Big Money Items to Get More Attention
I missed a portion of Tuesday's City Council meeting, so I didn't see this development happen. Redlanders who have read newspaper article after newspaper article about the city's money problems will probably be glad to know big ticket items will get more attention.
I decided to post this article from the Redlands Daily Facts, The Sun's sister paper, to give the issue some more publicity.
Million-dollar items will get a closer look
VANESSA D. OVERBECK, Staff Writer
Redlands Daily Facts
Article Launched:10/17/2007 03:08:41 PM PDT
REDLANDS - There will not be million-dollar items on the City Council's consent calendar anymore.
Councilwoman Pat Gilbreath pulled the $947,935 expenditure for the update of the city's General Plan from the consent calendar.
"An item of this magnitude does not belong on the consent calendar," Gilbreath said.
City Manager Enrique Martinez agreed saying that staff will develop guidelines for what kind of items belong on the consent calendar.
The council approved the contract for the update of the General Plan 5-0. The city is not required by state law to update the entire General Plan until 2010, but the housing component must be updated by June 30, 2008.
Only one of 11 companies invited to bid on the project sent in a proposal - Dyett&Bhatia. The consultants quoted $100,000 to update just the housing element of the General Plan, but the city saves $40,000 through "efficiencies" in preparing the housing element as part of a comprehensive update.
Gilbreath did express concerns regarding locking the city into a long-term expenditure on "declining reserves." The city's budget contains only $250,000 towards the General Plan update, the staff report said, an amount carried over after last year's postponement due to the city's fiscal issues.
Martinez also said he was not comfortable spending that much money, but would try to stretch the expense over four years. He said it would add to next year's projected $3.2 million shortfall.
The City Council also tabled its discussion on the creation of a police commission until the review of the police department is completed in December.
Interim Quality of Life Director Gary Van Dorst reported that ESRI (Environmental Systems Research Institute) donated $55,000 toward the city's tree planting program. Half of the funds will be used to achieve the city's goal of planting 1,000 trees this year and the other half will be held in reserve for possible matching grant funding.
E-mail Staff Writer Vanessa D. Overbeck at voverbeck@redlandsdailyfacts.com
As a point of comparison, Highland completed a general plan update last year at a total cost of about $750,000, HIghland City Planner Larry Mainez said.