICATIONS. b) APPROVED A BUDGET TRANSFER OF $66,462 FROM THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT — PROFESSIONAL SERVICES ACCOUNT TO THE CITY MANAGER/CITY CLERK — PROFESSIONAL SERVICES ACCOUNT AND APPROVED THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO A CONSULTING SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH WKE, INC. FOR TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING CONSULTING SERVICES. 6.8 APPROVED MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT FOR LEMON AVENUE UNDERCROSSING WITH THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THROUGH THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (CALTRANS) RELATED TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW FREEWAY INTERCHANGE AT LEMON AVENUE ON STATE ROUTE 60 (ESTIMATED TO BE $10,000 OR LESS PER YEAR). 7. PUBLIC HEARINGS: None. 8. COUNCIL CONSIDERATION: 8.1 APPROPRIATE $180,000 FROM GENERAL FUND RESERVES AND APPROVE CONTRACT WITH PUBLIC FINANCE STRATEGIES, LLC DBA TBWB STRATEGIES FOR $150,000; PLUS, A $30,000 CONTINGENCY FOR A TOTAL NOT -TO -EXCEED COST OF $180,000. DCM/McLean presented staffs report stating that tonight's discussion is about the contract with TBWB Strategies for potential pre-election consulting services for a parks and recreation infrastructure revenue measure that would generate funds to construct new parks, renovate existing parks, recreation facilities and athletic fields in Diamond Bar. If ultimately approved by the City Council, the measure would likely be placed on the November ballot for consideration by the voters. The City received five responses from the RFP that was released in late January 2016 and responses. included the following firms: SCI Consulting Group, Sorrell and Associates, LLC, TBWB Strategies, Lew Edwards Group and Forde & Mollrich. Depending on the different options (base price plus options), prices range from a low of $79,000 plus reimbursable expenses MARCH 22, 2016 PAGE 6 CITY COUNCIL to as high as about $380,000 These responses came from five well-qualified firms, each of which provided many examples of their work on successful ballot measures in cities around the State as well as, special districts, school districts and other government agencies. Each of the proposers follows a similar approach which includes direct polling of local voters, telephone surveys, on line surveys, analysis of the polling results which develops the measure, and scope and scale of the measure and, if the measure is placed on the ballot, an informational campaign to voters, CM/DeStefano and staff reviewed the five proposals and narrowed the pool to three finalists based on their experience, makeup of the team proposed to work with City staff and the proposed price. Of the finalists, the review team found that TBWB's proposal stood out from the rest due to the following factors: Since 2006, TBWB has had over 200 successful measures with an 88 percent overall success rate; their team has worked extensively on local revenue measures including Walnut Valley Unified School District's recent bond measure which provides them with a good foundation of Diamond Bar knowledge going into this process — they will have a head start on the preferences of likely voters, the local climate for ballot measures, the overall approval of local government and programs in town and effective methods for communicating with voters of this community. Staff also followed up review of TBWB's proposal with reference checks, all of which turned up very positive reviews including some from closely trusted sources. If the contract is approved, TBWB will begin the process by engaging its subcontractor, FM3 Marketing, to begin a feasibility study based on polling data and research to evaluate the community support for local park facilities and the proposed measure. FM3 and TBWB will then analyze the data collected and present ballot measure options to the City Council for consideration. At that point, the City Council will make a selection from the options and determine whether or not to call an election. If an election is called, TBWB will create an informational campaign designed to educate voters about the proposed measure. The voters would then decide the outcome in the November 2016 election. Staff recommends that the City Council appropriate $180,000 from the General Fund Reserves and approve a contract with Public Finance Strategies, LLC DBA TBWB Strategies in the amount of $150,000 plus a contingency of $30,000 for a total of $180,000. C/Herrera asked that when making calls to residents to determine the measure of support she hoped that the consultant would balance the individuals with an adequate number of younger families with children who use the parks and fields who would support this measure because MARCH 22, 2016 PAGE 7 CITY COUNCIL Diamond Bar has a large percentage of seniors who may not wish to support this effort. She said she understood it was important to get people's opinion and test their thinking but she was not sure that many people would stay on the phone for a 20 minute survey. She probably would not stay on the phone with someone asking her to answer survey questions for 20 minutes and she was concerned that there would be a lot of hang ups. DCM/McLean responded that staff would work very closely with the consultant while relying on their expertise. They know what it takes to conduct these types of surveys and are professionals in doing so. Staff will certainly provide information and guidance to them to that end. They will do a large sample (minimum 400 respondents) and get complete interviews to make sure the sample is accurate and valid. They noted in their proposal that most of those who are likely to respond to a telephone survey are those over 50 and they are proposing a multi -phase approach which includes online surveys as well as, telephone surveys. Their notes indicate that the younger generation tends to be more receptive to the online while those over 50 are more likely to respond to the telephone surveys. Staff is confident the consultant will obtain a good balanced survey of residents that will represent the City well and will be conducting interviews in alternate languages including Mandarin and Korean as well as Spanish, if necessary. C/Herrera thanked DCM/McLean for his presentation and asked what time period the survey would be conducted. DCM/McLean responded