Results from the Veolia Workshop

30 Jun 2014 2 Comments

by rialto-now in American Water, and the unincorporated communities of Bloomington and Muscoy, Barbara A. McGee, Budget, Ca, city attorney, City Clerk, City of Rialto, Currupt, Deborah Robertson, Ed palmer, Ed Scott, Fontana, Inland Empire, Joe Baca Jr, June Hayes, Lazy, Megan Matson, mmatson@t-rockcap.com, Rialto, Rialto, SOSRialtoWater@gmail.com, Table Rock Capital, Ullico, wwwstoprialtowaterratehikes.com Tags: , , ,

So on Monday June 16th the City Council held a workshop to get a report of the first year of the water services contract with Veolia Water Services acting as Rialto Water Services. From the sounds of it this was something that Veolia did not want to publicized because on almost every account they are behind on the infrastructure improvements six months to one and a half years. Ullico is in charge of tracking and auditing the progress Veolia has made in the first year of the 30 year contract.

Marcus Fuller the Department Head from Public Works and Ullico worked very hard to turn a bad report into a better one but the city council, Mayor & Mayor Pro Tem all saw through the smoke and mirrors. Below you will see some of the slides Ullico presented to city council last week:

Here you will see that Veolia is one year five months behind on roughly 2 million dollars worth of improvements, eight months behind schedule on 3.6 million dollars worth of improvements & five months behind on 876 thousand dollars worth of improvements. Now Ullico wants you to give Veolia a break as they want to drag their feet and “get comfortable” with the contract they took on after American Water was kicked out of the deal by Rialto Residents and the Union that represented the water employees.

 

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One major issue with giving them months and months to go over this infrastructure agreement is the 41 million will soon begin to be eaten up when interest rates increase. This means their will be less money to complete the long list of projects Former Mayor Grace Vargas, Former Councilman Ed Scott, Current Mayor Deborah Robertson and Current Mayor Pro Tem Ed Palmer all said were so vital to Rialto moving forward as a progressive city. Council Members told us these upgrades would be vital to major projects like the proposed Super Walmart & the Target Shopping Center that no longer has a Target store (Target has backed out). So what happens if Super Walmart goes in and the sewer system isn’t able to handle the bump in use? There was talk of the sewers backing up and spilling out into the streets.

Councilman O’Connell asked the VP of Veolia if the interest rates caused the money to be used up prior to completion of the listed projects would Veolia see those projects to completion. The VP of Veolia said no.

So Veolia can drag their feet and tie up these projects in paperwork and read tape while the clock ticks and you continue to pay massive increases to your rates with NO CHANGE. Even their field techs, people that live and work in this city are blown away and say that Veolia is doing nothing!!!!

The end result was a motion to have Marcus Fuller, Public Works Director meet with Rialto Water Services and Veolia to get a expedited time frame of when we can see projects beginning the construction phase. Marcus Fuller will report the outcomes in 90 days from the meeting date.

We have reached out to Veolia VP Lanita McCauley Bates and Rialto Veolia Manager Michael Greene when they respond we will update with their comments.

Suprise Special Council Meeting

16 Jun 2014 Leave a comment

by rialto-now in American Water, Barbara A. McGee, Budget, Ca, city attorney, City Clerk, Currupt, Deborah Robertson, Ed palmer, Ed Scott, Inland Empire, Joe Baca Jr, Megan Matson, mmatson@t-rockcap.com, Protest, Rialto, Table Rock Capital, wwwstoprialtowaterratehikes.com, youth Tags: , , , ,

So those of you using water services its time to listen up. It appears there is a “Public Hearing” scheduled for tomorrow in regards to the financial performance of Table Rock Capital & the performance of Veolia as our water & waste water provider. What you didn’t know? Well that’s because someone at city hall doesn’t want you there. The meeting was hidden in the city calendar with no title unless you click the highlighted date. Even then it only states that its a special council meeting. Then you must dig through the confusing agenda procedure to find the agenda (here is the link) https://rialto.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx

Oh and don’t worry everything is very confusing and hard to understand so here are the last minute bullet points we were able to pull out.

  • The spending is and was out of control, money is going into local consultants pockets to the tune of around 8 million dollars.
  • RUA reserves were depleted to the tune of 3.4 million dollars.
  • Your rates have gone up to cover infrastructure costs yet no improvement have been made and the ones that have been scheduled have been delayed again.
  • Veolia has spent your money moving into a new building and delayed doing their jobs.
  • Veolia claims your customer service problems are minor and not an issue.
  • The main reason for this agreement was to have the money to shut down the airport for a Target Shopping center is a thing of the past as Target has been out of the deal for years.
  • From all appearances we are stuck with this deal until 2042!!!!!!!!!!!
  • City Clerk Barbara McGee refused to honor the communities petition.
  • Table Rock Paid 1 million more than necessary to remove American Water from the agreement.

