During the morning session of the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors, the board approved an agreement between the DA's office and the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians regarding booking fees. The board also voted 3-2 in favor of a revised ordinance pertaining to travel expenses incurred by the grand jury. Check back later for more details.
With 5th District Supervisor David Colfax’s chair empty, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors approved 4-0 a reversal of a planning department decision that denied the splitting of a four-acre Fort Bragg property. A planning department report that was scheduled for afterwards was pushed to Tuesday’s meeting.
The board then adjourned to the Water Agency’s conference room for an “informal roundtable discussion” concerning supervisor’s goals and concerns for the upcoming year.
During the meeting the board approved three off-site hearings during the course of the year, with the approval of the remainder of the Board Action Plan for 2009 left for Tuesday’s meeting along with the master schedule and the rules of procedure.
Tuesday's Mendocino County Board of Supervisors meeting will see the possible adoption of a resolution approving an intergovernmental agreement between the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians and the District Attorney's Office.
The timed item is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. in the board's chambers.
"The Intergovernmental Agreement encompasses the Mendocino County District Attorney's acceptance of prepared arrest reports directly from Hopland Tribal Police Department for determination of D.A. prosecution," stated a portion of the attached agenda summary. "The agreement includes the District Attorney's filing of a Booking Fee Reimbursement' submitted by the Hopland Tribal Police Department with the Superior Court, as part of the judgment of conviction of any person arrested by special law enforcement commission' (SLEC) Officers, where the convicted defendant pays the amount of all booking and detention fees incurred by the Tribe. In addition, the District Attorney is requesting authorization of the Mendocino County Board Chair to sign the Intergovernmental Agreement Between the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians and the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office."
The document states that if the Intergovernmental Agreement is not approved, dire consequences will soon follow.
"The safety of citizens (will be) compromised due to the length of time it takes for Mendocino County Sheriff's Office to respond to need for law enforcement," stated a portion of the document. "Demand for additional Sheriff's Office personnel to meet the law enforcement needs would have a negative impact on Mendocino County financial resources."
The live blogging from the Ukiah City Council meeting went smoothly overall with no major glitches. While the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors chambers doesn't yet have high-speed internet access, we'll do our best to post updates throughout the day on Tuesday as to what has occurred. Keep checking back regularly for more...
Confusion reigned on the council and no ordinance was passed on the sewer ordinance. "The consensus is the it be brought back as quickly as possible," said Mayor Phil Baldwin after ordering the item back to committee.
With Councilmember Doug Crane recusing himself for the item because of a possible conflict of interest and Councilmember Mary Anne Landis missing from the entire meeting. The council approved the recommended action for the airport fees hearing:
1) the two-year 6% increase be approved; 2) that Council authorize an automatic annual CPI adjustment of 3% (which equates to the 6% every 2 years); and 3) that Council consider, at the request of the Airport Commission, the 3% CPI adjustment be increased by 1.5% for a total of 4.5% for the next five years.
The consent calendar has been approved, with items d, f and g being removed. These items will be heard at the end of "New Business":
d. Approval of Notice of Completion for the HVAC Replacement – Grace Hudson Museum, Specification No. 08-12; Authorize Budget Amendment in the Amount of $4,637.14 for Project Related Change Orders
f. Award of Bid for Purchase of 9-1-1 Call Recording System in the Amount of $18, 696.41 to J.E.I., Inc.
g. Report to the City Council Regarding the Purchase of Services for the Printing of the 2009 Winter-Spring Recreation Guide in the Amount of $5,764.91
Hello!
And welcome to the first-ever Live Blogging event we've done here at the Ukiah Daily Journal's UDJ Live. Right now it's just turning 6 p.m. and everyone is getting to their places. The gavel just came down. We just did the pledge and roll call has been taken.
Back with more soon...
As today is the day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day there is no Mendocino County Board of Supervisors meeting today. This happens any time a supes meeting falls within the same week as a holiday. They are scheduled to be back in session Jan. 27 for what is sure to be a jam-packed meeting.
Tomorrow's Ukiah City Council meeting is, however, still on for 6 p.m. Wednesday and we'll be there blogging live as discussions are held and votes are taken. Make sure to tune in for up-to-the minute coverage.
A new planning commissioner, 911 system grant, airport fees and a water and sewer ordinance will all be on the agenda for Wednesday's Ukiah City Council meeting.
The meeting is schedule to start at 6 p.m. in the Ukiah Civic Center.
New Councilmember Mary Anne Landis will have opportunity to name her replacement on the planning commission. Landis was chosen to fill former Councilmember John McCowen's seat. McCowen had appointed Landis to her seat on the commission.
The council is also expected to accept a grant from the state that will help revamp the ailing 911 system.
“Once every five years, the state of California awards 911 funds to upgrade and maintain dispatch center 911 telephone and computer equipment,” stated a portion of the agenda summary. “The current 911 system in our dispatch center is now over seven years old, two years past its serviceable life expectancy, is out of warranty and costing an additional $10,000 dollars a year to maintain, and is not compliant with new emergency 911 cell-phone and internet phone mandates. In addition, the current dispatch center infrastructure equipment is over 12 years old, and much of it must be replaced in order to support emergency dispatch operations.”
The council is also slated to award a bid to Clark Construction to install new security windows in the dispatch area.
At 6:15 p.m. the council is scheduled to take up a discussion and possible adoption of a resolution that would adjust user fees at the Ukiah Regional Airport.
