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Home My WebLink About00 - Insiders GuideBrown, Leilani "RECEIVIED AFTE gAGE N Q PRINTED;" !/l� From: Kiff, Dave C3 Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2014 6:52 PM Subject: Insider's Guide - City Council meeting of May 13, 2014 Another happy Thursday to you. Here's what's coming up that maybe of interest to you at the Newport Beach City Council meeting set for Tuesday, May 13`h . To keep you from being too bored, I don't summarize every item. You can read the full agenda for this meeting here: Full Meeting Agenda: http:// www. newportbeachca. gov/ Modules /ShowDocument.aspx ?documentid =4414 Afternoon Study Session (starts at 4:00 p.m.) —The lone big item on this week's study session agenda is the Council's first look at the proposed City budget and Capital Improvement Plan for the year that begins July 1, 2014 and lasts for the next 12 months. There may be at least two more meetings about it, on May 27th and again on June 10th. Here are some notes about the proposed budget: • It is again balanced, with no use of reserves for operational expenses. • It slims down the city's full -time positions a little bit more again —going to 729 full -time positions from the 733 in the current budget. In 2009, we were at 833 full -time positions — so we are down 104 since then, about a 14% reduction. • One position of the 729 adds another NBPD officer to fill out our Crime Suppression Unit. The CSLI assigns four officers and a sergeant not to patrols but to targeted efforts to stop specific crime trends before they become trends — like property crime. • Employees will be paying more than ever before in this budget year for pension costs — a full $7.4 million will come directly out of employee paychecks (mine too), up from $0 a decade ago (that $7.4M is counted as a budget expenditure, even though employees fund it). • We propose retooling some fire fighter /EMT positions to become fire fighter /paramedic positions, given that emergency medical service is more and more of what our NBFD does. • At this time, there are no additional outsourced programs in this proposed budget. As folks are aware, we outsourced residential refuse collection this year, studied our seasonal lifeguarding at Corona del Mar, and added two major new contractors for tree trimming and parks maintenance. • The overall Capital Improvement Program is proposed at $61 million. This is up from about $34 million a decade ago. As folks know, we are a 108 -year old city. Our infrastructure is not quite that old, but some of it dates way back. The $61 million includes concrete alley replacements, more bike lanes, streets, water pipes, sewers, sidewalks, streetlights (more LEDs), the new Library/Fire Station in CcIM and much more. • Debt service is at $8 million, which is 4.6% of our general fund expenditures, ticking down a tad from FY 13 -14 when it was 4.7 %. Our implied credit rating from the top three rating agencies is again AAA. • We will draw down some of our fund balance /reserves because we've saved the money up to cash -fund two major projects— Marina Park and Sunset Ridge Park. Both are under construction now, with the costly part of the contracts let or being let this same day (see below). To find out more about the proposed budget, check out this link: www.newportbeachca.gov /budget. The "Performance Plan" is the most reader - friendly of the budget documents. Regular Session at 7:00 p.m. Items on the evening session's agenda include: • A re- upping of our contract with the City of Huntington Beach for police helicopter service. We started this about three years ago, when the joint powers agency between us and Costa Mesa for our own airborne law enforcement service ended. HB -1 has been helicoptering over us since September 2011, and has been used in over 3,000 PD calls. Going to hourly parking rates at Corona del Mar State Beach, including the installation of pay stations there. The good news is that folks can go there and spend less than the $15 rate if they're spending a short amount of time at the beach. City parking passes still allow you to park there for the price of the pass. Hopefully, the hourly rate will lead to less folks feeling like they need to park in the streets of CdM to avoid the "one size fits all" fee. The big award of the major construction for Marina Park (as noted above) is on this agenda. Marina Park is on the Peninsula between the American Legion and 18`h Street. This $40 million project already has two components done or underway — (1) demolition and site clearance; and (2) construction /dredging of the marina. This third component is the construction of the park itself as well as the sailing center and community center. The low bid here is KPRS Construction, which also did our OASIS Center a few years ago — and did a greatjob. Thus far, the Marina Park project is running under budget and on time (park opening is estimated at Spring 2016). Our traffic signal