Grand Terrace Area Chamber of Commerce Community & Business LuncheonTuesday, October 17that 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Community Room @ City Hall
22795 Barton RoadGrand Terrace
Meet The Candidates for the 2006 ElectionPublic Welcome$8 with Reservation,$12 without Reservation 783-3581
Please R.S.V.P By Monday, Oct 16th
Lets hope that there is a evening event for those voters who can't attend a lunch time meeting. It would be terrific if it was on CH 3, or CH 10, or on YouTUBE
October 12, 2006 Grand Terrace City Council Meeting 42 Minutes
The City Council Meeting Light went on almost as one would predict: The meeting demonstrated why there is a need for change on the council, and how the management of the City hall needs to be held in account.
The Presentations to the folks working at the Child Care should be recognized in action not with a paper and plaque. These folks should be paid at least half of the equivalent of the City Manager’s Salary that would be 75,000.00 per year each. That may be high, but they would not be getting a house and a car, so it is a fair goal to pay these folks for the quality work they do day in and day out. Thank You Ladies, wish we could pay you better.
Facility and Staff for our teenagers should have equal attention to that which the youngest and oldest are provided in our community.
The Council went on down the agenda to the Public Comment Section and here is where the comments and the response was worthy of attention.
Cindi Bidney’s Request for the City Council or Staff to Identify a Place and time for an Evening Meet the Candidates Meeting went un answered.
Rather than provide input on where, and when a Public Facility may be made available and who to contact, Assistant City Manager and President of the Chamber of Commerce, Steve Berry decided to be offended by the mention of the Mid Day Pay to attend Chamber Council Meet the Candidate Meeting posted below. At no time did Cindi suggest that the City was holding the Chamber’s Candidate Meeting, nor did she suggest that the meeting should not be held. The point was IF this is an appropriate use for the City Hall, can it be done by others After work HOURS, in City Hall. AGAIN the Question was not ANSWERED. Let’s hope it was answered off camera.
Assistant City Manager Steve Berry’s response to Mrs. Hornsby’s Question and Comments was nonsensical . Yes, the project has been HALTED. Halted does not mean that it has been TERMINATED. The Court Order has Reversed ALL Approvals until an Approve EIR has been presented and approve.
The question is Why then are Payments still being Made to Corporation for Better Housing?
The question is Why did City Manager Tom Schwab represent that 1 Million had been spent when it is closer to 3.2 Million.
The question is Why has not the expenses been presented in an accounting so that the Council and Public knows what that 3.2 Million has paid for. This was asked and re-asked now by the public and by Council Member Miller. This concern was confirmed by Council Member Hilkey.
The question is what are the contractual obligations of the City to Pay the CFBH under the Court Ordered Reversal of Approvals Pending an EIR.
Where is the EIR. Should we the city pay another dime until the EIR is submitted and approved and the court has removed its Stop Work Order?
OR should we just empty out our piggy bank and give CFBH all the money and they then shrug their shoulders and say, “well that was a nice thought”, to bad it didn’t work out. GT will have to pay the Long Term Debt used to provide that 9 Million Dollars to CFBH?
Not quite clearly stated at the podium was the question: Why are the comments and questions of Council Member Miller, and the reply by City Manager Tom Schwab accurately recorded in the Minutes which the council approved?
The Trucking issue was raised by Patricia Farley Steve Berry said I looked on Saturday and didn’t see a problem. This once again will require the citizens to make a log of when the violations occur, and be put in the position of having to record the coming and going of the truck on the property. Perhaps City Manager, Assistant City Manager, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and Council Members should be on Speed Dial for reporting these violations as they are noted. Clearly what citizens bring forth to the podium on this matter was discounted or even disregarded by the Assistant City Manager. No Council Member addressed the issue in their comments. None directed staff to investigate, or report, or put it on the agenda on a specific time line.
Citizen Farley reviewed the long list of unanswered issues:
Where and when will the issue of Eminent Domain be put on the Agenda as requested by both Citizen Concern and Council Member Miller?
Where is the real recognition of the financial status of the city and why does the Council Members Ferre, as Mayor, and Council Member Cortes ad Mayor Pro Tem continue to mislead the public saying there is a surplus when there is a net debt?
Where are the financial documents requested by Bill Hays, ( the real and total accounting for car transactions, land and property transfers).
Where are the reports requested by Council Member Miller: Cost of Fire on Blue Mt., Grand Terrace Days Accounting not just the budget but Actual Income and Expense.
When are these things going to get on the agenda?
Not mentioned the Fireworks Question is still pending.
Side Mention of the Budget Matters for the Historical Preservation Committee in relation to the required additional insurance for the upcoming Country Fair offered insight that the information is not being exchanged. Council Member Miller was concerned that the HPC was being asked to absorb a large expense for insurance and queried if that would be a budget problem. Here is a budget that he has asked for detail reports on as this committee over sees the Grand Terrace Days Event and the “Contributions” made by Developers with Projects Pending, and Service Providers including the likes of Waste Management, AES and Press Enterprise all “Contribute” to their budget. Council Member Millers Request for Budget and Expense or Accounting Audit of this Committee has apparently gone un answered in sufficient detail, if at all.
New information: Grand Terrace Country Days will be having Moreno Valley Lions to Sell Hot Dogs. The Grand Terrace Woman’s Club will be having their Rummage Sale and Hamburger Barbeque on a Separate Date. None of the Council Promoted the Women’s Club Event or the Lion’s Pan Cake Breakfast which precedes the Nov Country Fair… and of course there is the Halloween Haunt.
As Sympathetic as we all are when any family member is ill it should not have been the reason for a short City Council Meeting. The Government of GT is not Dependent on Council Member Ferre’s sitting in the Mayor’s Chair. She could have absented herself from the Meeting at any time. We do have a Mayor Pro Tem as advertised and Council Member Bea Cortes could have conducted the meeting as there would have been a quorum. No this was a Political Choice on the part of Council Member Ferre.
Perhaps Council Member Ferre felt it would not look good if she missed a meeting so close to an election regardless of the reason. However, I do know for a fact the meeting is not dependent on her being there. I do know the agenda was more ceremony and little substance on the agenda. You are free to read into the reason she was there and not with her mother. Some times, it is just not necessary or productive to be bed side, and the meeting did not conflict with family duty. Marryetta has cared for her mother for many years and one would hope that if there was a need to be at the hospital that would have come first. Governmentally speaking no one council member is indispensable to the function of the council, to suggest so is inappropriate.
Council Member Hilkey’s remarks are refreshing. It has been the goal of this blog to inform and educate. This blog has provided detailed information on the LOWES and what it would bring to this community. This blog does research the issues it presents and acts as a repository of the information gathered. This blog doing this has annoyed the City Management to the extent that Members of the Staff are forbidden to communicate with the blog. Yet, there is ample evidence that the blog is still read by City Staff and Council Members.
Council Member Hilkey, you are right you have been set up in the past. The question you need to ask now is by whom and for who’s benefit, short and long term. If you can tie up the loose ends by December we’d all appreciate it. Perhaps the Professionals should have to swear in prior to making a Presentation to the Council.
Council Member Hilkey: this is why there is a second reading of a decision. It is or should be an opportunity for you to have as a cool off period where you can say, you know I gave it some thought and I don’t want to sign on to that decision or approval I made after a one sided presentation… And Perhaps you are guilty yourself in discounting the citizens input and giving the “Professional” the long leash rather than a short leash. Council Member Hilkey, you are correct in identifying the flaw is in the Staff that is providing you the information. You still have time and means to deal with these situations. Please be an Aggressive Council Member, and after you leave the council an Audacious Citizen.
