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Ojai City Council Minutes of the Regular Meeting of January 8, 2008, 7:30 pm

ROLL CALL
On a call of the roll the following Council Members reported present: Carol Smith; Steve Olsen, Rae Hanstad, Joe DeVito, and Sue Horgan. Also present were: City Manager, Jere Kersnar; City Attorney, Monte Widders; Ojai Chief of Police, Capt. Bruce Norris; Ventura County Fire Protection District, Battalion Chief, Scott Schuster; Public Works Director, Mike Culver; Redevelopment Manager, Kathy McCann; Planning and Redevelopment Consultant, Tom Figg; and City Clerk, Carlon Strobel.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE City Clerk Strobel

INVOCATION Moment of Silence

PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS

Rikki Horne commended the Council for its flexibility and Mayor Pro Tem Joe DeVito for his generosity in changing the rotation order.

1. CONSENT CALENDAR
a) Warrants for December 13 and 27, 2007 and Payroll Warrants for December 6 and 20, 2007, and January 3, 2008 in the amount of $789,439.98.
RECOMMENDATION: Authorize payment.

b) Minutes of the Ojai City Council Meeting of December 11, 2007
RECOMMENDATION: Approve as submitted.

c) Minutes of the Ojai Planning Commission Meeting of November 7, 2007
RECOMMENDATION: Receive and file.

d) Minutes of the Historic Preservation Commission Meeting of October 8, 2007
RECOMMENDATION: Receive and file.

e) Service Agreement with West Coast Arborist for Street Tree Maintenance
RECOMMENDATION: Authorize the Mayor to sign a Service Agreement with West
Coast Arborists for the remainder of FY 2007/2008 for street tree maintenance services, in an amount not to exceed $20,000.

f) Treasurer’s Monthly Report of Investments for the City of Ojai and the
Redevelopment Agency
RECOMMENDATION: Receive and file.

MOTION: Council Member Hanstad moved and Council Member Olsen seconded to
approve the Consent Calendar as presented.
The result of the roll call vote:
AYES: Smith, Olsen, Hanstad, DeVito, Horgan
NOES: None
ABSENT: None

DISCUSSION ITEMS

2. Housing Element Report Follow Up

City Manager Kersnar presented an introduction to the staff report.

Planning and Redevelopment Consultant, Tom Figg, presented the staff report.

Council Member Hanstad requested an overview of SB 1087 regarding water and sewer providers. Mr. Figg responded that the legislation basically said that water purveyors have to provide a means of giving priority to low and moderate income projects, cities are required to give the purveyors current and future adopted housing elements, and the purveyors are to be responsive to the policies of the local government. Mr. Figg noted that most importantly, the purveyors must adopt policies and procedures which give
priority to service connections to low and moderate income housing.

Regarding SB 1087, Mayor Horgan asked if water purveyors had an obligation to show that they do or do not have the capacity to serve the RHNA allocation numbers. Mr. Figg responded that the purveyors are required to come up with procedures in the event that they have a resource limitation.

City Attorney Widders commented that all water purveyors having over 3,000 water connections are required to prepare an urban water management plan every five years. He noted that this was similar to the City’s requirement for a housing element every five years. Mr. Widders stated that both Casitas Municipal Water District and Golden State Water Company had produced plans which were approved in 2007. The plan is required,
among other things, to give information on projected water demand and how that demand would be fulfilled. Mr. Widders explained that the City was required to provide the City of Ojai’s Housing Element each time an update was completed. Water purveyors in turn use that information to update their next urban water management plan.

Council Member Hanstad noted that the Golden State Water Company’s Urban Water Management Plan relied heavily upon back-up water from Casitas. She asked if Casitas’ Plan accounted for that fact. Mr. Widders responded that it did and the Casitas report assured Golden State Water Company that it could provide 100% of the water necessary to meet their projected need through the year 2030.

Mr. Widders emphasized that the Housing Element was subject to CEQA and prior to adoption there must be an environmental review or initial study of the document to determine whether or not the project would require a mitigated negative declaration or a full EIR.

The following persons encouraged: