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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/12/2011 - Study SessionCity Council Minutes City Council Study Session July 12, 2011 — 4:00 p.m. ROLL CALL Present: Council Member Hill, Council Member Rosansky, Mayor Pro Tem. Gardner, Mayor Henn, Council Member Selich, Council Member Curry, Council Member Daigle II. CURRENT BUSINESS 1. CLARIFICATION OF ITEMS ON THE CONSENT CALENDAR. RegaRegarding Item 3 (City Administrative Department Restructuring and Renaming), Mayor Pro Tern Gardner commented regarding spacing issues within the report. She also referenced Item 11. (Planning Commission Agenda for July 7, 2011) and requested that the names of who voted be included in the report. 2. SEA LIONS IN NEWPORT HARBOR. [100 -20111 Harbor Resources Manager Miller provided the staff report and utilized a PowerPoint presentation to discuss sea lions in the Harbor, issues and problem areas, what is working and other ideas, and National Marine Fisheries Service information. In response to a question from Mayor Henn, Harbor Resources Manager Miller clarified that a "bull pole" is a blunt pole. Chuck South, South Mooring Company, spoke regarding spraying the sea lions with water and "dispersing the crowd" as a noise abatement tactic; stated that National Marine Fisheries has not established rules regarding of what can and cannot be used on sea lions, but they are working on it; and stated that he uses poles, water, and lights, noting that lights are the most effective tool since sea lions do not see well in the light. He indicated that they do not hurt sea lions, sea lions are trainable and can be trained to spread out, and any aggressive deterrence by harming the sea lions is not the answer. In response to questions from Council, Chuck South stated that he does keep a pole aboard the boat but it is more for self defense, noted that he has never had to use the pole to defend himself or prod the sea lions away, and recommended using motion - detected sprinkler systems on docks. 3. CODE ENFORCEMENT CITATION PROCEDURES. [100 -20111 Code Enforcement Supervisor Cosylion presented a staff report and utilized a PowerPoint presentation to discuss the Code Enforcement Division, current practices, what warrants investigations, 2010 report of cases, citations by category, problem cases and repeat violators, and recommendations. In response to questions from Council, Code Enforcement Supervisor Cosylion clarified that if a person says a code enforcement officer cannot enter the premise, they work with the City Volume 60 - Page 194 City of Newport Beach City Council Study Session July 12, 2011 Attorney's Office and provide them with the evidence that supports the violation in order to obtain an inspection warrant. He stated that most cases are resolved with one warning notice. He discussed the concept of using volunteers to follow up on cases and noted that the volunteers would be assigned to a code enforcement officer and would not have citation authority or issue any citations. In response to questions from Council, Code Enforcement Supervisor Cosylion stated that the vision of the volunteer program is to help out the current officers with some of their caseload and backlog of complaints, stated that he does not envision the volunteers proactively sweeping the neighborhoods and looking for violations but rather conducting follow -up activity for the officers, as well as filing and inputting information into databases. He stated that the volunteers will have a combination of field work and office functions which will help the officers spend more of their time investigating bigger issues. He added that they initially want to start small so they can have a good handle on the program, noted that there is a lot of work that needs to be done, and stated that the volunteer program will help them resolve cases quickly. Council Member Rosansky stated that he is not in favor of Option 1 which increases the fines for administrative citations and stated that he would rather support Option 2 which includes the addition of Level 4, a $1,000 citation, to the existing fines for administrative citations. Council Member Curry spoke regarding the 99% compliance at Level 1 for administrative citations and stated that the additional fines, powers and volunteers are focused on 1% of the problem. Mayor Henn stated that it seems like the system is working well through the second level of fines, referenced the 99% compliance between Levels 1 and 2, suggested eliminating Levels 3 and 4 and instead refer it to the City Attorney's Office after Level 2 of noncompliance, and suggested that there be a fine associated with a citation being sent to the City Attorney's Office. He spoke about the need to take prompt action against the 1 %, and stated that eliminating Levels 3, 4 and 5 will greatly speed up the timeframe in which the City deals with the scofflaws and the 1% of violators. City Manager Kiff stated that he is uncomfortable with eliminating Level 3 because it is an enticement to the person at Level 2 to not reach Level 3. Mayor Henn stated that he would be willing to keep Level 3 or raise it to a larger amount, as long as it is assessed at the same time it is