“Prior to January 17, 2007 the airport user fees had not been increased in over eight years,” stated a portion of the agenda summary. “The lack of (consumer price index) increases has caused the airport individual hangars to become well under fair market value. In 2007, Council approved the former Airport Manager’s request for a 6 percent CPI increase to airport user fees be added every 2 years with Council approval...This report requests that: 1) the two-year 6 percent increase be approved; 2) that Council authorize an automatic annual CPI adjustment of 3 percent (which equates to the 6 percent every 2 years); and 3) that Council consider, at the request of the Airport Commission, the 3 percent CPI adjustment be increased by 1.5 percent for a total of 4.5 percent for the next five years.”
In the only item of unfinished business, the council is expected to take up a discussion and possible adoption of a water and sewer service fee ordinance for mobile home parks.
In summary, the proposed regulations would require the following if passed as written:
1. The park or apartment owner may bill tenants for their proportional share of the city’s charges for water and sewer service. It may also charge the tenants a monthly amount to recover the ordinary, necessary and reasonable cost of providing water and sewer service within the development.
2. The landlord must decide whether to include allowed charges in rent or to bill the tenant separately for those costs. It can’t do both.
3. The customer must maintain at the mobile home park or apartment building or complex required records...that will enable a tenant or the city to see what costs are included in allowed charges and how those charges are converted to a monthly billing amount, and what the city’s charges are each month and how the customer calculated each tenant’s pro-rata share of the city’s charges.
4. The customer may submit a monthly utility bill to the tenants. The bill must be delivered to the tenant in the month following the month when the customer receives a bill from the city. Sub-meter readings used to compute a pro-rata share must reflect water usage in the same month used to compute the city charges for water service or sewer service. This last provision will require customers to bill for sewer service based on water usage in January rather than charging for sewer service based on water usage each month, as was allegedly the case at Harold's Square.
5. The monthly utility bill must separately state the allowed charges and the city charges. This will enable a tenant to see how much of the City’s charges to the landlord are being charged to the tenant. The bill must tell the tenant where the Required Records are kept and that the tenant or the City can inspect and copy those records during normal business hours.
6. The ordinance allows a Customer to determine a tenant’s pro-rata share of allowed charges and city charges with or without the use of submeters. If submeters are not used, the pro-rata share shall be determined by dividing the monthly allowed charges and city charges by the number of mobile home spaces or apartments and common areas within the Multi-Unit Property which receive water or sewer service. If submeters are used, the Customer may only charge tenants for the amount of water the tenants actually use as measured by the submeters. If there are leaks or if water measured through the master meter is used for other purposes than consumption by tenants, the customer cannot pass the entire monthly chargefor water service to the tenants. The tenants share of the monthly charge is calculated by multiplying the total of all the submeter readings for the month by the volumetric charge used by the city to calculate the customer’s monthly bill (the “recoverable charges”). Each tenant’s Pro-Rata share of that amount is determined by dividing the tenant’s individual meter reading by the total submeter readings for that month and multiplying the recoverable charges by the resulting percentage or fraction. The pro-rata share of sewer charges is determined by dividing the tenant’s individual meter reading by the total submeter readings for the month used to determine the City’s sewer service charges (currently January) and multiplying the monthly sewer service charges by the resulting percentage or fraction.
7. A violation (is) an infraction punishable by a fine increasing from $100 to $500, for a first and subsequent offenses within one year. (It) also creates a civil remedy which any tenant or the city can pursue by filing a lawsuit against the landlord to recover actual damages, a penalty of $1,000 or 10% of actual damages, whichever is higher, and, in the case of willful violations, treble damages. In addition, the prevailing party in any such action can recover its attorneys’ fees.
Starting today, we’re trying an experiment here at the Ukiah Daily Journal and we’d like you to be a part of it.
We’ve begun a new blog called “UDJ Live.” The idea here is that this blog won’t be like some of the other ones we already have going on our Web site like K.C. Meadows’ “Inside UDJ” and my “House of Burgess.”
Ideally, “UDJ Live” will be a collaborative effort with multiple contributions from a number of Ukiah Daily Journal authors.
Not only will it be a sort of preview of what we have coming before the paper is even printed, this will also allow us to “live blog” certain events as circumstances allow.
The first event we’re going to attempt to “live blog” will be Wednesday’s Ukiah City Council meeting. Since the Ukiah Civic Center has now been designated a “Wi-Fi Hotspot” we can now have high-speed internet access during the meetings. This will allow us to post the results of certain votes and quotes from discussions being held in real time.
This is where, you, the reader, comes into the equation. Our goal is to post on the “UDJ Live” blog as regularly as we can and we want you to make a habit of checking it. Make sure to leave comments on our entries. Send suggestions of what we could “live blog” in the future.
In short, if everything goes according to plan, “UDJ Live” will be an active, two-way discussion.
To get to our “UDJ Live” blog, you can either go to the “Blogs” page of our Web site, which can be accessed at www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/blogs, or you can visit it directly at www.insideudj.com/udjlive.
To alert you to when we’ll be “live blogging” certain event, our own Chris McCartney has created a great new icon we’ll try to put in the paper the day before it’s happening with the pertinent information. If you look at the icon you might wonder why it’s in the shape of a pair of headphones. Could “UDJ Live” one day become a downloadable podcast you can listen to on your computer or MP3 player?
The answer is: Who knows? We’ll just have to see what happens.