Does anyone have the presence of mind to call Table Rock Financial and Veolia on the carpet for what they have done and not done? Are you tired of paying more money for below par service and a company that has worst customer service than the Ca. DMV? Well tomorrow you have the right and ability to have your questions answered or air the horrible customer service that Veolia really provides the customers in Rialto.

Meeting details:

City Hall

6/16/14 @ 6pm

Can’t Make the meeting follow us on twitter http://www.twitter.com/rialtosnow follow #RialtoWaterReport

You can watch online at http://rialto.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=4

Rialto Network staff are the Customer Service liaisons between the Citizen’s of Rialto and Time Warner Ch. 3 & AT&T Ch. 99 for Cable issues and can be reached at (909) 421-7235.

Tab 1

Approving the final financing table rock

Tab 2

Veolia’s 1st year performance

Council Meeting Recap for April 22nd

28 Apr 2014 Leave a comment

by rialto-now in Barbara A. McGee, Budget, Ca, Chief Mat Fratus, city attorney, City Clerk, City of Rialto, Community Coalition, Currupt, Deborah Robertson, Inland Empire, Joe Baca Jr, Mike Story, Public Safety, Rialto, Rialto Fire, wwwstoprialtowaterratehikes.com, youth Tags: , ,

April’s last council meeting looked uneventful from the outside, but after a closer look we were in for a bit of a ride. Here is a breakdown of what The SB Sun, Daily Bulletin and Press Enterprise seem to refuse to print.

City Council Proclamations:

Proclamation-Water Safety Month Mayor Robertson

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Proclamation-Fair Housing Month Mayor Robertson

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Proclamation-Earth Day 2014 Mayor Robertson

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Proclamation-Mormon Helping Hands Day 2014 Mayor Robertson

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Proclamation/Certificates of Appreciation-Rialto Amateur Radio Club Council Member Hirtz

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Certificate of Recognition-Mallory Saldana Council Member Hirtz

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Oral Communications:

Judy Roberts, David Phillips & Diane O’Leary from the Rialto Community Coalition spoke in regards to the assistance they received during their highly successful Don’t Go There Substance Abuse Prevention Event on April 4th. Coalition members were with Michael Townsend from Central Valley Prevention and thanked Eisenhower High School Principal Scott Sparks and his wonderful staffs for thier help with this event. In addition thanks went out to Rialto Police and Fire for their help with their perspective community outreach and participation in this event and help they give to the coalition. They recognized the two council members that attended the event Councilmember’s O’Connell & Baca. They also reminded people that the coalition is always looking to grow their coalition and invited the community at large to attend on the First Tuesday of each month from 6:30-7:30 pm at the fire station on North Riverside Ave. To see the video of their presentation and see the faces of the people that lead this coalition visit http://www.facebook.com/rialtocoalition

High Intrest Tab Items:

Tab 2

Request City Council to Conduct a Public Hearing to Consider and

Approve the City’s 2014-2015 Annual Action Plan and Substantially

Amend the City’s 2013-2014 Annual Action Plan.

This tab was a overall look at the cities expenditures for the CBDG (Community Development Block Grant) where the city funds various programs. Some are city sponsored others are run by local non profit organizations and groups looking to offer services to the community here in Rialto. These programs vary from Rialto Police Pride Platoon that has reduced crime among our youth by 45% to sports programs for young children from low income families.

One program had a last minute change to its funding the National Council of Negro Women Buthune Center wanted $30,000 to train youth to find seniors that qualify for the senior home rehab program. This Pilot program did not offer council adequate numbers and this funding was reduced and changed.

Tab 3 

Request that City Council: (1) Introduce by first reading

 

Ordinance No.

1542

, entitled “AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY

OF RIALTO, CALIFORNIA, AMENDING SECTION 2.07.010 OF THE

RIALTO MUNICIPAL CODE REGARDING THE CITY CLERK’S DUTIES

IN MAINTAINING THE MINUTES OF CITY COUNCIL

PROCEEDINGS,” and (2) Request the City Clerk to revise the minutes

of proceedings of the City Council and its related agencies dating back

from June 25, 2013, to include the details required in the proposed

Ordinance.

(ACTION)

ORDINANCE NO. 1542

AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RIALTO,

CALIFORNIA, AMENDING SECTION 2.07.010 OF THE RIALTO MUNICIPAL

CODE REGARDING THE CITY CLERK’S DUTIES IN MAINTANING THE

MINUTES OF CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS

This tab is a continuation of last meeting where Councilman O’Connell took issue with the way the Council Meeting minutes were being recorded. Apparently for the last 11 months the City Clerks office has been reporting the minutes in an Action form meaning the vote only is the only thing recorded (Action 4-1 or Action 3-2) the Clerk no longer took note of comments made at public hearings, statements made by elected officials prior to a vote or any possible dirty dealings that may have taken place there. Yes I said dirty dealings Councilman O’Connell eluded to missing statements to when apparent favoritism was given to one contractor over another or asking the city administrator to Poll the council on a whole on specific issue to see where they stand. If these things did happen they would mean that someone has some hard questions to answer.