that the survey would be the first step and the goal is to get the full 400 samplings which is not necessarily limited to a particular time schedule. Obviously, there will be timeframes in order to meet the November election and given their professional background and given they have done this on a regular basis across the state they should be able to complete the task within their timeframes. MPT/Lin asked if this proposal was designed to escalate the sales tax or property tax and if there is a measure, what magnitude of funding will the measure seek? DCM/McLean responded that at this time there is no set preference for the type of measure it would be. It could be a parcel based revenue measure or it could be a community facilities district. The data and the polling results will have a large impact on the options that will be presented to the City Council. They ask questions to get an idea of the viability of different options based on the likelihood of voters and once the information has been gathered they will present options to the City Council to consider for placement on the ballot. The magnitude would also be a result of the data and the consultant would gauge different options to their respondents and MARCH 22, 2016 PAGE 8 CITY COUNCIL would determine the type of measure and the magnitude of funding that could be generated. C/Low asked if at some point the Council feels the process needs to be terminated is the City bound to pay the entire contract amount or is this a "pay as you go" contract. DCM/McLean responded that in such an instance, the City would pay as the services were rendered. C/Tye asked if the online survey provided protection from abuse such as vote and vote often. DCM/McLean responded that the survey would be targeted based on the Registrars voter records which provide emails for Diamond Bar voters and they would likely ask for City records as well. It is not like one could go on the City's website and vote 20 times a day. C/Tye asked if it was correct that if the City is looking for 400 respondents it will be a cross-section of the community. M/Lyons asked if the survey would be directly emailed to specific voters giving them the ability to complete and return the survey. DCM/McLean said that M/Lyons was correct in her assumption. M/Lyons asked what percent of the voters have email addresses. DCM/McLean said he could not tell the Council the exact percentage. The consultant has indicated that there are records on file with the Registrar of Voters they would use as well as any commercially available databases of emails that can be cross-checked with the Registrar of Voters. This is the primary introduction of the data collection process after which they would move on to the more intensive phone interviews. M/Lyons said she too was concerned that older residents who may not have children that were using the parks would be more likely to have home phones and younger residents would be more likely not to have a home phone. In order to get a good cross-section email addresses would be needed for them and the Council wants a very accurate survey as to whether or not this should go on the ballot. M/Lyons then asked if this process of using both emails and phone numbers had been used before. DCM/McLean responded yes, they have MARCH 22, 2016 PAGE 9 CITY COUNCIL C/Tye asked how the consultant would be able to determine that someone who had responded online would be protected from being contacted by phone and vice versa. DCM/McLean said he would imagine they would check their voter records since they will be reaching out to voters and have the ability to check to see if it matches the contact information with the Registrar of Voters data. M/Lyons asked if the consultant would be able to make a recommendation regarding whether or not there would be so many items on the ballot that it might be a good idea but that the measure might not pass due to fatigue. DCM/McLean said that would be part of their analysis as well as, part of the options they would bring back to the Council. The data polling collection would be completed and that data would then be used to create the options. Staff would then come back to the City Council with those results and then Council would have the opportunity to choose what option, to choose none of the options, and to continue or halt the process. M/Lyons asked what the drop -dead date was to decide whether or not the measure would go on the ballot if Council so decided. DCM/McLean responded June 30. C/Herrera moved, MPT/Lin seconded, to appropriate $180,000 from the General Fund Reserves and approve the contract with Public Finance Strategies, LLC DBA TBWB Strategies in the amount of $150,000 plus a contingency of $30,000 for a total of $180,000. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: Herrera, Low, Tye, MPT/Lin, M/Lyons NOES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: None ABSENT: COUNCIL MEMBERS: None M/Lyons thanked DCM/McLean for his presentation and Council for their thoughtful discussion of this item. 9. COUNCIL SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS AND MEETING ATTENDANCE REPORTS/COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS: C/Herrera said that it had been a busy couple of weeks. She is extremely proud of the City of Diamond Bar and the leadership staff members and the City Council showed in lobbying for funds for the SR57/60 Confluence Project (Big Fix). She thanked CM/DeStefano and PWD/Liu for the folders of information they prepared for the team that went to Washington D.C. She thanked M/Lyons MARCH 22, 2016 PAGE 10 CITY COUNCIL and MPT/Lin for visiting all of the offices of Congressional Representatives including Congresswoman Grace Napolitano, Congresswoman Judy Chu, Caitlin Hughes Rayman, Director of Office of Freight Management and the US Department of Transportation, Kyle Chapman, Legislative Assistant, Office of Senator Barbara Boxer, Trevor Higgins, Office of Senator Dianne Feinstein and Congressman Ed Royce. She felt the trip and visits were very productive and Council Members and staff were told that the project qualifies for Fastlane Grants as well as, Tiger Grants and that they are issuing another round of Tiger monies for which Diamond Bar was encouraged to apply. Again, this goes to the outstanding leadership of the City of Diamond Bar and she is very proud of all who participated and very proud