referred to the City Attorney's Office. Community Development Director Brandt recommended shortening the timeframe between Levels 2 and 3, and stated that they do not have to give the same initial time period for corrective measures to occur. Mayor Henn stated that he does not see the need for Levels 4 and 5, and stated that he would like to see it go to the City Attorney's Office at the Level 3 citation point. City Attorney Hunt spoke regarding having Levels 3 and 4, with Level 4 being the added citation and recognizing that code enforcement officers have discretion as to which citation to issue. He stated that they need to work together and make the determination to get early resolution by the third citation whether it is a Level 3 or Level 4. Further, going to five citations plus a couple of Notice of Violations (NOVs) is too much and will use too much staff time. He indicated that he would like to keep the tools available for staff to utilize at their discretion. Volume 60 - Page 195 City of Newport Beach City Council Study Session July 12, 2011 In response to Council discussion, Code Enforcement Supervisor Cosylion stated that they typically issue weekly citations but also issue daily citations depending on the violation. He noted that some of the violations that would be issued a daily citation include land -use violations and use permit violations, and noted that they use discretion and give individuals a reasonable timeframe to comply. Discussion ensued between Council regarding transient offenders and the criteria used for issuing higher levels of fines. Council Member Selich inquired as to how staff goes about collecting fines and whether there is a mechanism in place to track how successful they are in collecting the fines. Code Enforcement Supervisor Cosylion stated that he did not know the exact numbers but he would research and get back to Council. Mayor Henn spoke regarding creating a concept that captures repeated violations of small infractions over a period of time at the higher fine level. In response to Council Member Rosansky's question regarding including a set number of violations that would terminate an operator's license, City Attorney Hunt stated that they could enforce that under the operator's license but it would be under the Chief of Police's discretion. He stated that he is not a fan of set numbers because every scenario presents a different situation. He stated that when they are dealing with conditional use permit violations, the set number can be included as a standard for consideration although there may be situations where the Director may not think it is the most effective way to achieve compliance. Discussion ensued between Council and Code Enforcement Supervisor Cosylion regarding reactive enforcement, taking enforcement action on any new and existing medical marijuana dispensary and the number of code enforcement officers in Newport Beach per 1,000 population in comparison to other cities in Orange County. Council Member Selich stated that he is in support if investigations are strictly complaint - based. He stated that he supports the volunteer program to handle some of the paperwork and follow -up, and suggested activating the volunteer program as rapidly as possible to see if they need the fourth code enforcement officer position filled. However, he noted that he is skeptical of the volunteer program because it has the potential to create more problems than it solves, asked whether any other jurisdictions have volunteer programs and what kind of success or failure they have had with the program, mentioned potential resources spent chasing the 1 %, asked how effective the fine system is, and how many fines have been collected. Council Member Curry spoke regarding the 99% success rate in achieving compliance through the current process and suggested not changing what is working, stated that the City needs to be careful of how the fines are structured, spoke regarding volunteering for the wrong reasons, and suggested coming back with a targeted approach that tackles the problem cases. Mayor Henn stated that he is okay with the volunteer program, as long as the City carefully outlines the responsibilities of the volunteers. W. R. Dildine spoke regarding his experience with code enforcement years ago, expressed the opinion that the City is headed in the right direction, and believed that an additional code enforcement officer and the volunteer program would be helpful. Volume 60 - Page 196 City of Newport Beach City Council Study Session July 12, 2011 Without objection, City Manager Kiff summarized that the majority of Council are comfortable with a complaint -based volunteer program and that Council is okay with the following: Code Enforcement Supervisor Cosylion's recommendations regarding problem and repeat violators, including bypassing the warning and administrative citation process and issuing administrative citations right away with corrective measures; issuing separate citations for each code violation; discretionary approvals; issuing citations for each use permit condition violated and increasing citations on violations of the permit; and issuing citations on a daily basis if necessary. He asked for Council consensus regarding Mayor Henn's suggestion to give code enforcement the discretion to refer cases to the City Attorney's Office at Level 3 and that they would have the ability to issue a fine between $1,000 and $10,000 for the fourth violation regarding items with limited context, such as medical marijuana dispensaries and night clubs, as long as it is stated in the code. City Manager Kiff added that he did not get the impression that Council was interested in raising the fee levels for normal cases. 