The December 14th City Council meeting with the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Fillmore Redevelopment Agency was standing room only and with the meeting continuing past midnight as item after item was presented. The scheduled agenda included; the use of the Fillmore High School track to Fillmore residents, the bids on the Two Rivers Park baseball diamonds, the swearing in of the new City Council members, the vote by the new Council for mayor and mayor pro-tem, recognition of the outgoing Council Member, Grad Night Live storage space, and the El Dorado Mobile Home Park conversion.

The many in attendance were the El Dorado MHP residents who came to voice their opposition to the proposed Parks conversion. Also a number of the residence objected to the Park becoming an all age park.

The proposed conversion will remain a manufactured housing community, with the existing Residents having the right to either buy their lot or remain and rent their space. Residents who do not exercise the option to purchase their lots and instead exercise the option to continue renting their spaces are protected from economic displacement by statutory restrictions on rental rates after the conversion date. Government Code Section 66427.5 (f) limits the amount of rent increases for Residents that can take place upon conversion. For low income households, the monthly rent may only increase to market levels as determined by appraisal, and then only over a period of four years. These conditions did not sit well with the residents and they questioned much of the legal jargon and its true benefits.

The MHP has 302 spaces, 293 of which are rented under long term lease agreements or month to month tenancies. The remaining spaces are either vacant, Park Owned or occupied by homes under storage agreements with mobile home dealers. A complaint by many of the residents of the MHP was that over the past few years the residents were not presented with a new lease once their old lease had expired. The residence told the City Council that when they inquired about getting a new lease to the management, they were told they could expect a new lease in a few days, but the new lease never happened. Residents and the City Council stated that both the Council and the residents had invited the management company, Star Management, and the owner, Mike Cirrillo, to discuss the conversion but both ignored such requests.

The residents of the MHP will learn the option price for his or her lot only after the Department of Real Estate approves the subdivision and issues a public report on the subdivision when the subdivider offers the lots for sale. The residents cannot make a rational decision to buy, continue to rent, or move his or her mobile home until the tenant is given an option purchase price and proposed rental price which cannot be done until the approval of the tentative map approval and approval of the subdivision by the Department of Real Estate. So basically the residents are the last to learn of the cost to remain in their homes.

Residents brought up the problem of finding another park that will accept their mobile home and the problem of getting a loan to buy the lot. Banks tend to not make loans to seniors on low fixed incomes, especially those in advanced age.

The park was established in 1981 and sits on 37.50 acres of land with the eastern section resting on a FEMA Flood Plain. There was some question as to whether this area would require the City to impose flood mitigation requirements as a condition of a subdivision because it is required to do so under federal law. The scope of the City’s authority is limited due to State law and Court decisions. The Map Plan was approved by the Council with a 3 to 2 vote on the condition that the Flood Plain issue is resolved, which will probably be decided by the courts.

Mark Alpert, an attorney representing Mr. Cirrillo addressed the City Council and warned the Council that the staffs recommended course of action violates a judges order and will end up costing the City a great deal of unnecessary court costs. The City is following the recommendations of its own council and wants the Flood Plain issue addressed before agreeing to the conversion.

The use of the Fillmore High School track was on the Parks and Recreation agenda addressing the additional hours of access to the track along with the installation of side access gate. A pilot program for use of the High School track was launched in the fourth quarter of 2009. The program provided for use upon the completion of the Use Agreement and Waiver and payment of a $25 fee. Since that time the track has been available to the public who have, to date, used the track without problems and the High School has been happy with the arrangement.
Due to the great success of the program, a proposal was presented that the program be expanded for addition hours of use. To accomplish this, a side access gate was proposed with City Staff members responsible for unlocking for use between the hours agreed upon when the track is available. Designated School District representatives will also have keys for this gate.

There was some discussion as to the cost of installing a pass card system which would record when residents had entered the track and when they had left the area. It was decided that a key lock would be used to get the project up and going, with the pass card system possibly at a later date. A vote was taken and approval given to increase the hours of access to the High School track for authorized users for the hours of 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. along with the existing morning hours already in use and to authorize financial participation in the installation of a side access gate to the Track with the cost to be offset by fees paid by Track users.