One thing we found beyond interesting is Councilman Joe Baca Jr. seems to disappear once this tab item is brought forward. Why would he just leave? Was there a conflict of interest? Or was this a Councilman up for re-election that refuses to get involved in hot button issues? We are going to be reaching out to Councilman Baca on this issue and we will be reporting back to you when and if we get an answer.

This is not a complete list of everything that happened at the council meeting. For a complete list of events please visit http://www.rialtoca.gov

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How do you feel about the latest moves to silence the public?

25 Apr 2014 Leave a comment

by rialto-now in city attorney, City Clerk, City of Rialto, Currupt, Deborah Robertson, Inland Empire, Rialto, Shawn O'Connell

Minutes, also referred to as simply notes or protocols, are documents describing what was said or discussed in a meeting or hearing. Generally speaking there are three main types of minutes used in meetings. Verbatim minutes refers to minutes that document every single word that was said during a meeting. Summary minutes describe the overall summary of what was said in a meeting, and Action minutes are used to describe all the actions that have taken place during a meeting.

We are bringing this up because it appears that certain people would prefer to limit your ability to address the council.

Back in July of 2013 Mayor Robertson put an item on the consent calendar to change the time you could address the city council from 5 to 3 minutes. Thankfully she caught on and pulled the item but not before addressing it and opening herself to public comment and forcing her to back peddle.

Now we are only receiving Action Minutes and our voices are going undocumented. Councilman O’ Connell has said at the last couple meetings that it is being done deliberatly. Mayor Robertson and City Clerk Mc Gee claim that the video feed is sufficent. One thing on the video feed is that people without computer access or people that are technology sharp they are left with no way to REVIEW council predeedings. Also there are times where the sound is distorted or not clear. this is why we need the person who ran for election to be our City Clerk and Record Keeper to do her job.

Come back for more on this story……….. Also vote on our poll and let your voice be heard.

Re Cap on City Council Meeting on 4-8-14

10 Apr 2014 2 Comments

by rialto-now in American Water, Andy Carrizales, Budget, Ca, city attorney, City Clerk, City of Rialto, Crime, davidsMarketing, Deborah Robertson, Ed palmer, Flores Park, Flores Park Neighborhood Watch, Inland Empire, Joe Baca Jr, Mike Story, Nieghborhood Watch, Public Safety, Rialto, Rialto, rialto unified school district, RUSD, youth

Photo: Visit www.rialtonow.com to get a break down of this map and so much more from Tuesday

Number 1 is the proposed location of the new stop light. Number 2 is where the city is looking to extend the existing road median. MC is where the 4th Mc Donald’s will be and the GAS is the proposed location of the Food 4 Less Gas Station

Hello Rialto residents if you didn’t follow us on twitter ( http://www.twitter.com/rialtosnow ) on Tuesday night you missed a couple interesting agenda and consent calendar items. Below we have them listed out for your reading enjoyment.

Consent Calendar D. 10

So normally consent calendar items are rarely ever discussed the consent calendar is meant to approve a block of items that have minimal importance, low dollar amount or lately a way to slide an item by the public without any response from your elected officials. The only way these items are discussed in the open is if they are pulled by one member for separate consideration or a separate vote meaning someone has a issue, question or problem with any particular item.

So on this occasion there were three items pulled for separate consideration. The first two were uneventful and took minimal time D. 10 was not so easy. Councilman O Connell was the one that placed this item on the agenda and Mayor Robertson pulled the item. So what was D. 10? D. 10 was a request that council direct the clerks office to provide detail minutes versus ACTION minutes. What’s the difference? The difference is action minutes merely report the overall final vote 3-1, 4-0 ect. Over the last 6 months the Clerk has given the city ACTION minutes only. So when the Mayor was accused of giving preferred treatment to one security contractor over another. their is no record, or the funny way the money from the sale of our water company for 30 million dollars has been allocated and many other examples.

Mayor Robertson issue was that the city council was directing one elected official to do something? She went on about different branches of government and not over stepping boundries. It sounds good right council cant direct the City Clerk to do something right? Well if our City Clerk was only a City Clerk it would be that way. Our City Clerk is also a Department Head she makes a nice yearly salary department heads report to the city council and mayor as well as the city administrator. Councilman O Connell came prepared for the item to be pulled because he came with a power point that really drove the point home about why he was concerned about the ACTION minutes. There was a lot of back and forth where even the City Clerk tried to blame her lack of reporting on the moving of her offices, lowered staff and being ill. The city attorney said that the way this issue was handled was if the city had a Municipal Code directing what type of minutes were to be generated which Rialto does not have, so they fall back to state law which states that ACTION minutes were the bare minimum. The outcome was the City Attorney would draft a Municipal Code that would direct the Clerk to produce more than ACTION minutes. So this one is TO BE CONTUNIED……

Visit our twitter account and get a picture of Barbara McGee’s body language during the Councilman’s power point.