modernization program continues, with "Phase 6" being let for contract. Phase 6 includes signals on San Joaquin Hills Road and Newport Center Drive. We're only one phase away from completing this plan, which modernized (with real -time timing) over 100 signals of the 123 under our charge. The new Civic Center includes a new traffic management center (you're welcome to come by and see it), where our traffic engineers can watch many of our busiest intersections via camera and change the timing to make them more efficient at any one point in the commute. Or, to see the city manager coming by on his bike and make the signal turn red then snicker. The City has invested over $5M in city and OCTA funds in this effort, with another $2.1M to go (the $2.1M includes this Phase 6 as well as the final Phase —the latter is proposed for the FY 14 -15 CIP). The Arts Commission and Arts OC are presenting their recommendations for a 2 -year sculpture exhibit in the Civic Center park. You'll want to take a look at the 10 recommended pieces — winnowed down from 260 submissions from 171 artists from across the US. As we gear up for another July 4 in West Newport, we've had a great group of community members who have served on an advisory committee to improve safety, peace, and to make the day more family - friendly. The family - friendly side will continue, as many of these community members help us coordinate the parade and fun festival July 4 morning at Channel Place park. We'll be disbanding that initial safety committee and deem it a success to date. That success will be tested this July 4, as the holiday falls on a Friday. We'll be prepared with the same fun stuff to do, plus our open streets policy, our Loud and Unruly Gathering Ordinance (LUGO), our mounted patrol, and still a significant PD presence. Yes, and the dunk tank. Random Questions • Q: Right after you put down a nice new layer of asphalt on a street, why do you go back and slice a circle around the manhole covers, then pull out some of the pavement you just put down? A: It's because the most long- lasting asphalt road is laid down like a carpet. Cutting up the carpet in pieces as it's laid down to go around manhole covers makes the asphalt more likely to fail, and fail faster. So we lay it down the unbroken asphalt over the manhole then wait until the next day to uncover the manhole and put a little circle of new asphalt around the cover. • Two Refuse Collection Questions: Q: The recycling truck doesn't always come at the same time as the trash truck. Why? A: A lot of Newport Beach residents decided to curbside sort their recyclables, but certainly not all or even a majority. As a result; the truck that carries the recyclables doesn't make the same stops as the trash truck. In some cases, the same driver might finish a trash route, dump the trash at the transfer station, and return to pick up recyclables. Either way, it means that your carts should all be picked up on the same day, but not necessarily at the same time. By the way, if you left out boxes by the carts, in many cases the boxes (which are recyclable) are picked up by the staff with the recyclables truck, not the trash truck. Therefore don't take them back in when the trash truck goes by and assume they've been missed, as the recyclables truck is likely still out there heading to you. Q: With the new carts, do the handles face out to the street or face in towards me /the house? A: The handles should face you and your house —the arm picks them up on from the non - handle side. Recall that if you don't have your new carts yet, look at this page to determine when they should arrive - http://www.newpo rtbeachca.gov /index.aspx ?page =2299 By the way, we very much appreciate everyone's patience with this complex transition. Random Notes 0 Happy Mom's Day this Sunday! 0 For those of you following the Cliff Drive Park renovation, we have updated our web link on this project: http://www.newportbeachca.gov/index.aspx?page=2370 0 For West side and Newport Heights folks, take a moment to let us know your thoughts on the proposed West Newport Beach Community Center in person at the "Old" City Hall on this coming Monday, May 12`h —the meeting starts at 6:00 p.m. in the Old Council Chambers. Or, if you can't make that meeting, chime in on the "Connect Newport Beach" link at this site: http : / /www.connectnewportbeach.com/ 0 1 know not every adult "gets" the bunnies. But I thought you might like to see a photo (below) showing why the bunnies are here in the first place —for kids. Parks are supposed to have things for all ages, and the Civic Center one does. This past Saturday, the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation held a "books and bunnies" day. Lots of kids (over 200!) climbing on bunnies, making crafts, reading books, and running all over the 15 -acre park. What fun. Thanks again for taking the time to read the Insider's Guide. Have a pleasant Friday and weekend. Sincerely, Dave Kiff City Manager