The Redevelopment Agency addressed the award the contract for the ballfield improvements to Two Rivers Park. The project was a bid as a “Blind Bid” with the schedule set for completion of the ball fields on April 15, 2011, weather permitting. There was a great deal of discussion among the Council Members as to what was really necessary at this time to move the project forward and what could be done at a later date due to the price tag of the project. The Council was given many options and informed they could omit up to 25 percent of the improvements on each of the two fields or only one field.

The Fillmore Parks Commission has requested that the Agency construct the ballfield improvements; however most of the $450,000 funding for the backstops is Redevelopment Agency money. The Finance Department has preformed a detailed study of the Redevelopment Agency funding projections for the next five years based upon current economic conditions and State taking of Redevelopment Agency monies and found that in year 2015 the Redevelopment Agency is projected to have a (-$5,592) negative balance.

Bert Rapp, P.E. Public Works Director informed the Council that the Water Recycling Plant would not be needing the odor control covers that were once required, and as a result $100,000 of the $150,000 allocated for the Water Recycling Plant could be directed to the Two Rivers Park Project. At present there is a California Dept Parks and Recreation Grant of $33,000 and a CDBG (FY 2009/10) Grant of $80,060.

The Council has 60 days to award the project and asked for more time to make a decision as to which parts of the project to proceed with first.

The Oath of Office and Presentation of Certificates of Election was also an important item on the agenda. The City Clerk administered the oath of office to Councilmember Brian Sipes and Councilmember Patti Walker, both having won the vote in the last election. Pursuant to Government Code 36801 the new Council was asked to nominate new Mayor and Mayor Pro-Tem. Gayle Washburn was nominated Mayor and Jamey Brooks as Mayor Pro-Tem. Mayor Washburn then determined the Council’s seating order.

The Council then recognized the outgoing Councilmember Laurie Hernandez with Patti Walker doing the honors. Hernandez was recognized for her service to the City and awarded a plaque with the City of Fillmore’s Emblem which read “In Recognition of Valuable Service by Laurie Hernandez to the City of Fillmore 2006-2010”.

A proclamation recognizing Ventura County’s 25th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration was awarded with Everette Garmon of the Martin Luther King Memorial Organization accepting. Garmon extended an invitation to the Council and all those interested to attend an observance being held on Monday, January 17th at the Oxnard Preforming Arts Center. The program starts at 9:00 a.m. with a Freedom March at Oxnard Plaza Park-(5th and “C” St) starting at 8:00a.m.

The Martin Luther King Memorial Organization has collected donations totaling close to $100,000 from the generous residents of Ventura County along with businesses such as Amgen and State Farm Insurance. The donations have been sent to Washington D.C. to erect a monument in King’s memory.

Raelene Chaney from Grad Night Live addressed the Council in regards to an evection notice sent out by Fillmore City Manager Yvonne Quiring. The Council and City Manager had received a complaint from a resident that the storage yard being used by the nonprofit at the end of Orange Grove Street was in violation of city code. The Council suggested Chaney select an alternate location for storing the nonprofit’s cargo containers, but Chaney expressed her desire to stay at the same address and explained the convenience of the present property to the nonprofit; which is all volunteer service. Laurie Hernandez addressed the Council in support of Grad Night Live and reminded the Council of the nonprofits importance to the City of Fillmore. The property in question is partially owned by two businesses, Coach Craft and Super Stripe, to which the nonprofit pays one dollar a year rent. Both owners are supportive of the nonprofit and would like to see it remain on their property.

The Council asked Fillmore City Attorney, Theodore J. Schneider, if the easement could be removed, thus leaving the two property owners control of the property in question and they themselves to deal with the nonprofit, leaving the City out of the picture. The City Attorney informed the Council that it could be done by what is called vacating/vacationing. A vote was taken and the Council decided they would vacate the easement leaving Grad Night Live to work out the storage situation with the two property owners. The City has also located two cargo containers to replace the two that Grad Night Live had to relinquish due to being told the nonprofit had to move from the storage property.