Agenda Tab 4

Welcome to Rialto the Home of Liquor Stores, Indoor Swap Meets & Mc Donald’s fast food chains. On Tuesday the City Council made this more of a reality. Apparently on the corner of Cedar & Foothill where the Verizon Store is and the empty video rental building is will now house Rialto’s 4th Mc Donald’s chain. But wait there is more that very busy and dangerous shopping center is also getting a Food 4 Less Gas Station Yay?????? But wait there is more to make matters worse the city is extending a median on Cedar North of Foothill & putting another stop light between Linden and Cedar on Foothill???????

Neighborhood Watch Liaison for the Flores Park Neighborhood Watch addressed his concerns on Tuesday that the city was spending a total of $150,000 on a project that is only going to make traffic worse not better yet Flores Park Can’t get 1 single stop sign in front of their park to slow down traffic and help the RUSD traffic guard assist the children across this dangerous street. Council Members were un moved by the pleading from the community because the new gas station and Mc Donald’s brings in revenue. So I guess street safety is only important as long as the city can make money off it. The sad part is that this new Mc Donald’s is less than 50 feet from a Head Start Pre School that is already flanked by a wienerschnitzel so much for healthy Rialto. Anyone that uses this area already knows its a mess inside the shopping center traffic wise now that the city is going to force people to turn south onto Cedar which will be further backed up by an additional light on Foothill is a recipe for a disaster.

As to Flores Park and their desire for a stop sign on Etiwanda no one on the council seemed to care. Especially Public Works Director Marcus Fuller who increased the speed limit on Etiwanda by 15 MPH from 25 MPH to 40 MPH. When asked why he stated that 80 percent of the people were speeding on the street so they increased the speed to accommodate the speeding public. There seems to be no law preventing turning our local streets into legal drag strips. Both Cactus and Cedar that run parallel to Etiwanda have speed limits of 50 MPH just 15 MPH shy of a freeway. Flores Park said the will continue to push on the issue and look into legal avenues to force the city to offer protections for our neighborhoods and community streets.

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http://kec.rialto.k12.ca.us/cms/page_view?d=x&piid=&vpid=1391775088119

 

 

Area Command Meeting for Area’s 1&2

30 Jan 2014 Leave a comment

by rialto-now in Andy Carrizales, Burglury, Ca, Chief Mat Fratus, city attorney, City of Rialto, Crime, davidsMarketing, Flores Park Neighborhood Watch, Inland Empire, Mike Story, paramedic ambulances, Public Safety, Rialto, Rialto, Rialto Fire, Rialto Parks, Rialto Police Department, rialto unified school district, RUSD, SCAT, Street Crime Attack Team, SWAT, Uncategorized, youth Tags: , , ,

Well last Thursday the people of area’s 1&2 were treated to the first Area Command meeting of 2014. One thing that is clear that this is one of the regularly scheduled public venues that gets a little bit better each and every time. One component recently added to these meetings are the police department education meetings. The first one I remember is last year they had the staff from dispatch come out and educate the community on what dispatch does, why dispatch operates the way it does & how you can help the dispatcher answer your call as quickly as possible.

This year the special presentation is on our Investigative Unit how it operates, who makes up the staff, what their prospective duties are and some frequently asked questions that everyone found interesting and helpful. Even Area Command Leader Lt Karol gave everyone useful tips to help minimize your vulnerability to identity theft. We were presented with information from the following people:

