Meeting day, legal services: Council session has few items of business
February 03, 2012
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula City Council
There are few items of business when the City Council meets Monday, other than considering whether or not to change the day of its regularly scheduled meetings and whether it should seek proposals and quotes on legal services.
There is no closed session preceding the February 6 meeting, which starts at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall Council Chambers.
The session will be broadcast on Time Warner Cable Channel 10 and streamed live on the city website. The meeting will be rerun on cable television according to schedule and archived on the city website website (http://www.ci.santa-paula.ca.us/events_archives.htm) for later viewing.
Ginger Gherardi of the Rotary Club Fireworks Committee will update the council on plans and fundraising efforts for the 4th of July spectacular. Although held at Harding Park the fireworks show is visible throughout most of the city.
According to the agenda, City Manager Jaime Fontes is recommending that the council receive and file the report on rescheduling the regular meeting day from Monday to Tuesday. Although the council had discussed such a move in early October, subsequently it was learned that Councilman Ralph Fernandez, a college instructor, had a class to teach Tuesday evenings. The door of change is still being left open, although a resolution has not yet been prepared for consideration pending council discussion.
The council will also consider whether or not to proceed with a 11-page proposal for those who would like to bid on city legal services. The report notes that staff time as well as costs for advisory services of Liebert Cassidy would be involved in shopping for a new firm to provide legal guidance to the city.
The council had requested the potential exploration of service providers - whether “firms and/or individuals” - and their costs under the guise of responding to financial challenges that were being faced in August 2011. City Attorney Karl Berger and Assistant City Attorney John Cotti of Jenkins & Hogin have represented the city for about eight years.
In other business, the council will consider enlarging the Economic Development Advisory Committee to 12 members to accommodate the number of applicants. With only two open slots and three candidates, the council will consider adding one more seat to the advisory panel. Then the council will finalize appointments.
City Hall is located at 970 E. Ventura Street.
