City Council recap for May 18, 2009, meeting

BARSTOW • Among the items discussed at Monday’s Barstow City Council meeting:

Gang suppression funds • San Bernardino County First District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt presented a check for $20,000 to the Barstow Police Activities League to be used for fairs, public events and activities intended to present youth with positive alternatives to gang and drug involvement.

Sewer GIS mapping • Craig Gooch, vice president of Psomas, presented an update on the geographic information system mapping of Barstow’s sewer system, which Psomas was contracted to perform. Eventually the project will result in an online map of the city’s sewer system with detailed information that city staff can access. Some of the information will also be available to the public online. Gooch reported that the project is about 80 percent complete.

Gas pump signs • The City Council (with the exception of Julie Hackbarth-McIntyre, who was not present) voted unanimously to amend the city’s sign ordinance to allow signs on gas station fuel pumps up to six feet per side. The issue came to the city’s attention after the Chevron station on Barstow Road requested and was denied permission to allow illuminated signs over its fuel pumps in November 2008. The City Council directed staff to take another look at the sign ordinance in January 2009, after the Chevron owner pointed out that many of the gas stations in town already had illuminated signs in violation of the ordinance.

Lenwood Road and Interstate 15 street repair • Grinding has already been done on a section of Lenwood Road overpassing Interstate 15, where the City Council declared a need for an emergency repair in November 2008 to remediate severe ruts and bumps in the road. The project was held up for several months due to delays in getting the proper permits from Caltrans. The city now has a permit to finish the work and expects to go out for bid in the next week, through the normal bid process, to be awarded June 15.

Chili cook-off expense • Councilman Tim Saenz questioned an expense listed in the city’s accounts payable, of $365.65 paid to the Ramada Inn to house officials from Belen, N.M., during the Fifth Annual New Mexico Chili Cook-Off and Belen Fiesta, an event put on by the Barstow Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Dos Costas Communications in April. Mayor Joe Gomez said he had the expense approved through City Manager Richard Rowe and felt it was appropriate because the City Council had proclaimed Belen to be a sister city two years prior. Rowe said in his experience, it was common for sister cities to incur costs of that nature.

Saenz said he felt the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce should have paid for the hotel stay, since they invited the Belen officials and had already received a fee waiver totaling about $8,500 from the city. He and other Council members said the expense for the hotel should have been budgeted up front rather than added after the fact.

Staff were directed to come back with a policy clarifying how costs are to be budgeted for special events, including the chili cook-off, in the future. However, the Council approved and ratified the expenditure along with the rest of its accounts payable.

Sewer use charges • The Council voted unanimously to amend the language in the city code dealing with solid waste collection fees and sewer charges so that billings are delinquent if unpaid 90 days after mailing to the property owner, rather than 60 days after as the code previously stated.

To see the full meeting agenda and video, see the city Web site at http://www.barstowca.org.