  1. Mike Story (City Administrator) – Went over the Mayors first public Q&A event with city dept heads, various activities that took place at the end of 2013. Mike Story also went over The Rialto Institute of Progress an 8-week program that will be held from March 6th to April 24th. Sessions will be held at the Rialto Civic Center in the Council Chambers from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. After completion, the community members will have an increased understanding of Rialto’s organizational structure, of the operations of our City Departments, and how they impact the quality of life in the City of Rialto.
  2. Shawn O’Connell (Councilman) – Councilman O’Connell addressed his accident and thanked everyone for their support and prayers. Councilman also spoke about the new City Attorney and congratulated everyone in the city for their efforts to help make Rialto a better place to live.
  3. Detective Stella & Detective Farmer (Rialto Police) – These two gentlemen gave us a look into the Investigations Unit and helped the people in attendance better understand how and why the Detectives do what they do. Lt. Andy Karol gave us a mini education on steps you can take to better protect yourself from identity theft.
  4. Amy Crow (Waste Management) – Amy went over the senior & disabled person discount for trash services. She also highlighted the park cleanup schedule and other services the city offers like shred fest.
  5. Linda (Cert) – Linda one of the training volunteers came up to introduce the CERT program. CERT stands for Community Emergency Response Training. The idea behind CERT and the importance of the program is in the event of a natural disaster EMS services will be primarily diverted to Schools & Hospitals leaving the communities on their own for up to 72 hours. CERT teaches you basic life saving skills and ways to gain shelter and safety as a Neighborhood unit.
  6. Cpl. Cameron Nelson (Rialto Police) – Cpl. Nelson is the community liason officer for Rialto Police and came up to highlight some up coming programs. First was Golf With A Cop which gives kids ages 10-17 the opportunity to learn golf from a PGA player and other top notch golf instructors. An added benefit is if kids can hold a specific GPA they can play for free at Colton Golf Course all year long. Second was Fuel for Success a effort to get at risk kids to find the importance of staying in school and striving for excellence. The 2014 program will be held at Eisenhower High and will follow the look and feel of Rialto Police highly successful National Night Out program. The final presentation was on the Pride Platoon program that takes troubled, at risk or youth without direction and give them a program that is used to put them on the right track and give them needed tools for success in life. This program has been awarded multiple programs and cited as helping reduce our youth crime in the city of rialto.
  7. Lt. Andy Karol (Rialto Police) – Lt Karol gave us a break down of some of the events that happened over 2013. He also showed us crime data that shows even though crime in California has increased crime in Rialto has decreased by 20%. He also introduced the Next Door Virtual Neighborhood Watch program. Next Door was created by venture capitalists to help communities connect in the biggest way we interact today via technology. Next Door is a FREE program and helps those communities where we don’t know our neighbors to connect. To sign up for Next door or learn more about it visit https://nextdoor.com/
  8. Lt Kathy Thompson (Rialto Police) – Lt Thompson came up to introduce the public to the Police Community Program where residents are introduced to the inner workings of the police department and given a mini education into the job of a police department. As a former attendee of this and other similar classes with cities like Redlands, San Bernardino and the County of San Bernardino this program is top notch and gives you a awesome perspective on what our police do and how they do it.

The Area Command meetings are a vital tool in empowering the Rialto community to take a proactive role in helping make Rialto a great place to live, work & play. The information given at these meetings goes well beyond the presentations its extended to the wealth of information in the manner of the many flyers and printed materials available as well as the ability to talk 1-1 with people that help you with any given situation, problem or question.

If you missed this meeting your in luck there is another one coming up on Monday February 3rd at Calvary Chapel Rialto on the corner of Merrill and Cedar at 7pm. This meeting is geared towards the lower half of the city areas 3 & 4 (everything south of foothill) but anyone is welcome to come. Here are some flyers for your reference:

golf w a cop 2014

Fuel for success 2014

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The first Council Meeting of 2014 will address big issues

14 Jan 2014 Leave a comment

by rialto-now in Andy Carrizales, Barbara A. McGee, Budget, Ca, Chief Mat Fratus, city attorney, City Clerk, City of Rialto, davidsMarketing, Deborah Robertson, Ed palmer, Inland Empire, Joe Baca Jr, Mike Story, Public Safety, Rialto, Rialto, Rialto Fire, Shawn O'Connell Tags: , , ,

Welcome everyone to 2014 lets start it off with a massive council meeting! Tonight the city council will address among other things the cities first quarter budget, items with the closure of the Airport and weather to replace the City Attorney Jimmy Gutierrez or keep him. The city attorney issue was supposed to be dealt with in 2013 but with allegiances forming on one side or another and the tragic accident of Councilman Shawn O’Connell this issue was pushed into January.

Reading Councilman O’Connell’s twitter account it doesn’t appear that their will be an easy choice.

“Still recovering but will be attending tonight’s City Council meeting. Hopefully the city attorney position will be decided tonight.”

Follow Councilman O’Connell at https://twitter.com/Shawn4Rialto

With so many important decisions being made today many local community groups and organizations are looking to drive home the importance of the community getting involved and learning more about what is going on in their city government.

If you can’t attend you can follow along with us as we tweet out the hot topics via twitter just follow www.tiatter.com/rialtosnow we tweet it under the hashtag #RialtoCityCouncil

Interviews for New City Attorney

04 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

by rialto-now in Ca, city attorney, City of Rialto, Crime, Deborah Robertson, Ed palmer, Inland Empire, Jimmy Gutierrez, Mike Story, Rialto, Rialto, Shawn O'Connell

Well it looks like the bids are in and we have 5 contenders for the City Attorney job here in Rialto. We have 4 new bidders and the existing Attorney Jimmy Gutierrez. You can watch the interviews unfold in person, on the internet or via the public broadcasting channel.