4. VISIT NEWPORT BEACH PRESENTATION. [100 -20111 Gary Sherwin, Executive Director of Visit Newport Beach, Inc. (VNB), utilized a PowerPoint presentation to discuss the City's tourism industry, Orange County travel impact, Newport Beach's visitor profile and top markets, VNB's finance and administration, the brand promise, the recent car - mageddon campaign, key marketing priorities fiscal year 2011 -2012, marketing Objectives and components, advertising; online and mobile marketing efforts, public relations, international markets, conference sales, sales production, regional markets, meeting advertising, and conference sales. Discussion ensued between Council and Mr. Sherwin regarding revenue per available room, the luxury travel market in Newport Beach versus other cities in Orange County, how the visitor profile in Newport Beach compares to other cities; public relations and marketing objectives, marketing to day - visitors, offering hospitality training to lifeguards, the breakdown per hotel room and the generally accepted matrices in the industry that measure the amount of marketing versus the return that they receive. City Manager Kiff utilized a PowerPoint presentation to discuss various approaches for cities and Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs), today's relationships, and recommendations from recent compliance reviews. Mayor Pro Tern Gardner stated that she liked the idea of moving the arrow for the various approaches for cities and DMOs because they are public funds, stated that many of the changes are very good, suggested using Request for Proposals (RFPs) for everything, encouraged VNB to develop standards of reporting for comparison purposes, stated that Council needs to review budget amendments that involve fixed operational costs, inquired about the $10,000 which was crossed out and the $100,000 or more that was included, and suggested addressing the conflict of interest policy especially when dealing with public funds. Council Member Curry recognized that the hotel tax has reached an all time record level, spoke regarding having accountability for public funds, stated that having the City better represented on the executive board is a good way to achieve accountability, and suggested letting VNB, not the City, figure out some of the proposed management changes. Council Member Daigle stated that she supports the City Manager's recommendations, emphasized that these expenditures take place in a public setting, spoke regarding properties that have distinct marketing channels, such as Crystal Cove, and stated that she would like to explore those properties where the full 18% can be allocated. Volume 60 - Page 197 City of Newport Beach City Council Study Session July 12, 2011 Mayor Henn stated that he supports the idea that VNB needs to have the proper level of oversight while still trying to preserve the entrepreneurism that is required in a marketing environment, stated that he supports the City Manager's recommendations in general and looks forward to seeing a revision to the contract that reflects those, stated that he also supports extending the agreement, stated that there are a lot of reserves on the balance sheet, encouraged VNB to spend money and not build a large reserve, and stated that he would like to see staff explore the idea of VNB taking on the responsibility for filming activity in the City. Council Member Hill commended VNB, noted that the opportunity for the City of joining the executive board in more of a participatory way is an excellent way to understand what is going on and have input, and stated that it would be damaging to micromanage expenditures and the aggressive entrepreneurial decision - making that needs to take place in order to be successful. He stated that he is not in favor of talking about other expenditures within the 18% because it is an agreed upon process and it is something that individuals can count on and budget to, stated that he is in favor of extending the agreement, and concluded that he is opposed to attempting to micromanage VNB's activities. Mayor Henn stated that it seems anomalous that the Library Services Director is a voting member of the board and the City Manager is not, and mentioned the lack of representation on the board. City Manager Kiff stated that City libraries are the second most visited asset in the community and believed that the current roles of the Library Services Director and City Manager are appropriate. III. PUBLIC COMMENTS - None IV. ADJOURNMENT - 6:27 p.m. The agenda for the Study Session was posted on July 7, 2011, at 2:10 p.m. on the City Hall Bulletin Board located outside of the City of Newport Beach Administration Building. City Clerk A& Recording Qd1cretary Mayor Volume 60 - Page 198