Council: General Plan, accounting upgrade,
evaluation of Fontes on agenda
October 30, 2015
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
An updated General Plan, COPS funding, new accounting system and an update on SOAR will be on the agenda with other business for the Monday City Council meeting.
The November 2 meeting, held at City Hall, will start at 5:30 p.m. with a closed session in the Administration Conference Room. The council will be updated on labor negotiations and consider initiation of unspecified litigation. The council will also evaluate the performance of City Manager Jaime Fontes, not the first time for the behind closed doors discussion in the past year.
The council will reconvene in City Council Chambers at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will be aired live by Time Warner Cable Channel 10 and replayed according to schedule. The session will also be live streamed on the city’s website and archived for viewing on demand.
There will be two presentations, the upcoming November 14 Mariachi Fundraiser benefiting the Senior Center and the introduction of two new SPPD Officers, Christopher Rivera and Heather van Hemert.
There will be a public hearing on COPS funds, an annual $100,000 grant used by the SPPD for operation of the Community Policing Building at Las Piedras Park, training and personnel needs as well as upgrades/renovations to the police station.
The council will hear an update on the status of SOAR (Save Open-space and Agricultural Resources), an issue they addressed at the October 19 meeting. Since the presentation at that meeting SOAR backers have been filing paperwork to ask voters in November 2016 to extend the land-use initiative to 2050.
The council will also hear an update on the city’s plans to update the General Plan with a report from Planning Director Janna Minsk.
An issue that has been a matter of city discussion for years, updating the aging software system for the Finance Department will again be addressed. Finance Director Sandy Easley will present a Request for Proposal to the council that also contains a component for building and safety and planning tracking.
The council will also visit whether or not to try to amend state law to take some of the bite out of the Local Agency Formation Commission, a state agency operated on the local county level.
The council objects to learning that LAFCo can overturn local land use decision making by voters, learned in recent months when the panel tried — but failed on a split vote — to remove Adams and Fagan canyons from the city’s sphere-of-influence.
City Hall is located at 970 E. Ventura St.