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City Council Meeting September 10, 2013 Agenda

10 Sep 2013 Leave a comment

by rialto-now in Bad Commerce, Budget, Ca, Chief Mat Fratus, city attorney, City of Rialto, Currupt, Deborah Robertson, Ed palmer, Flores Park, Inland Empire, Jimmy Gutierrez, Joe Baca Jr, June Hayes, Mike Story, Public Safety, Rialto, Rialto, Rialto Fire, Rialto Police Department, youth Tags: , , , , ,

Agenda of the Regular Meeting of the City of Rialto City Council

We are going to post each and every city council agenda the Monday before the meeting. We will add content in a different color to help explain items of interest or highlight items that will you need to know.

Also twitter users can follow a play by play of the council meeting by following us at www.twitter.com/Rialtosnow or following #RialtoCityCouncilMeeting. Also if your friends with Flores Park Group on Facebook our tweets land there as well.

Of course you can watch the meeting live on TV or the internet by clicking this link http://rialto.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=2 You can also go in person and be part of the solution and help us show our elected officials you care and are engaged.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Mayor Pro Tem Edward Palmer

INVOCATION: Pastor Harry Bratton – Greater Faith Grace Bible Church

City Council Regular Meeting September 10, 2013

City of Rialto Page 4 Printed on 9/5/2013

City Attorney’s Report on Closed Session

PRESENTATIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS

1. Transportation Commission 2012 Annual Report – Dennis Barton, Chairperson.

2. Cold Case Update – Lt. Hardin and Sgt. Stella.

ORAL COMMUNICATIONS

City Council to consider removing or continuing any items on the agenda

NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC

All matters listed under Consent Calendar are considered to be routine by the City Council and will be enacted by one motion in the following form listed. There will be no separate discussion on these items. If discussion is required, the item will be removed from the Consent Calendar and will be considered separately. Vote may be by roll call.
CONSENT CALENDAR

The consent calendar is a collection of various items that either are of a low dollar amount and do not require the attention of a TAB ITEM, or there is nothing for the council to discuss. Yet many times items like E10 below are stuck in here to skirt the Community and even the council if they are not watching closely. This is where items like reducing the time limit from 5 to 3 minutes for public comment were laid. If it wasn’t for some council members and community members watching them it very well could have slid right by the community.

A. WAIVE FULL READING OF ORDINANCES (ACTION)

1. Waive reading in full, all ordinances considered at this meeting.

B. APPROVAL OF WARRANT RESOLUTIONS

B.1 Resolution No. 50 (06/28/13)

B.2 Resolution No. 1 (07/05/13)

B.3 Resolution No. 9A (08/30/13)

C. APPROVAL OF ACTION MINUTES

C.1 Regular City Council Meeting – June 25, 2013

D. SET PUBLIC HEARING

Here is where the public has the opportunity to address the council on anything not on the agenda – Limit to 5 minutes

D.1 Request City Council to Set a Public Hearing for September 24, 2013

to consider Development Agreement No. 13-01 between the City of Rialto

and I-210 Logistics Center II Fund IX, LLC, related to the development

of a 763,640 square foot distribution facility on a 35.2 acre site located

at the northwest corner of Baseline Road and Linden Avenue in the

Employment Zone of the Renaissance Specific Plan.

City Council Regular Meeting September 10, 2013

This is being used to set up a public hearing on a proposed logistics center being built at Linden and Baseline. So on 9-24-13 the community can come out and voice their support or concerns with this proposed project.

E. MISCELLANEOUS
E.1 Request City Council to Adopt the Updated Hazard Mitigation Plan for the

City of Rialto.

E.2 Request City Council to Approve annual purchase orders with Willdan

Financial Services in the total amount of $41,300 for the Administration

Services of the Landscape and Lighting Districts and the Community

Facilities Districts.

E.3 Request City Council to Authorize Street Closures for the Rialto Fire

Department Annual Fire Prevention Open House

Yes the council needs to approve street closures for city events.

E.4 Request City Council to Approve the Purchase of Two New Ford Escapes

for Fire Prevention in the amount of $46,671.66

2 New vehicles for the Fire Department

 

E.5 Request City Council to Ratify the Emergency Purchase and Installation of

Eight Air Conditioning Units from Davidson’s Air Conditioning & Heating,

Inc. in the amount of $25,000.

E.6 Request City Council to Authorize Issuance of a Purchase Order in the

Amount of $31,050 to Lockwood Engineering Company for Civil

Engineering Design Services for the 2013/2014 Annual Curb, Gutter and

Sidewalk Project, City Project No. CB1404.

E.7 Request City Council Approval of a Notice of Completion for the Federal

Safe Routes to School Project at Merle Casey Elementary, City Project No.

100819, Federal Aid Project No. SRTSL 5205 (014).

 

E.8 Request that the Rialto Utility Authority Approve an Extension of Site Use

Agreement by and between the Rialto Utility Authority and Hackman Capital

Equipment Acquisition Company LLC, Tiger Valuation Services LLC, and

Hunter Consulting Inc.

E.9 Request City Council to adopt Ordinance No. 1532.