of staff. She feels everyone did a very good job of convincing people about the project that is already started and that Phase and II are fully funded and that the City is seeking money for Phase III. Everybody has heard about this project and its importance to Diamond Bar. Everyone was very encouraging and wished Diamond Bar good luck moving forward. C/Herrera stated that the City Council has sat at many meetings listening to residents of "The Country" and that the same comments have been made at every meeting. CM/DeStefano responds to their questions and concerns. She asked CA/DeBerry at what point City Council can explain to this group of residents that unless there is new information to be presented that the City Council needs to conduct its business. CA/DeBerry said there can be a point at which the City Council can limit the total amount of time being spoken on a particular item if it has been redundant. However, the Council cannot preclude people from coming to the podium to talk about it time and time again. The City's policy at this time is to provide every individual five minutes to speak. However, the mayor has some discretion on how to handle public comments in that regard, which he will discuss with the mayor. C/Low thanked her colleagues and M/Lyons for taking that great trip to Washington D.C. and thanked staff for their hard work in pitching the cause of Diamond Bar traffic with the nation's leaders. Residents have their fingers crossed for additional monies coming to Diamond Bar. While her colleagues were gone she and C/Tye held the fort welcoming spring into Diamond Bar and as part of that welcome, they welcomed the start of the Diamond Bar Pony League baseball season. She and M/Lyons were there to throw out the opening pitch. Kudos to Board President Bryan Bernardino and his staff and great team of volunteers and parents who make the sports program a success in Diamond Bar. She and MPT/Lin thanked the outgoing Miss Diamond Bar Court who served the City very well last year and welcomed in the new Court. For friends and families in Diamond Bar who celebrate Easter and Good Friday may it be a happy time for all. C/Tye said it was 10 years ago when representatives of Diamond Bar first went to Washington D.C. to talk about the problems with the SR57/60 Confluence and he remembers they were told that they needed to get on this and that list. At this MARCH 22, 2016 PAGE 11 CITY COUNCIL point 10 years later it reminds him of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid riding as they look over their shoulders saying "who are those guys?" because the City just kept going and going and going until finally there was success. Congratulations. He is grateful for that success. He welcomed Smart & Final Extra to town. What a store! For those who have not been there they need to go just to see it. He was pretty impressed with Haggen but that was nothing like this. The store is completely redone and these folks know how to operate a grocery store. It was very exciting to be there and see his neighbors. It was a week ago today that he represented the City in presenting recognition to Chad Holland, Deputy of the Year and Captain Paul Russian, Firefighter of the Year at the Walnut Valley Rotary Club. Last Wednesday he attended the monthly Directors Meeting of Contract Cities at NBC Universal where the slate of officers for the next fiscal year were presented. Voting will take place at the April meeting. There was a wonderful Evening of Colors celebration of the Third Annual SAPA at Diamond Bar High School. Congratulations to President Deepam Shah and her team who put the event together. The Diamond Bar Community Foundation's/City's inaugural 1k/5k Fun/Run/1Nalk was a terrific event. None of that happens without a special leader and Krystal Spindler did a spectacular job. He looks forward to hearing how much the event raised for "Fields for Kids." MPT/Lin spoke about the Washington DC trip and felt the City was getting closer to realizing its dream for the SR57/60 Confluence. Someone asked him how long it would take to be built and he guessed it would take 7 to 10 years. On March 9 and 10 he was in Sacramento attending the League of Cities Public Works Outreach workshop and learned a lot about how to manage angry citizens during construction. One of these days perhaps he can pass on to PWD/Liu some of the experiences of the northern California cities and how to outreach to people before, during and after construction. The Keynote Speaker was the Editor and Chief of the Sacramento Bee who commented that high speed rail proposal is sexier than potholes on the street. "If you put up a measure for $70 billion to fix potholes it would never pass. Frankly, there is no traffic problem between San Francisco and Los Angeles and California is spending $70 billion to fix a problem that the State does not have." MPT/Lin said he wished there was $70 billion to fix the SR57/60 in a year or two. Also, he and C/Low attended the Miss Diamond Bar Pageant a week ago Sunday. He wished everyone could be a winner and wear a crown but all of the contestants appeared to be very happy. This was a very good event for the City. M/Lyons stated that it was the first time she had gone to Washington DC and felt it was very beneficial and a good strategy that CM/DeStefano and PWD/Liu used which was to first thank the elected officials for all of the funds that Diamond Bar had received to date and explain that the project had moved forward with commencement of construction for Phase I. The team did a very good job of explaining why Diamond Bar needed the funding. On her way home from the airport she. was delayed because there was yet another accident on the confluence. The Fun/Run/Walk was very good and the Foundation does so MARCH 22, 2016 PAGE 12 CITY COUNCIL many things for which they don't received credit. She participated with Armstrong Elementary in the Read Across America event and was able to read to a full classroom of first graders which was a lot of fun for her. She asked everyone to attend the State of the City address on Wednesday, March 30 which begins at 6:00 p.m. at the Diamond Bar Center. ADJOURNMENT: With no further business to conduct, M/Lyons adjourned the Regular City Council Meeting at 7:53 pm. d� ajK— Tommye dribbins, CITY CLERK The foregoing minutes are hereby approved this Nancy yon A qth day of Anri i , 2016.