CITY BUDGET
Fillmore City Council is working hard to get things back on track and provide the quality of service residents had come to expect in past years. At the July 9, 2013 meeting Financial Analyst Frank Catania presented the Council with the potential fiscal impact and recommended timing for implementation of the 16 budget-related suggestions that the Council reviewed back in April. The list of operational practice changes are in the areas of revenue management, expenditure management and budgeting. Catania informed the Council that some are administrative and have already been enacted. Other list items will be addressed once a new Finance Director is hired, and the new City Manager, David Wayne Rowlands, begins his position. Rowlands stated, “I’m looking forward to getting started.”

Suggestions listed include a review annually or bi-annually of updated fees charged and analyze all business agreements with both public and private lessees on use of City assets and participation. This is to assure that the City is being reimbursed at the proper rate. Also, guidelines regarding how and where revenue and expenses are budgeted and recorded to provide for consistent reporting of a period of years. In prior years some City accounts were not properly identified which created an accounting system with what could only be described as having "holes" and inaccuracies.

One suggestion, which Council Member Steve Conaway questioned as necessary, was hiring a consultant to update the City's Cost Allocation Plan to assure that the General Fund is being reimbursed the correct amount for services provided to other funds. Conaway suggested that is could be done by City staff when services are restored.

Council Member Diane McCall discussed the accounting practices she is familiar with and asked if something similar, such as a simplified report, could be presented. Conaway asked if the individual accounts' could also have their remaining balances submitted, to which Catania responded, "Yes, that's no problem." But Catania informed the Council the City's software does not allow for many variances in some accounting areas.

DRAFT HOUSING ELEMENT
Also suggested was restoring the City staff and reestablishing the level of service provided to the public in the past years and to resume setting aside funds for replacement of aging equipment, aging infrastructure and economic uncertainty.

One of the new positions being filled is a Consulting Contractor, Thomas Figg, to update the General Plan's Housing Element including California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). State law requires cities to update their Housing Element every five years. The City's current Housing Element was adopted in May of 2003 for the planning period of 1998-2005. A draft housing element was prepared and submitted to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) in 2008. HCD returned the draft housing element with comments requiring additional consideration by the City. There was a back and forth between the City and the HCD which resulted in the August 2009 Draft Element. Two of the State law requirements which were not completed including identifying areas for currently "unaccommodated" housing needs and identifying as many sites as possible for these unaccomodated needs.

On February 28, 2012 Kevin McSweeney, who was Community Development Director at the time, introduce the Southern California Association of Governments drafted Regional Housing Needs Assessment for Fillmore, which allocated 694 residential units to meet the housing needs. He requested the Council at that time review the details of the report to determine if the City should ask for an appeal, which is called a Revision Request, to reduce those required numbers. The Council at that time, Gayle Washburn, Steve Conaway, Brian Sipes, Patti Walker and Jamey Brooks, agreed that a Revision Request should be submitted, but the City had not yet completed General Plan Amendments to address some of the low income units as described in the last Housing Elements periods. Those units were then rolled over into the new Housing Element period. Those units are the “unaccommodated need” required by CEQA. The City apparently dropped the ball on this and the Revision Request was not submitted or requested. The Housing Element was never adopted by the City or approved by the State.

Steve Stuart, Fillmore Building Official, told the Council the State has made some adjustments to their requirements due to the last few years of financial hardship California has experienced and that there has since been a great deal of work completed on the recent 2013-2021 (5th Cycle) Housing Element which if presented in time will cover eight year instead of five. This is the why the City is contracting Figg. He will utilize as much information from the previous effort as possible to update it and submit it to CEQA by October 15, 2013. Mayor Pro Tem Manuel Minjares stated, "We're off to a late start."

AD HOC WATER COMMITTEE
Stuart also updated the Council on where the Ad Hoc Water Committee is and what they plan to do next. At the last Council Meeting it was agreed by the Members that the 3% increase in sewer rates should be put on hold. There is good news; the delay of replacing the membrane which so far is holding up. When it has to be replaced it will increase sewer rates $5 each month. Also the revenue producing porta-potty fee to dump at the sewer plant at a recommended rate of 15 cents a gallon is expected to start within the next week or so. Acting City Manager Rigo Landeros told the Council, "The Ad Hoc Committee fell through the cracks the last couple months; we're getting back on track.” City Attorney Tiffany Israel reminded everyone that there were many weeks where there has not been a full City Council and addressing the delinquent utility fees had taken a great deal of the Council’s time. Mayor Rick Neal added that the City now has a City Manager and the Sales Tax issue has been resolved. Conaway reminded the others that former Director of Public Works Bert Rapp was to set water rates and that there has been a lack of staff to cover such issues.

CITY’S 100 YEAR ANNIVERSARY
The Council is working on getting a committee together to work on Fillmore's 100 Year Anniversary. So far Council Member Douglas Tucker, McCall and Mayor Neal are taking part and Conaway suggested Patrick Maynard be contacted. Minjares asked if any service organizations were interested to get in contact with McCall.

FAIR BOARD POSTER CONTEST WINNER
The Junior Ventura County Fair Board, Yazmine Luna, Mary Ortiz, Elizabeth Fernandez and Garrett Nunez presented the Council with a beautifully framed 2013 Ventura County Fair Poster by 1st Place winner Jessica Han. Fillmore resident Amanda Vassaur, 18, took 2nd Place in the contest.