ORDINANCE NO. 1532

AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RIALTO,

ADDING CHAPTER 3.33 AND REPLACING CHAPTERS 3.34, 3.36, 3.40,

3.44, 3.48, 3.52, 3.56, 3.60, 3.64, 3.68 AND 3.72 OF THE RIALTO

MUNICIPAL CODE RELATING TO DEVELOPMENT IMPACT FEES.
E.10 Request City Council to approve Engagement letter for Legal Services with

Colantuono & Levin, Professional Corporation.

Here the city is looking to use an outside Law Firm to handle a lawsuit. So we are paying Jimmy Gutierrez and his firm $600,000 thousand a year to not handle city lawsuits? Not to worry though Jimmy Gutierrez will oversee the company and charge the city hundreds of thousands of dollars to watch someone else do the job we pay him to do. Unless someone pulls this item this will be approved without a second thought more money wasting.

City Council Regular Meeting September 10, 2013

City of Rialto Page 6 Printed on 9/5/2013

TAB PUBLIC HEARING

TAB 1

Request City Council to Conduct a Public Hearing to Consider the Adoption

of Resolution No. 6332 Establishing Advertising Fees for the Rialto

Progress Community Magazine.

TAB 2

Request City Council to Conduct a Public Hearing to Consider Any

Objections from Property Owners on the Amount of Weed Abatement Costs

Assessed on Their Properties, and to Approve the Placement of Weed

Abatement Fees on County Tax Rolls.

TAB NEW BUSINESS

TAB 3

Request City Council to Approve the Preliminary Site Plan for the Bud

Bender Park Rehabilitation Project, City Project No. CB1302 and to

approve Budget

Resolution No. 6333 Appropriating $30,000 from the Park

Fund (210).

TAB 4

Request City Council to Approve and Award the Contract to Braun

Northwest in the amount of $356,259 to Refurbish Three Ambulances.

TAB 5

Request City Council to Approve the Contractual Agreement with Fire

Apparatus Solutions and Approve a Purchase Order in the amount of

$125,000.

TAB 6

Request City Council to Adopt Budget Resolution No. 6334 Appropriating

$125,000 and to Approve a Professional Services Agreement with Hall &

Foreman, Inc., in the Amount of $100,360 to Complete the City of Rialto

Master Plan of Drainage Update.

TAB 7

Request City Council to Approve a Cooperative Agreement for the

Development of a Joint Groundwater Model for the Rialto/Colton

Groundwater Basin.

TAB 8

Request City Council to Approve Amendment No. 3 to the Agreement for

Legal Services with Gutierrez, Fierro & Erickson, A Professional

Corporation.

Looks like Jimmy Gutierrez is FINALLY ready to sign his TEMPORARY contract. 

 

 

Issues over Rialto City Attorney Contract

24 Aug 2013 Leave a comment

by rialto-now in American Water, Barbara A. McGee, Budget, Ca, city attorney, City of Rialto, Currupt, Deborah Robertson, Ed palmer, Inland Empire, Jimmy Gutierrez, Joe Baca Jr, Mike Story, Rialto, Rialto, Shawn O'Connell, Uncategorized, Water, wwwstoprialtowaterratehikes.com Tags:

jimmy

Jimmy Gutierrez is our current city attorney in the city of Rialto. According to reports from City Hall he has operated over the last 5 years on a $600,000 a year for his base salary. What is worse is he nickel and dimes the city for every little thing he does raising the rate we pay him every year more and more.

This year with some fresh blood in the council many contracts have come under review and put back out to bid. The thought process according to Mike Story is to make sure we are getting the best bang for our buck. The city of Rialto has made changes to many contracts saving the city and the community thousands of dollars. From the contract security services, to street sweeping and technology services the fat is being cut and the city is looking to streamline services. City attorney Jimmy Gutierrez’s contract ended in June 2013. So what do we do?

Under the guise of cutting fat city council formed a committee to look at ways of reducing attorney costs for Rialto. What the Sub committee came up with was a temporary extension of City Attorney services with Jimmy Gutierrez. This was done so that the city could develop an RFP and bid out services for Attorney costs for the city. Another task was writing Jimmy Gutierrez’s extension while reducing costs. City staff reported as well as Councilwoman Lynn Hirtz over the phone that it was difficult to get Jimmy Gutierrez to make concessions on his pay to help the city further save money. It wasn’t until right before the July 23rd Council meeting that Jimmy Gutierrez reluctantly agreed to a compensation adjustment.

Joe Baca Jr. said at the July 23rd council meeting that the communities biggest issue was with the city attorney is the cost. Is that really the greatest concern of the community? I remember most recently that Jimmy Gutierrez along with City Clerk McGee gave city council direction to ignore the fact that the Rialto residents received enough signatures to remove the toxic water deal that is already hurting Rialto residents. Or how about the Super Wal-Mart that is set to increase crime and create more business blight that our city can’t or refuses to take action on. Councilman Baca seems to miss the fact that it appears our attorney has been doing his best to rip off the community under the guise of business as usual. Jimmy Gutierrez has also been arrested in suspicion of driving under the influence and was allowed to plead no contest and avoid any real consequences. Also lets not forget Jimmy Gutierrez is also the city attorney for 3 other cites.

We had the opportunity to speak with some of the players involved in this meeting:

I reached out to City Administrator Mike Story and asked who wrote this contract? It was developed by Councilman Joe Baca Jr. & Lynn Hirtz who are the subcommittee of the council looking at the contract along with Jimmy Gutierrez. So Jimmy Gutierrez and the subcommittee wrote it? Jimmy Gutierrez prepared the contract at the direction of the subcommittee. After several attempts by the subcommittee to get Jimmy Gutierrez to make their recommended changes including a reduction in fees, the subcommittee directed me (Mike Story) to make the changes they requested.

I reached out to Lynn Hirtz and she said that she only voted for the temporary contract with Jimmy Gutierrez because she felt obligated to. Councilwoman Hirtz stated over the phone that she felt obligated to vote with Councilman Joe Baca Jr. in reference to an amendment that was brought up by Councilman O’connell. Councilman O’connell brought up a very important “what if” Jimmy Gutierrez does go over the 160 hour limit each month. So mayor Deborah Robertson made a amendment that if Jimmy Gutierrez does go over the 160 limit anything over that would have to be approved by the council PRIOR to going over the limit. So due to the fact that the subcommittee that she was a part of brought this forward Lynn Hirtz & Joe Baca Jr moved and seconded the motion. She never thought of a situation where Jimmy Gutierrez would go over the 160 hours he was allotted by the temporary extension so she wasn’t sure why it was even an issue. Lynn Hirtz said she wasn’t a fan of the extension but went along with Joe Baca Jr. who was the biggest proponent of the city attorney extension. Lynn Hirtz also commented that Jimmy Gutierrez was upset that he would no longer be able to “ITEMIZE” for extra costs the gimmick he has exploited to bump up his compensation over the years.

Shawn O’Connell said July 23rd meeting I approved the contract the way it was written was never vetted by an attorney I instructed our city attorney to spend no more than 160 hours. This contract offers no way to control his ability to charge more and put the citizens at further liability which was what I was trying to convey on July 23rd. Mayor Robertson’s motion which I voted for instructed Jimmy Gutierrez to inform Mike Story before he went over the allotted 160 hours, My fear is this isn’t the way its going to work out.

The second issue is with the time line for releasing the RFP and beginning to look for other options for our city attorney. The proposed timeline for releasing the RFP begins releasing on October 1st. Mayor Pro-tem Ed Palmer asked why were we waiting until the bitter end to release the RFP. Mayor Pro-Tem said that if we run into issues like we did with security contract where there is a bump in the road. The issues was with the original RFP release schedule it would leave us without attorney services the first 14 days of January. Joe Baca Jr. refuses to look at the fact that Jimmy Gutierrez is out as our city attorney. Councilman O’Connell & Mayor Pro-Tem Palmer want to keep us from keeping someone on as our attorney that will act as a disgruntle employee.

What was most frustrating was that even though Lynn Hirtz saw an issue with the late releasing of the RFP she voted for it out of pressure to do so by Mayor Robertson & Councilman Baca Jr. because she was on the subcommittee. When I asked her over the phone about it she said she wanted to vote with Councilman O’Connell and Mayor Pro-Tem Palmer but she felt obligated to vote with her subcommittee co-member. I asked her if she thought Jimmy Gutierrez was going to mail it in these last months and try and collect as much money as possible. She said she never thought about that but since I brought it up she was so worried I was right and she may have made a poor decision.

I spoke to Councilman O’Connell prior to posting this story. Councilman O’Connell stated that the city attorney has yet to sign this contract offering the council and COMMUNITY the unique opportunity to revisit the contract and make the appropriate changes. The ACTIONABLE item is TAB 6 on the upcoming council meeting this Augsut 27th meeting at 6 pm.

So the question is do you agree with Councilman Joe Baca Jr. is the amount of the contract the ONLY issue you have with the city attorney contract? If it is do you believe that Jimmy Gutierrez waiting until the last moment to reluctantly agree to a reduction in fees then not sign the contract after a month does that sound like someone that is willing to work on price? Why does Councilman Joe Baca Jr. appear to run to Jimmy Gutierrez’s defense at every turn? What does that relationship pay the Baca family back? Where is the value for such a vigorous defense? Councilman O’Connell is right we have a unique opportunity here.

Watch the council meeting for yourself these tab items are at the end

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9QcQ26VvwQ

Jimmy Gutierrez can charge $225 an hour for attorney services and $75 an hour for paralegal services.

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